Two Council Members Push For Housing Protections Near Obama Project

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CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) – A pair of Chicago City Council members will roll out a proposed ordinance Wednesday aimed at protecting South Side residents from being displaced by the planned Obama Presidential Center.

"The developers are not waiting," Sharon Payne, who has lived in Woodlawn for nearly 40 years, said Tuesday. "Displacement would be catastrophic for me and many others. The time to act is now."

The CBA Housing Ordinance would establish a few rules, such as keeping 30-percent of housing near the proposed Jackson Part site as "affordable" and providing residents with a right of refusal.

"It's a struggle," said Ald. Jeanette Taylor, who is among those pushing for the ordinance. "You've got some people worried about being displaced, but you've also got people worried about their investment. We cannot act like the OPC being built is not displacing folks today. I get phone calls all the time from folks who say they have to move."

Alderwomen Jeanette Taylor and Leslie Hairston introducing a city ordinance aimed at preventing South Side residents living near the proposed Obama Center from being displaced @WBBMNewsradio pic.twitter.com/WdJW78wfos

— Andy Dahn (@thisisandydahn) July 23, 2019

Ald. Leslie Hairston has also put her support behind the ordinance. She said it would pass the council, even though it's unclear when it could come to a vote.

"We look at the history of the South Side, disinvestment, promises that have not been kept," she told reporters. "We want to make sure that we don't end up like other neighborhoods and look back to see we've been priced out."