Obama Center has high dei goals, now a minority contractor sue in a $ 40 million litigation racially charged
The construction of a long -awaited library and museum of former President Barack Obama in Chicago has started with ambitious plans for diversity, equality and inclusion (dei), but is now bored by great expenses, delays and $ 40.75 million, racially charged a lawsuit filed by a minority by a minority contractor .
From the beginning, the endeavor published Dei as the key part of Inting Obama’s legacy at a site of 19.3 hectares, where the costs dropped from the initial $ 350 million to $ 830 million in 2021. Based on their previous annual reports, without available data on publicly available data for updated projected costs. The project has set “ambitious goals” for certain quotas of construction diversity, with its contracts that will be assigned to “diverse suppliers”, 35% of which were needed to be minority companies (MBES).
“With these aggressive goals, the Foundation hopes to set a new precedent for diversity and involvement in the main construction projects in Chicago and beyond,” Obama Foundation wrote in a 2017 press release.
Former President Obama and his presidential center. (Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg, Left and Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images, right.)
The importance of Dei is listed on several occasions in an explosive lawsuit filed by Robert McGee, a black co -owner II in one construction last month. The company is a minority -owned business subcontractor who provided specific and certified services for the Center.
McGee claimed that he and his company were racially discriminated against Thornton Tomasetti, a New York company that oversees the services of structural engineering and design.
In the lawsuit, McGee claims that Thornton Tomasetti changed the standards and imposed new rules about spaces and a tolerance requirement that were different from the Standard of the American Concrete Institute. The lawsuit claims that these changes have resulted in its company that increased huge overburdement of more than $ 40 million, which put it on the brink of bankruptcy.
McGee’s lawsuit stems from Thornton Memorandum Tomasetti wrote the leading construction partners of the project about a year ago, claiming that II in one – and a contractual company with which she had joined the project – responsible for numerous challenges during the project.
The memorandum contained pictures of cracked panels and exposed to supporting his claims. Thornton Tomasetti said he spent hundreds of hours examining, analyzing, redesigning and responding to corrective work and that the subcontractors caused “many problems on the ground”.
“The questions of the building were unequivocally guided by the weaker effect and inexperience of the concrete subcontractor,” the memorandum states.
Thornton Tomasetti said that the challenges with concrete are the consequences of the subcontractors and wrote that “he cannot stand while the performers are trying to blame their defects on the design team.”
The record states that Thornton Tomasetti and the architectural company “is leaning back to help what everyone knows was the questionable qualified team of subcontractors in areas where the qualified subcontractor would not require him.”
The Obamina Presidential Center is shown this week. (Fox News)
This memorandum served as the basis of McGee’s lawsuit last month, as he claims that he contained “unfounded criticism and defamation and discriminatory charges.”
The lawsuit claims that Thornton Tomasetti has undermined the goals of the diversity and involvement of the project, which are listed in the general project contract. The lawsuit also states the Dei report of the project manager 2022, in which the project describes as “to achieve significant diverse participation in business”. A report that broke the demographics of those involved in the project was also published in April.
The lawsuit claims that the plaintiffs were “subjected to unjustified and discriminatory behavior … which directly undermined the goals and obligations of the Dei Foundation of Obama, and the mission that the transformative change in the construction industry and the local community brought solutions to barriers that historically prevent disadvantageous jobs from participating in projects these sizes. “
The lawsuit claims that Thornton Tomasetti violated the Civic Rights Act of 1866 and that his alleged “slandular and discriminatory reports and procedures” caused II in one, Bob Mcgee and other subcontractors suffered extreme financial losses and potential bankruptcy.
The lawsuit states that Thornton Tomasetti discriminated against II in one “based on race”.
Mcgee claims that Thornton Tomasetti fakes II in one of the lack of sufficient qualifications and experiences to perform his work, while in the memo stating that the non-mannin contractors are qualified enough.
The lawsuit also claims that the Obama Foundation relied on the Memorandum of Thornton Tomasetti because they do not pay companies to submit about $ 40.75 million for “additional costs created” at a place near Jackson Park in Chicago.
McGee’s lawsuit rejects allegations in Thornton Tomasetti memory that his company was inexperienced or questionable qualified, pointing to II in someone’s 40-year-old show in the industry and the completion of Chicagoland’s main projects, including Millennium Park, Harold Washington Culturel Center and The Terminal American AirLines O’Hare airport.
In memory, Thornton Tomasetti shared pictures of cracked plates and exposed the rebellion. (A lawsuit)
“Furthermore, Bob Mcgee was aware and supported the goals of the diversity and the involvement of the Obama Foundation for the project and never imagined that the structural engineer of the Obama Foundation would single out a minority subcontractor owned by unfobed criticism and falsely accuse II in missing sufficient qualifications and experiences and experience performing their work, while in the same letter, stating that the performers who were not owned by minorities were qualified enough, “the letter reports.
“In a shocking and disgusting reversal of events, the African -American owner of a local construction company is also its company on the verge of forcibly closing due to racial discrimination by a structural engineer,” that lawsuit. “II in one and his shared investment … He was subjected to the unfounded criticism and defamation and discriminatory accusations by the structural engineer of the Obama Foundation, Thornton Tomasetti.”
The Obama Foundation said she was not the party of this litigation and insisted that it would not cause delays in concrete work, which she says is already completed.
“If the Foundation believed that any supplier was acting with racist intent, we would immediately take appropriate measures,” said Emily Bittner, Vice President of Communication in Obama Fund, she said recently in Fox News Digital. The Foundation did not respond to requests for information at the project updated cost.
Obama The Presidential Center aims to honor the political career of the former President Barack Obama. It will consist of museums, libraries, conference facilities, gymnasiums and NBA Court of Regulation. It will also include the Obama Nonfotional Foundation, which oversees the development of the center.
Watch: Obama The Presidential Center that is expected to open in 2026
The project has faced problems in the past. Initially, the construction was expected to begin in 2018, but was postponed until 2021. It should be opened sometime in 2026.
Some community activists claim New center It will cause the prices of homes and rent to increase and can allocate many of those who live in the area. Environmental activists were also critical of the project, claiming that they would remove too many trees and destroy some bird habitats.
Activists threatened to sue to block development, but the plan for the construction of the center was approved shortly after the lawsuit was filed, reports Newsweek. Supreme Court rejected the case of hearing a case 2021.
The Illinois JB Pritzker government, to the left, is joined by former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama in the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park 28 September 2021 in Chicago, Illinois. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
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Representatives II in one refused to comment. Fox News Digital also contacted Thornton Tomasetti representatives for comment.
Court documents show that on January 31 Thornton Tomasetti, Inc. and Scott A. Schneider, a senior director and construction engineer at the company, filed a duty of time to respond to the appeal. The court extended the deadline for their response to March 5, 2025.
Fox News’ Michael Lew contributed to this report.
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