(The Center Square) – Community leaders across the South Shore area are determined to have their voices heard at an upcoming meeting about plans to convert a shuttered high school into a shelter for migrant families that many residents insist they knew nothing about until now.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office is organizing the gathering for 6 p.m. Thursday at South Shore High School, 7627 S. Constance Ave., according to an online invitation.
“We will continue collaborating with community-based organizations and local and community leaders to support those in need,” Lightfoot’s office said in the statement.
Lightfoot’s plan also runs counter to the vision held for the facility by Ald. Michelle Harris, whose 8th Ward includes the school that has now largely stood shuttered for the past four years.
As debate over the issue has picked up steam, Harris publicly let it be known that she does not support the move being proposed by the mayor because she has questions and concerns about the funding, safety and “humanity” of the plan, adding that she plans to push for a change of direction from City Hall. She too criticized the Lightfoot administration for the way she said it has operated on the issue, adding “I was recently notified by the mayor’s office that the old South Shore High School building will house migrant families.”
Lightfoot’s office faced many of the same criticisms from neighboring Woodlawn area residents earlier this year when officials moved to convert a shuttered grade school in their neighborhood into a similar shelter.
South Shore Chamber of Commerce executive director Tonya Trice told WTTW.com that she fears the neighborhood is being used as a “dumping ground.”
“Is it the best use of the building, and is it the right solution for asylum seekers” she added. “And that’s what’s troubling to me, because are these decisions being made just randomly?”
Not long ago, the South Shore property was leased to the Chicago Police Department and the Chicago Fire Department, a move that has not always set well with area residents and a development that prompted many of them to become more actively involved in deciding what ultimately becomes of the property. More recently, residents said they were led to believe that the space would be used for education, cultural and community purposes.
“Every time we change administrations, it seems as though what was talked about with the community, what arrangements had been made with the community goes by the wayside,” said LaShawn Brown, of South Shore Works.
Talk of the shelter comes as community leaders in the area are already embroiled in a standoff with Obama Presidential Center developers as residents push for a community benefits agreement in hopes of steering clear of displacement with the center slated to open in 2025.
The Thursday night gathering comes just days after officials at a City Council committee said the city was out of money, space and time to handle the influx of asylum seekers, some of whom are now reported to be sleeping on police station floors amid the growing shortage of shelter space.
