i liked her dog ok, but that dog died, and now she's in obamaland, goodbye.

mea culpa, this is an exchange i regretted but it happened and maybe this will consign it to sporadic history.

 

Hi Doug, We have actually met before, we used to see each other a lot when I walked my dog X. along the lakeshore; in fact you took a fabulous photo of her and sent it to me, which I really appreciated.

I'm surprised at your reaction to this, which I would say is not really rooted in reality as I've engaged with many "non-elite" that share my support of the OPC.  In fact, they deify Obama more than I and find that the sentiment you express, which favors a small piece of parkland over the establishment of a center in honor of a man that has given them so much hope in pretty dark times.  Indeed, the word "insulted" has been expressed many times. 

 (haha, deify is a funny word, of course if you go to the church with the people who deify him more than you, you won't find much dissent, you may find only belief, after all he is deus, right?)

I cannot afford to live in Hyde Park, so I bought a beautiful house in the South Shore neighborhood which has given me the opportunity to talk to a lot of "non-elites" so I feel like I have hard data to support my position.  While you may have engaged with pro-CBA people (who, I would like to say, are also in support of the OPC, but just want them to sign), I encourage you to broaden your outreach and ask.  You might be surprised what you find.

 (i can see your appraisal growing. my outreach is broader than thou.)

 

hi ----,
i'm not against the opc, just the confiscation of a park that i love, and i believe it is a crime to steal public land when there us so much vacant land available. obama simply wants the prime real estate. and the monumental tower he wants is a stark expression of his disdain for the people and green space, there is a broad and rising coalition against this major land grab, and most of the people i talk to, across the spectrum, wish he would take his monument somewhere more appropriate where it wont destroy nature and force people out of the neighborhood due to real estate speculation. this is a horrid legacy for one who once fought just such land grabs. it's a bitter irony that the community activists he used to count himself among now have to fight against him as the man. once he fought the incursions of wealth and power over people, now he embodies wealth and power.

one of the reasons i loved it down here was i have been driven out of several northside neighborhoods as they gentrified. i was so happy to see diversity and open space and the nearness of the lake. what will remain of the sanctuary will be a denuded zone with a giant tower, a vast field of astroturf, an elite golf course, and the king of it all with his penthouse looking down over what once was the people's park, now his private domain, with constant surveillance. yes, it is an insult, and the end of this little bit of nature that once privatized and built upon will never be open space again. some legacy. each time i go out there they have cut more trees and removed vegetation and it makes me so sad. the place i loved to walk my dog will be no longer. our freedom will be gone. and you call that a good thing, huh?

...

Doug, your interpretation of this center is so negative that I'm sad you can't see the positive.  The building will take up 0.4% of Jackson park and the majority of it will be open, for free, to the public (including the top, "penthouse" as you call it.  Yes, free to the public, not a place for Obama to preside.)  Did you not go to the Public forum? The programming they plan to offer is for education of the kids of the southside, to help get them out of gangs and have a safe place to go.  They will have a recording studio in the basement, with classes by well known muscians, (JZ, Chance the Rapper) for kids in the neighborhoods. This is only one example of the things they plan to offer.
-(the penthouse is not the top deck, it is the entire floor consisteing of obama's private lair. call it as you may.)

The rest of the OPC will be beautifully landscaped with more trees than are there now.  There will be play centers for children, a sledding hill in the winter. There won't be condoms, broken glass, dime bags and syringes for kids (like my 2.5 year old) to play with.  If you just want a park with no people, then you have it now.  But that is not what these parks are intended for.  They are for all the people, not just you.  The OPC will open this up to all the people that need to be in parks much more than you or me.  People that live deeper in more dangerous neighborhoods than Hyde Park.  And no, opposition to the center is not the consensus, not by any measure.  Go to the churches, you'll see how the majority of the Southside feels, insulted that a bunch of white people don't want to honor the President with a beautiful place in a nice park.  That is reality. (hahaha, reality, haha)

Finally, I want to ask you to think about how many times you have walked on the proposed location of the OPC.  Don't answer me, just think about it yourself.  Because you would have had to walk across Cornell and then enjoy the track and football field that is there now.  Not bucolic nature, but partially manipulated turf that is far from being beautiful.  Hardly anyone goes there outside of the people walking on the track or playing on the football field.  I know that for a fact because I drive by it every single day, either to go to work or shopping in Hyde Park because there isn't a grocery store anywhere in South Shore!

(nit!nit!)

 

well it's a real negative thing, sorry erin that you can't see that. massive gentrification and the theft of a beautiful public park. there is no good in it other than for commerce and the enrichment of a few. it will not be open to the public, other than maybe guided tours, and the same public library. it is a private enterprise taken from the people. i highly doubt the people will be invited into the obama penthouse. and i didn't call it a penthouse. it is as i understand an entire floor devoted to the obama's. none of which matters if it weren't for the callous disregard of all the people that will be gentrified out, and the loss of the park and sanctuary. it is not 4%. this is a land grab that will adversely affect the majority, and virtually eliminate nature.

in fact they have already cut hundreds of trees and will clear cut every single tree in the footprint of the tower and grounds. they have removed hundreds just recently.

i doubt it will be a place for gangs to go, seriously. there have been so many lies, so much propaganda.

there already is a sledding hill where obama wanted to build his parking garage to add another five acres of confiscated property. i have many pictures of it, and the midway we saved.

i doubt the gangs and the people from dangerous neighborhoods are going to want to be in a private park under constant surveillance.

of course opposition is not consensus, but it is rising, and that can be seen by obama's rhetoric, his promise that this is not gentrification, his utter dismissal of all the varied groups that dread this prospect and at least want some minimal guarantee of community benefit, which he will not agree to of course, because he knows he will not deliver. it's a land grab of a treasured piece of land in a perfect location for tourism.

that's such utter bullshit, shame on you for calling this opposition a bunch of white people. you either are blind or a shill. look at the people sitting in the cold protesting. just look them. they are black. the majority of people who will lose their homes and their affordable rentals are in fact black. many like yourself believe the hype and propaganda and cannot imagine the saintly obama, who deported more immigrants than all the other president combined, could possibly do anything other than good. magical thinking in denial of history and present reality. that is reality. wake up. i know your property value will rise, but think of all the ones who will be displaced.

lastly, it is not the actual footprint, but the brutal control of the entire area, the denuding of nature, for security, the 235 foot tower in the direct flight path of migrating birds. this was once an important oasis for the birds, and other wildlife. gone to obamaland. 

 

-(forgive me, god, for being such a self-indulgent elitist blogger. you know i can't help myself. what? you're right, i want to keep it going. yet i had the last word. in the end is the word).