Delays and Denials: Progress on Obama Presidential Center in Chicago Has Reportedly Stalled

Charles Birnbaum, founder and president of the Cultural Landscape Foundation in Washington, D.C., said there’s been “little engagement” regarding the project—a point of frustration since he’s one of the consulting parties. He and other consulting parties have been placed on mute during public conference calls discussing the center, he says. Nor has there been any outreach for in-person meetings.

“Preservation is a negotiation,” Birnbaum told the Tribune. There’s (normally) a give and take in the process … There’s a discourse that happens that hasn’t happened here.”