Barack Obama’s $1.1 Million Botanical Garden — Er, $100,000 Gazebo
Kudos to Randy for the tip
News Busters
The media and the Obama campaign (but I repeat myself) are comparing the “experience” of’the Democrats’ presidential nominee to that of the GOP’s vice-presidential pick — meaning, one must assume, that the debate over his experience vs. John McCain’s is over, in McCain’s resounding favor.
Let’s look back a couple of months at a post I put up on July 14 (with minor revisions) that gives a, uh, concrete example of one of Barack Obama’s management “experiences” — one that the national media has (of course) totally ignored.
Barack Obama’s $100,000 Gazebo
Here’s an interesting story I found in the Chicago Tribune archives (obtained from ProQuest library database; for fair use and discussion purposes):
ENGLEWOOD IS EYED FOR BOTANICAL GARDEN
Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Ill.: Jan 15, 2000. pg. 5
A group of politicians, school administrators and community activists unveiled a plan Friday for a $1.1 million botanical garden in the city’s Englewood neighborhood.
The proposal calls for a walk beneath the “L” tracks on Princeton Avenue, from 59th Place to 62nd Place. Backers said they hope it will help spur redevelopment in the impoverished area, boost neighborhood pride and soften the impact of traffic and pollution from the nearby Dan Ryan Expressway.
State Sen. Barack Obama (D-Chicago) said he planned to seek state funding for the effort and estimated that ground could be broken in early 2001.
The proposed garden also would include a gazebo, a parrot sanctuary and a walk of fame.
Gee, that sounds exciting. Let’s go visit:
Google Maps image is more than likely from before the Sun-Times visit described below occurred, and before the related report and video were posted.)
Imagine that. No garden. No parrot sanctuary. No walk of fame.
How can that be? What happened? The Chicago Sun-Times tells us the answer, while revealing that “at least” there’s a gazebo — but not much of one (video is at link; HT Jennifer Rubin via the TIB All-Stars July 12 collection at Weapons of Mass Discussion):
Obama’s $100,000 garden grant wasted
He vowed to ‘work tirelessly’ to build an oasis for Englewood. It never happened.
July 11, 2008
As a state senator, Barack Obama gave $100,000 in state money to a campaign volunteer who failed to deliver on a plan to create a botanic garden in one of Chicago’s most blighted neighborhoods.
….. what was supposed to be a six-block stretch of trees and paths is now a field of unfulfilled dreams, strewn with weeds, garbage and broken pavement.
Kenny B. Smith, whose nonprofit group got the money, said it was spent legitimately, mostly on underground site preparation. But he admitted Thursday that the garden is a lost cause because other government money never came through.
….. Smith — an early Obama supporter who gave $550 to his state and congressional campaigns — said he gave his paperwork documenting the work to a state agency and no longer has it.
….. a reporter walked the site last week with a landscape architect from the Illinois Green Industry Association who found no evidence of the work Smith cited. The only major changes since 2000: A gazebo was added, and some trees were cut down.
Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, said through a spokesman he wasn’t responsible for monitoring the work; the staffs of Gov. Blagojevich and former Gov. George Ryan were.
….. In 2001, at Obama’s direction, a $100,000 Illinois FIRST grant went to Smith’s group. The garden site was part of Rosewood Estates, an affordable-housing development being built by the group, whose unpaid board chairman was Brian Washington, a Sun-Times security guard.
Plans called for more than 50 homes, but only a dozen were built, Smith said.
The remaining $1 million for the botanic garden was never raised.
Those legendary $400 hammers for the military have nothing on this $100,000 gazebo.
A trifling matter? I don’t think so. More like a revealing one:
Obama feels no sense of responsibility for the results of money directed to someone HE chose. This isn’t “the buck stops here” of Harry Truman fame; this is “the buck went somewhere else.”
Gubernatorial staffs aren’t responsible for monitoring projects like this. State agencies are. If the agency involved didn’t do their job (according to the article, it’s the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity), that’s one thing, but the blame-shifting to other pols is either hopelessly naive (a legitimate possibility, given the candidate’s seemingly endless well of ignorance) or irresponsible.
If you look at the full text of the press release that announced the project, you’ll see that Kenny Smith was on hand, and that he made representations about how he was “work(ing) with a variety of governmental agencies and not-for-profit groups to secure funding this project including the Chicago Transit Authority, the United States Department of Agriculture, and the American Society of Landscape Architecture. We have made some progress ….” My bet: Smith had, at most, met with these orgs once or twice, and was blowing smoke about the realistic chances of getting money. For a nominal $550 in campaign contributions, Smith got 100 grand, which “somehow” has mostly gone bye-bye. Bottom line: Obama got hustled. Did he even look into how the rest of the “fund-raising” was going before directing the release of the grant funds?
