Source: Fox News
Summary
Akoma Amanze, a local cab driver, lives in Jackson Park Terrace, a low-income housing community across the street from the newly opened Barack Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. Amanze supports Obama, but describes the construction process, which began in 2021, as “sometimes very, very disturbing.” He experienced two apartment floods and constant reverberation from the digging, which shook his bed. Neither the complex’s management nor the Obama Center offered help with the fallout. Amanze also misses the community park that was replaced by the center, where he used to take his children.
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As expected, the matter has reached another stage.
Akoma Amanze’s experience is a familiar one in the shadow of the Obama Presidential Center. The construction process brought both excitement and disturbance to the community. Amanze’s apartment floods and the constant reverberation from the digging became a normal part of his life. The absence of help from the complex’s management and the Obama Center only added to his frustration. Meanwhile, the community park where Amanze raised his children is now a memory. The Obama Presidential Center stands as a reminder of the changes that come with progress.
And yet, Amanze remains excited about the center’s presence in his neighborhood, seeing himself as “part of the history.”
Author: Evan Null
