CHICAGO (CBS) — Despite objections from the local councilman, a City Council committee on Monday subsidized plans to build a tent encampment for immigrants in Morgan Park, on the site of an empty jewelry store and parking lot.
The Housing and Real Estate Committee supported a proposal for the city to acquire a 6. 5-acre parcel at 115th and Halsted streets from Jewel’s parent company, Albertson’s, for $1.
While the proposed ordinance specifies whether the city plans to turn the tent into a shelter, resources said the city plans to use the parking lot to set up a so-called “base camp” of winterized tents that can accommodate up to 1,400 people. . asylum seekers.
The committee approved the acquisition by voice vote. Only Ald. David Moore (17th) voted no, after city officials couldn’t tell him how much the city would have to pay in taxes on assets at the site. The mayor’s aides said they would try to provide that data to councilmembers before the full city council vote. about the move on Wednesday.
Citizens in the area insisted that they did not need an immigrant camp in place, although Ald. Ronnie Mosley, 21, did not attend the housing committee meeting Monday morning. He published a letter criticizing Johnson’s leadership for moving forward with an immigrant encampment in his district despite the network’s concerns.
The site was already slated for Morgan Park Commons, a progression of housing, retail and park spaces. The State of Illinois has set aside $15 million for this project. The proposal to acquire the site for use as a migrant shelter would still leave the door open for this progression once the site is no longer needed as a migrant camp.
Mosley doesn’t see a “full commitment” from Johnson’s management to opening the Morgan Park Commons project next year.
“The 21st District will tolerate a crisis that prioritizes our desires and our voices!”Mosley wrote, “There are still many unanswered questions about the safety, timeliness, and care of our own residents. District 21 deserves answers to those questions, and I will continue to fight for true engagement and investment in our network going forward. administration. “
Mosley said he also needs a commitment to some other housing progress in his neighborhood, innovations at Percy Julian High School and a shelter for Chicago’s homeless residents.
“The administration says we can serve Chicagoans and asylum seekers in need. Therefore, I ask that District 21 have a transitional shelter for the citizens of Chicago so that the citizens of this network can have safer housing,” Mosley wrote.
Aldo. Andre Vasquez (40), who chairs the City Council’s committee on immigrant and refugee rights, said he hopes the Johnson administration will provide Mosley and his constituents with more transparency about the express plans for the Morgan Park site.
“I saw Ald. Mosley’s statement and there will be more communication and engagement so that the network can deal with this properly,” he said.
Aldo. Carlos Ramírez-Rosa (35), president of the mayor’s city council, said he hopes progress on Morgan Commons will move forward “as soon as possible” once there is no longer a migrant shelter on the site.
However, he said he expects neighbors’ considerations of the shelter to subside once it opens.
“For migrant shelters, it’s a dynamic that some citizens oppose. Some are afraid of what is going to happen. I think what you noticed is that once those migrant shelters open, the court cases don’t necessarily have merit. “People can see that those shelters are safe. People can see that they are achieving what they set out to do,” he said.
All of this comes as Chicago reports its first frigid temperatures of the season, with thousands of immigrants living in police stations or sleeping outside, waiting for a place in city-run shelters.
As of Monday morning, more than 19,800 asylum seekers had arrived in Chicago since last August. Nearly 2,800 other people remained in police stations while waiting for shelter, and 500 were living at O’Hare International Airport while waiting for shelter. City officials said 11,761 migrants remained in city-run shelters as of Monday morning.
On Sunday night, Johnson’s announced that the city would provide blankets and coats to newly arrived immigrants, as well as other homeless people in Chicago.
The mayor also said there will be heated buses parked at 16 Chicago police stations, while the city is also working with faith-based teams to plan more shelters and emergency shelters.
Ramirez-Rosa said city officials have struggled to keep up with the influx of asylum seekers who have arrived in Chicago since last August, especially as the speed of migrant arrivals has accelerated in recent months.
“We are temporarily working to verify and keep up with the number of buses Texas is sending. When we learned that the speed at which we could open a physical shelter wasn’t fast enough to keep up with the bus, that’s why “they’re targeting those heated base camp solutions. We are temporarily rushing to put them in place. In the meantime, we’re going to take any and all measures to make sure we keep other people warm and safe,” he said.
The city has also moved forward with plans to build a tent camp for migrants on vacant land at California’s 38th Street and Brighton Park, where many residents have also expressed opposition. So far, the city has focused on on-site logistical and environmental testing. and has not yet begun building tents or other infrastructure for a migrant camp.