Report: Obama Center Contractors Owed Millions For Hideous New Center
Obama’s presidential center is a testimony to his presidency – costs were more than expected and the result was ugly.
The African American Contractors Association is raising concerns about unpaid bills from building the Obama Presidential Center.
The hulking mass of stone, which reportedly cost nearly $1 billion, will open this week.
However, contractors are alleging they have not been fully paid for all the work. At the same time, the chair of the Illinois Republican Party says the center’s finances could leave taxpayers on the hook for repairs down the road.
Fox News reported:
Outside the center last week, Adamson Plumbing President Mike Owen provided company spreadsheets to Fox News Digital, which he said showed that his firm is nearly $4 million in the red. He said that unnecessary rework, delays and more than 100 change-order requests left his company absorbing millions of dollars in additional costs.
In addition, Omar Shareef, the president of the African American Contractors Association, told Fox News Digital outside the center last Saturday that several Black-owned contractors are also in financial difficulty due to the project.
Illinois GOP Chairman Bob Grogan said the Obama Foundation has not lived up to its promise to create an endowment that will pay for future work. Annual operating costs are expected to be around $40 million, Fox News reported.
Yet, the Foundation has only put aside around $1 million into a reserve fund. Even with generous stock market returns of 10 or 20% the fund would only be able to cover a few days of operation.
“One of their core promises was they were supposed to create an endowment as basically an insurance policy so the taxpayers wouldn’t get stuck with the bill,” Grogan told Fox News.
However, the foundation said “it is in compliance with its agreement with the city, noting that the pact required the creation of an endowment but did not specify a dollar target,” Fox News reported.
The project has been a sore spot not just on the eyes but for local residents as well.
Local University of Chicago professors, environmentalists, and other citizens opposed the center from the beginning in 2018, as The College Fix previously reported.
Residents have also complained about their rents going up, which they blame on the Obama Center.
The center is expected to open this Friday, although there is a private ceremony planned for Thursday.
Due to the hubbub, families will not be able to visit the nearby Museum of Science and Industry, according to NBC 5.
[Featured image via NBC News screenshot]
Matt Lamb currently works as an associate editor for The College Fix. He also contributes to a variety of websites, including Legal Insurrection, Human Life Review, and AMAC Newsline. His work has been published by The Federalist, Townhall, and The Daily Caller. He has worked for Students for Life of America and Turning Point USA.
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Comments
Design should have been a giant toilet.
This is the first photo I’ve seen of this building that makes it clear how much it looks like an amogus. 🤣
What’s an “amogus”?
.
https://giphy.com/explore/amogus
Ha! That or maybe the top level of a ziggurat, though your suggestion is much more contemporary.
It looks like a suitable building for Stasi HQ in East Berlin.
Obama stiffs the little guy. How in character.
Black ones too.
How soon before a minaret is popped on top and the muslim call to prayer starts wailing over the streets of Chicago?
These contractors knew Dems lie so they were fools and I do not feel sorry for them.
Obama just created his copy of Mecca”s Kaaba. Wait til you hear the Muslim call to prayer five times a day.
But that is the sweetest sound per BHO.
From the pages of East Germany & Soviet of Brutalist Architecture.
Now, now. It is absolutely perfect for Obama. Completely without a single redeeming feature.
A Clockwork Orange.
It’s Chicongo. A flak tower is appropriate for that city.
AI confirms what a nice guy Obama is:
“While the Obama Foundation itself did not directly evict anyone, the impending opening of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago’s Jackson Park has triggered severe gentrification and displacement. Longtime, predominantly Black families on the South Side are being priced out due to soaring property taxes and skyrocketing rents.”
extra-terrestrials on a sightseeing jaunt : ” behold !–the biggest outhouse in the universe ! imagine the amount of feces it must contain ! “
Being so unsophisticated as to contract work with no front money? The law is not required to give wisdom to the transactions of humankind. Nonetheless, I hope that contractors at least recover their costs or payroll and trust fund taxes. OTOH, this IS in Chicago, eh? Live and learn, prosper later.
DW comments that the job was done with DEI labor and often awarded to the highest bidder. I guess if you intend to stiff people, it helps to filter for the stupidest ones first.
I’m not in the building industry but I won’t take a government contract unless they pay every two weeks. It limits potential losses.
“fund would only be able to cover a few days of operation.”
So it would be open for more days than Obumbles actually worked at president.
A promise from Obama is as good as a lie.
I’m guessing the books are Cliff’s Notes and paperbacks written by guys named Karl and Vladimir and Leon.
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