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Park District Approves Plan To Transfer Park Land For Obama Library

CHICAGO (CBS) -- The Chicago Park District unanimously approved a proposal to transfer park land for the Barack Obama Presidential Library if the University of Chicago wins its bid for the library.

The University of Chicago's bid for the library and its two proposed sites depend on using land in either Jackson Park or Washington Park.

Park board members said the city wants to be in the best possible footing to obtain the Obama library.

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Woodlawn resident and former park supervisor Arnold Randall told Park District commissioners that an Obama Presidential Library is an appropriate use for park land.

"Museums…are part of the fabric of our park system here in Chicago," he said. "They have always existed from the beginning."

Cassandra Francis from Friends of the Parks says her group says putting the eventual Obama Presidential Library on public park land would needlessly divide the city.

"We do, however, support the placement of the Obama Presidential Library and bringing him home on the University of Chicago owned and city owned parcel west of Dr. Martin Luther King Drive in the Washington Park neighborhood," Francis said.

The group is promising legal action if a site using park land is chosen.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel released a statement after the Park District's vote saying, "I am committed to moving heaven and earth to ensure that the Obama Presidential Library makes its home on Chicago's south or west side, not on Manhattan's Upper West Side. As the city where President Obama started his career in public service and raised his family, Chicago is united in its effort to welcome the President's legacy and the foundation of his future civic initiatives. Today's action by the Park District is another step toward ensuring we've met the President's request to secure the three finalist sites."

The University of Chicago is competing with the University of Illinois at Chicago, Columbia University in New York, and the University of Hawaii in Honolulu to host the Obama Library.

The park district board also unanimously approved the renaming of Buckthorn Park on the South Side after Hadiya Pendleton and its transformation from a small playground to a two acre park with expanded facilities.

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