Final proposals submitted for Obama presidential library

By Mark Guarino CHICAGO (Reuters) - The Barack Obama Foundation received final proposals on Thursday from four universities to host the U.S. president's future library, the foundation said. Of those four, two are in Chicago, Obama's hometown where Rahm Emanuel, the president’s former chief of staff, is mayor. The other two proposals are from New York's Columbia University and the University of Hawaii. David Spielfogel, Emanuel's senior adviser, told Reuters the mayor is in "constant communication" with the foundation to advocate for both the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and the University of Chicago, where Obama once taught law and near where he maintains a private residence. "The mayor is very focused on this. There are very few opportunities of this scale to reinvigorate a neighborhood. All of the sites we are supporting are in neighborhoods that need added economic development and this would be an incredible anchor," Spielfogel said. Last month Emanuel wrote to the foundation on UIC’s behalf to pledge a 26-acre tract of city-owned land in North Lawndale, a marginalized neighborhood five miles west of the campus. He also vowed to improve infrastructure of a nearby transit stop and shepherd tax dollars to create a small business incubator and improve streetscapes. The site is one of two UIC is proposing as it emphasizes its downtown location and easy access to transportation. "It really is in the heart of the Chicago metro area and many would say it's in the heart of the Midwest," said Michael Pagano, the dean of UIC’s urban planning and urban affairs department. The University of Chicago is pitching three sites on the city's South Side; local media reports say all three are on public parkland and would need city approval. Their proposal is also backed by clout: Susan Sher, former chief of staff to first lady Michelle Obama, is chairing the bid process. Both proposals say the library will serve as an income generator for the city, but Anthony Clark, author of a history of presidential libraries to be published next year, questions that claim, saying that traffic is highest in the few years after the president has left office, but slows soon afterwards. Presidential libraries often end up struggling to generate revenue, he says, and have to rely on ancillary streams like renting out space for weddings, workshops or traveling exhibits that have nothing to do with the museum. "I'm not sure the purported economic benefits add up, especially over time," he says. The foundation will make a final recommendation to the president and first lady. They are expected to decide on the site in the first quarter of 2015. All four contenders have ties to Obama since he was born in Hawaii and attended college at Columbia. He worked in Chicago as a community organizer, a lawyer, a University of Chicago law professor, a state legislator and a U.S. senator before becoming president. Obama, a Democrat, is due to leave office after serving two terms in January 2017. Obama supporters launched the foundation in January to plan the library's construction. (Reporting by Mark Guarino and Ian Simpson; Editing by Eric Walsh)