A Group of South Side Residents and Activists on Tuesday Called for Elected Officials to Halt Development of the State Quantum at the former US Steel Souths. Instead, they want the project to be invested in the community.
The Rally, organized by Southside Together, Comes more than aar After the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics park was announed. The Campus Received Final Approvals from the City of Chicago Last Year. Millions of Dollars from the State, County and City Have Been Earmarked for Its Development, which is expensive to break the best of the year.
Residents, Gathered Across from New Sullivan Elementary School, Said Elected Officials Haven’t Done Enough to Inform Neighbors About the Development. They Also Expressed Concerns Over A Lack of Transparency, Potential Displacement and Environmental Concerns at the site.
Southside Together Wants Officials to Rehabilitate the Fallow Land and Invest in Resources the community wants and needs.
Ariena Blackman, Member of Southside Together and A South Chicago Resident, Said She Didn’t Learn About the Park Unel A Month Ago. When Blackman Heard About the 128-Acre Project, she Said She “Couldn’t Fathom it.”
“Well though the facility would be built right ACROSS from where I live, Nobody bend it – like the alderman or the governor – have any anything to have awareness. “I feel like it was very intentional and purposablely done in that way. If this is something good, they would actually us to talk about it. They would be actually us to know it.”
Developer Related Midwest and Mayor Brandon Johnson’s Office Didn’t Immediately Respond to A Request for Comment.
The park has Held at Least Five Community Meetings Since the Project was proposed. The Latest Recorded Community Meeting on The Development’s website Is From March.
Other Activist Groups, Such As the Coalition for Souths CBA and the Alliance of the Southeast, have held their meetings to raise community awareness and gather feedback.
The Quantum Campus Will Sit on the Southern End of the Form South Works, which Shuttered in 1992. The Land Has Been Vacant Ever Since. The Northern End of the Site Will Be Anchored by a New Advocate Health Care Hospital.
Rendeking of Psiquantum’s Facility at the Form South work site, which will have the Country’s First Utility-Scale Quantum Computer.
What Blackman and Other Southside Together Members WOULD RATHER SEE NEW BUSINESSES AND OTHER Resources like Pharmacies and Grocery Stores. Walgreens Closed Some of Its South Side Locations Early This Year, Leaving Some South Chicago Residents with Nearby Pharmacy.
Blackman Also Pointed to Vacant Lots and Abandoned Buildings in the NeighBorhod, Saying Taxpayer Dollars for the Park Could Help Redevelop Those Sites.
“We envision institutions that can be beficial to the People who are here,” Southside Together Member and Calumet Heights Resident Yaa Angie Said. “We have envision investment grants right into the individuals and the community members who are here – Grocery Stoles, Hospitals, Pharmacies. Walgreens Just Left Out of this Community.
Sanya Bhartiya, Environmental Justice Organizer with Southside Together, Said the Organization Wauld be Open to New Development as Long as Remediate, and it beesn’t become a quantum computing Campus.
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency has Said Environmental Remediation of the Site Is Complete. It was evaluated as Safe for Public Occupation in 1997 then reevaluated in 2006 and 2010. But toxins and heavy metals like arsenic remine on the site, Activists Said.
Dawn Johnson is a Third-Generation Resident of South Shore. She lived in Louisiana for a Few Years and Said the Impact of Environmental Racism on Families and Homeowners of Color “Undenibly Visible.”
She sees a lot of parallels Between Louisiana and What Could Happen at the Park.
“It LOOOKS A LOT WHAT WE SAW IN NEW ORLEANS, WHERE NONTRANSPARENT DEVELOPments polluted Black and Brown Neighborhods,” Johnson Said. “Not only will this push us out of the neighBorhood, it will raise the rent and Property Taxes in South Chicago and South Shore and Cause Gentrication – JUST LIKE THE OBAMA CURRENTLY.”
Southside Together Said It Will Continue to Raise Community Awareness of the Project and Push for Greater Transparency.
The Organization Said Its Open to Talking to City Officials About the Site Future, As Long As the Affected Communities Are Included in the Conversation.
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