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Chicago group sues to stop construction of Obama centre

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FILE - In this May 3, 2017, file photo, former President Barack Obama speaks at a community event on the Presidential Center at the South Shore Cultural Center in Chicago. The Obama Presidential Center will not be a part of the presidential library network operated by the National Archives and Records Administration. Public park advocates have filed a lawsuit against the city of Chicago seeking to stop construction of the center. The group also wants to bar the city from giving control of the center\'s site to the Obama Foundation. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)

CHICAGO – A non-profit group says the Obama Presidential Center shouldn’t be built in a Chicago park because it won’t be a true presidential library.

In a federal lawsuit filed Monday against the city of Chicago, Protect Our Parks Inc. accuses organizers of the planned library at Jackson Park on the city’s South Side of pulling an “institutional bait and switch” by changing the true nature of the centre from a presidential library to a centre that doesn’t house historic papers.

The Obama Foundation has said it will host a digital archive of President Barack Obama’s records, but that paper documents will be stored elsewhere.

Chicago hasn’t specifically addressed the group’s argument, but in a statement it characterizes the lawsuit as a threat to a major economic boost for the South Side.

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