Perhaps that’s why Obama seems oddly indifferent to what ultimately happened. The response from his spokesman (and not the candidate) is tired boilerplate about “provid(ing) residents with a livable neighborhood.” Zzzzzz.
The larger point is this: The guy is hopelessly gullible, can’t even get a $100,000 grant right, and now wants to have the final say in matters relating to a $3-plus trillion federal budget and a $14-trillion economy in a town chock full of con artists and tricksters.
Yikes.
It would be cool if some enterprising photo-opster could make up a “Barack Obama $100,000 Gazebo” sign (or something more clever — use your imagination), take some pictures at the site, and post them. Until that happens, this well-done contribution from NewsBusters reader “tnculp” will do very nicely:
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Again and again Obama’s skeletons in the closet keep coming up, but all the MSM can do is try to find something on Palin.
September 9th, 2008 at 7:39 pmNot a word about Obama.
There is nothing tougher than trying to clean up and stand up a neighborhood gone bad. Yeah, this is laughable, but it’s also cry-able.
What was Obama’s mission when he went into Rosedale, a neighborhood blighted by the closing of the steel mills? Hint; it wasn’t this.
All over the Country steel mills shut down because of unions and process. We don’t mine iron, in this Country, because it is cheaper to buy steel shipped across the world. We actually buy steel, in this Country, that is made from scrap iron we send to foreign countries, melted down, then re-processed and sent back here. That’s cheaper than making our own steel from our own iron ore, in union cities. We also process scrap iron in non-union cities in this Country.
Barack Obama’s mission was to bring jobs to Rosedale, but he wouldn’t buck the unions, so he wouldn’t bring any jobs. Except for a one-week job for a small (probably union) carpentry crew to build that gazebo.
Jeez, the least he coulda done was had it be made from steel! That thing won’t last 20 years; even the shingles don’t appear to be architectural grade and may not last that long!
September 9th, 2008 at 7:40 pmThats about 50 miles from where I live. I will see about getting some pics.
September 9th, 2008 at 7:43 pmNot a good neighborhood though.
I worked that neighborhood about 50 years ago driving a truck. Had to be careful, real careful and always alert. kind of like being in parts of Iraq before Petraeus troops got a grip on it. Tough town like many in the USA, but survivable if you are street savvy and get out before it grabs you. Good reporting.
September 9th, 2008 at 8:11 pmhell i would have built that gazebo for 1/20th the cost of that. even less. what were they charging? about 20 bucks a nail. 5 bucks per nail in labor costs on top of that.
September 9th, 2008 at 8:40 pmyou know. the funny thing is. Obama is what? 40-something years old. McCain is pretty old. We all know that. How is Obama so shady and has so many skeletons in his closet! The Obama camp has nothing really on McCain so they are going after the VP! Is this really a guy you can trust be president? way to go dems. This is really the best of the best for you?
September 9th, 2008 at 10:23 pmI’ve got a carpenter friend who could build the gazebo by himself in a week’s time or less, and the bill would be, like Kurt commented above, 1/20th of what Obama paid.
I think people should stay on this story. I hope Rush Limbaugh picks up on it.
September 9th, 2008 at 11:07 pmSo will this be called “The Gazebo To Nowhere”?
September 10th, 2008 at 2:13 amGive Barry a $550 donation and get a $100,000 grant, that makes Hillary’s cattle futures small potatoes.
BHO- change we can cash in on.
September 10th, 2008 at 3:21 amIf anything it is a monument to liberalism! See, we came in and did something that felt good and then left you holding the bag! Thanks for your support! See you next time!
Isn’t anyone’s eyes open in that neighborhood?
Yeah, they have a gazebo, for how ever long that untreated wood will last, for crackheads to shelter in and hang out and further destroy that neighborhood. Where is the maintenance crew to cut the grass?
I had to laugh when I read that the money went into ground preparation for the jobsite. So what, they made a greenfield? (removal of all underground obstuctions like pipes and rocks and doing soil analysis, etc.) Kenny Smith is $95,000.00 richer.
I’ll say it again, he just ain’t that smart…
Obonehead.
September 10th, 2008 at 4:15 amObama isn’t vetted fully and it is unimaginable how this Democrat could possibly get a security clearance to be President.
September 10th, 2008 at 4:40 amIs this what to expect from all of those government funded “green” jobs Obama talks about?
September 10th, 2008 at 5:45 amUmmm yeah don’t go there at night.
Why they would choose to stick it in some shit-hole west side neighborhood…well I guess that adds to the fact that the 100k just dissappeared.
September 10th, 2008 at 6:15 am