Obama Center advocates distort arguments against building in Jackson Park

Two recent letters — “Don’t let a small group of naysayers kill the Obama Presidential Center” (Oct. 10) and “No more Obama Center naysaying” (Oct. 12) — make false statements about those opposed to the confiscation of public parkland in Jackson Park for the Obama Presidential Center (OPC). Despite what the author of the first letter wrote, park advocates are not trying to “kill” the OPC. In fact, park advocates have been supportive of siting the OPC on Chicago’s South Side; however, there is opposition to the confiscation of public parkland, especially since other viable options exist.

The author of the second letter takes aim at specific people and organizations, including me and The Cultural Landscape Foundation. The writer claims I am “cynical” for opposing the confiscation of public parkland while being “silent about the 2 million–plus acres of public land that the Trump administration has revoked from protected status.” That’s 100 percent wrong. In the Foundation’s 2017 annual Landslide report, “Open Season on Open Space”, on nationally significant threatened landscapes, we included Jackson Park and the Antiquities Act, which protects the “2 million-plus acres of public land” about which we have allegedly been silent, along with other sites nationwide. In fact, it was the threat to public lands protected by the Antiquities Act that yielded the theme “Open Season on Open Space.”

Rather than distorting the positions of park advocates, perhaps it’s time to ask OPC/Obama Foundation representatives why public parkland must be confiscated for the OPC. This controversy exists because a decision was made not to use vacant or city-owned land and not to use land owned by the University of Chicago, which orchestrated the winning bid to host the OPC. As Lynn Sweet reported in “Columbia University pushes for Obama library in Harlem” (Jan. 26, 2015) Columbia University’s proposed bid called for using 17 acres of university-owned land. They didn’t demand 20 acres of Central Park.

For all the talk of transparency, OPC/Obama Foundation representatives have consistently dodged the essential question of why parkland must be confiscated with an all-too-familiar combination of glad-handing and gas-lighting. The South Side can be the location for the OPC, and public parkland doesn’t have to be confiscated in the process.

Charles A. Birnbaum, president & CEO, The Cultural Landscape Foundation

Washington, DC

Trinkets and baubles?

Columnist Laura Washington asks us to “Forget the ideological trinkets, Dems, and focus on the economy” (Oct. 15). The “trinkets” and “nice shiny baubles” in question are universal healthcare, a higher minimum wage, guaranteed employment, public financing of elections, free public higher education, 100 percent renewable energy and the right to unionize. In short, those things that will bring a measure of security, dignity and opportunity to the 99 percent and, in the case of eliminating fossil fuels, save our planet from climate apocalypse.

Trinkets and baubles indeed.

Ms. Washington refers to Bernie Sanders as “the failed presidential aspirant,” but the more accurate word is “robbed.” It is Hillary Clinton who failed against the worst candidate in history by pursuing suburban swing voters at the expense of the working class, and it is the “pragmatic” (i.e., austerity) policies of the Obama administration that paved the way for this debacle. Unless and until the Democrats change their ways, they will continue to fail, blaming the “left” as a way to avoid confronting their own emptiness and irrelevance as an opposition party.

Hugh Iglarsh, Skokie

Avoiding climate catastrophe

The catastrophic destruction caused by hurricanes Florence and Michael, the deadly wildfires out west and the massive flooding in other parts of the country should convince even the most die-hard skeptics that climate change is alive and well. They are a precursor to what lies ahead if we don’t act in a timely fashion. We have to hope and pray that we are not too late.

We are spoiling our own nest on a daily basis by polluting our water, land and air. The result is global warming that is causing an ever-increasing number of natural disasters and bizarre weather patterns that are relentless and deadly. Adding to this state of affairs is man’s seeming inability to get along with his fellow man and live in peace and tranquility on this fragile planet. Are we doomed to use our resources and ingenuity to kill each other?

Our only way out of this seeming road to disaster is, maybe in a perverse way, global warming itself. The nations of the world may eventually face so many natural disasters that they will have to expend resources to deal with them, leaving little or no time for squabbling with each other.

We are on this planet for a short time and should spend our time preserving it for future generations. It was once pristine; now it is soiled. We can do better. We must work at it, for the sake of our children.

Ned L. McCray, Tinley Park