(The Center Square) – A Black-owned concrete subcontractor tasked with the construction of the $830 million Obama Presidential Library in Chicago is suing the structural design firm overseeing the project, alleging “racial discrimination” after the firm said the subcontractors were “questionably qualified.”
Jeannette Hoyt, environmentalist and Chicago professor, said there’s a “trend” of the community not being involved in the project, including a decision to cut down 1,000 trees in the area.
“I thought that this was just a lack of planning when it came to ecological harms, and [lack of] understanding what was on that site already, which I thought was unusual, considering President Obama’s involvement with the national parks in our country. I thought that he would appreciate what was there [the trees], but this seems to be actually a modus operandi. What’s happening now on that site in terms of the discriminatory work practices, it’s a lack of planning, it’s a lack of involvement and it’s a lack of caring about the community,” said Hoyt.
Hoyt said minority contractors being used was heralded in several news releases and was promoted on the Obama Presidential website.
“This was supposed to be a work site where minority contractors would be part of the project,” said Hoyt. “[At my job] we have processes put in place to monitor the atmosphere of the work site, right? So they didn’t care to even have these people in place.”
Hoyt explained the alleged racial discrimination was due to a lack of anti-discrimination practices being implemented by the Obama foundation.
Robert McGee, the owner of II in One, which provided concrete and rebar services for the center starting in 2021, filed the lawsuit. The lawsuit says, “In a shocking and disheartening turn of events, the African American owner of a local construction company finds himself and his company on the brink of forced closure because of racial discrimination by the structural engineer, [Thornton Tomasetti.]”
Thornton Tomasetti wrote in a memo nearly a year ago that the subcontractors were “questionably qualified.”
Photos reveal the concrete structures in Jackson Park, the former home to 1,000 trees, are cracking.
Hoyt said the center has changed the area’s traffic patterns, making commutes difficult. Hoyt said on top of changed traffic patterns, the foundation had always intended to cut down all the trees with no community input.
“So the Obama Foundation paid for the Bartlett Tree Survey, which must have been quite a bit of money. But it was in order to quantify trees and to show that they were doing something [to save the trees]. So people were hoping they were going to keep the trees. And then later I found the other map on a website for the federal government, and no, they were just planning on cutting down all the trees [all along,]” said Hoyt.
Hoyt expressed fear that the Obama foundation would continue the “trend” of not caring about the community and that would extend to the teen community, which has been promised youth programs through the Obama Center.
“It’s adults he’s been affecting first. We’re used to being affected. I mean, it kills us and it hurts us. It hurts our feelings and it changes our life. As adults, we’re more resilient than the children are,” said Hoyt.
Hoyt said the Kenland Oakland Community Organization wanted a Community Benefits Agreement to address the problems of property taxes, and to give that whole area property tax relief.
“Either through the city government or through the Obama Foundation actually providing some sort of money to help people pay their property taxes. I have friends that I met while I was going door to door, trying to get the signatures for our advisory referendums to try to save the trees. They’ve already had to move out because they cannot afford the property taxes anymore.
They’ve just had to leave their homes,” said Hoyt.