Chicago resident living in shadows of Obama Presidential Center reveal chaos caused by years-long construction
Barack Obama Chicago resident living in shadows of Obama Presidential Center reveal chaos caused by years-long construction
Akoma Amanze's home was subject to flooding and shaking during the four years the the center was being built
By
Peter D'Abrosca Fox News
Published
June 22, 2026 8:00am EDT
|
Updated
June 22, 2026 6:00am EDT close 
Video Resident living in shadows of Obama Presidential Center reveals chaos during years-long construction
A man who has lived across the street from what is now the Barack Obama Presidential Center on Chicago’s South Side for 18 years described to Fox News Digital the havoc wreaked on his living complex by the years-long construction project.
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!CHICAGO – A man who has lived on Chicago’s South Side for 18 years and now lives in the shadow of the newly opened Barack Obama Presidential Center described to Fox News Digital the havoc he says the years-long construction project wreaked on his housing complex.
Akoma Amanze is a local cab driver who lives in Jackson Park Terrace, a low-income housing community directly across the street from the 19.3 acre campus dedicated to the 44th president.
Over the weekend, while thousands of people from across the country — celebrities and ordinary folks alike — swarmed the area to visit Obama's new campus that features a museum, library, gardens and recreational activities, Amanze and other residents took in the spectacle.
But Amanze told Fox News Digital the buzz across the street was nothing new. While he made it very clear that he supports Obama, and described living at Jackson Park Terrace as a "very good experience," Amanze and others in his complex dealt with massive headaches caused by the construction.
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Jackson Park Terrace resident Akoma Amnaze speaks with Fox News Digital from his housing complex across the street from the Obama Presidential Center on June 19, 2026. (Peter D'Abrosca/Fox News Digital)
He described the construction process, which began in 2021, as "sometimes very, very disturbing."
"He's my man, and I'm excited that this site is here" said Amanze, referring to Obama, "but as a resident, there has been a lot of things [that] have stopped us here."
The Barack Obama Presidential Center towers over Jackson Park Terrace, a low-income housing complex across the street, on June 20, 2026. (Peter D'Abrosca/Fox News Digital)
"On two occasions, my apartment flooded while they were digging the lower level of that project," he said. "Two times. And I had to deal with the ramifications of that twice. Those ramifications were that all my apartment was flooded, and I had to throw away everything on the floor. Boxes, papers, clothes, I had to throw them away."
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He said he had to suck the water out of his home himself, and then clean the entire mess up himself. Despite the destruction, according to Amanze, neither the complex's management nor representatives from the Obama Center offered to help deal with the fallout, financially or otherwise.
A sign outside Jackson Park Terrace, a low-income housing community across the street from the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. Photo taken on June 20, 2026. (Peter D'Abrosca/Fox News Digital)
Then there was the reverberation from the digging, he said.
"Sometimes, you stay in bed or in the apartment, [and] the digging — sometimes when they were digging deep— [it] would be shaking your bed," he said. "I had that experience all through the construction."
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Across the street used to be a community park where Amanze said he "more or less raised all [his] children."
The Barack Obama Presidential Center towers over Jackson Park Terrace, a low-income housing complex on Chicago's South Side, on June 20, 2026. (Peter D'Abrosca/Fox News Digital)
"In fact, my last child, that is 14 today, there used to be a favorite swing on that park where I took him every time he starts crying or he starts showing signs of stress," Amanze said. "I take him there, and I put him on that swing, and I swing him up and down, and then he will fall asleep, and then I bring him back home."
The park is gone now, but Amanze is not bitter.
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"When things are happening that you do not have the power to stop, you just have to learn to live with it," he said. "I just learned to live with it. I'm not upset. I'm excited that my brother Obama was able to establish something this big in my neighborhood. At least in my mind, I'm a part of the history."
Peter D'Abrosca is a reporter at Fox News Digital covering politics.
Follow Peter on X at @pmd_reports. Send story tips to [email protected].
Badenoch blasts 'moaning' female Labour MPs over Burnham jobs 'quota'
Kemi Badenoch has told Labour women to earn a job in Andy Burnham's Cabinet instead of demanding they are handed jobs because of their gender.
The Tory leader lashed out today amid reports that female MPs are demanding the de-facto new prime minister introduce a 50:50 gender split 'quota' in his government.
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister also complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts.
But in a scathing article in the Times today Mrs Badenoch told them to 'stop moaning' and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'.
'There are many, many reasons why you shouldn't have any Milibands in the cabinet,' she said.
'But complaining that the boys haven't given them the right jobs or that the boys are taking all the jobs, just shows that Labour's women still don't get it.'
The idea of quotas was also attacked by Baroness Jacqui Smith, Labour's Skills Minister.
Asked by Times Radio if Mr Burnham should reserve jobs for women, she said: 'No, I think what Andy Burnham should be doing is building the very best team around him to change this country.'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband (above, right, in 2010) is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts
But Mrs Badenoch told them to pipe down and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party and seen by the BBC has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs after he succeeds Sir Keir Starmer.
'We are asking you to demonstrate this change from day one and address the toxicity and misogyny within our own party and government,' it said.
Labour has never had a female leader, while the Conservatives have had three, and Mrs Badenoch urged the government to follow its meritocratic example.
'If you run a meritocracy, then you do not have to worry about jobs for the boys,' she wrote.
'Every woman who is a Conservative MP, every woman who has ever won the leadership, has had to fight to get where she is.
'By contrast, Labour women are demanding guarantees from Burnham. But the truth is he doesn't have to give any guarantees.
'If none of Labour's women are prepared to get their hands dirty and challenge him for the leadership, their demands are toothless.'
'In fact, it's quite revealing that the women's parliamentary Labour Party has written to Burnham asking him to commit himself to at least 50 per cent female ministers.
'This has nothing to do with meritocracy. It is yet more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country.'
