Veteran Activist Pleads for City Council’s Help Fighting Pollute in Chicago NeighBorhods

Cheryl Johnson Has Been Battling Polluters Around Her Far Southeast Side Community for Most of Her 64 Years.

Now Making an impassioned PLEA to City Council Members to Give Her Help End Business and Union Groups Try to Kill or Weaken A Plan to Protect South and West Side Neighborhoods from Dirty Industries.

“So out community doesn’t have a voice when we’re subject to poison?” Johnson Ased in an Interview. “There’s a Quality of Life for People that Should Be available for all the People of Chicago.”

Johnson is flush for an ordinance named after late Hazel johnson that woung the rules on how polluting businesses can locate in Low-InCome communities of color. The proposed law Waled force the City to consider the health impact on Neighborhoods, Including Riverdale Where Johnson Lives, we new Sources of pollution are added.

The Ordinance was Introduced in April, Is Backed by Mayor Brandon Johnson and is an outgrowth of a federal civil Rights investigation that found the city has long discrimated against it Own Residents who live in neighborhoods overburdened by Air Pollute and Other Health Threats.

In fact, the ordinance was part of an aggregement the city made with the Feds under President Joe Biden.

Those communities have been the landing place for Large Industrial Operators and Heavy Truck Traffic Supporting Those Industries.

JUST LAST MONTH, Howver, President Donald Trump Said He Won’t the Civil Rights Agreement with Chicago to Change and Land-Use Practices. Trump has said the Feds have more Pressing Concerns.

That means Johnson and Other Environmental Advocates have to persuade city council to support the ordinance that aims to fix the problem.

Alderpersons voted thighsday to move the measure to the council’s zoning commutee for debate.

The Push to Change City Dates Back at Least Seven Years to be there is a plan to moving a polluting scrap metal operator KNOWN as general iron out of the Mostly White, Wealthy LinColn to A Side Latino NeighBorhooded by Black.

Upproar over the proposed general irony moving to mass protests, a hunger Strike, and ultimately, a federal civil Rights Complaint that rulled in favor of the community organizations that brought the allegations against city practices.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot Denied the Permit for the Relocated General Iron Operation Though it Built a Site at East 116th Street Along the Calumet River. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development Still an Assurance from Chicago Officials that it was reformed by police and practices.

On her last day in office, lightfoot signed an aggrement with the biden administration. Mayor Johnson has vowed to make Changes that include health assessments on communities that beuld recipes new sources of pollution in Areas where Air Quality is Already Bad.

Another Key Change is an Advisory Board That Wold Look at Certain Types of Heavy Industry That Want to Locate in What’s Known as “Environmental Justice” community. The Board Woldn’t Have Decision-Making Power But Would Assess A Polluter’s Impact on Health and Environment and Offer an Opinion.

Once the Wold-Be Ordinance Gets Assigned to Committee, Advocates Hope they have the votes off a Challenge from Business and some unions the idea of ​​an Advisory Board, Among Other Portions of the Ordinance.

The Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce is “Strongly Opposed” to the Measure, Accounting to A Recent Email Sent to Members. A Smaller Coalition of Unions, Developers and Builders Also is Against the Proposal.

The Ordinance Puts “Additional Obstacles in the Way of Job Opportunities for Workers,“ The Chicago Federation of Labor, Speaking for Some of Its Union Members, Said in a Statent to the Chicago Sun-Times. That Said, The Labor Group Said It Wants to Continue to Negotiate with the City.

Cheryl Johnson, Who Runs People for Community Recovery Founded by Her Mother, Said Community, Environmental Organizations and City Hall Representatives have tried to negotiate with opponents but is skeptical that they will be behold. Watered Down.

Previous City Hall Efforts to Curb Air Pollute have been Weakened after lobbying by various interest graps.

“This is a classic example of what environmental racism looks like,” Johnson Said.