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‘Turn the buses around!’ Chicago residents blow up on proposed migrant housing at local field house

October 7, 2023 | | Print Article

Hundreds of residents of Chicago’s 29th Ward gathered on Tuesday to protest Mayor Brandon Johnson’s decision to turn a local field house into a migrant shelter.

In fact, they gathered inside the very field house — the Amundsen Park field house — that Mayor Johnson intends to use to house incoming migrants. They gathered there after their alderman, Chris Taliaferro, announced Johnson’s decision and invited local residents to the field house to discuss it.

“Taliaferro announced late last week that the park field house at 6200 W. Bloomingdale Ave. would be converted into a migrant shelter, one of many across the city set up to house the more than 17,000 migrants that have arrived from South America,” according to Block Club Chicago.

“The shelter is expected to house 200 people and those migrants will arrive by Saturday, according to Taliaferro. Field house activities and programs such as baseball and football games would be moved to Sayre Park and Lovett Elementary,” the local outlet reported on Wednesday.

During the contentious meeting Tuesday, “an overflow crowd of outraged neighbors sounded off on the plan, often shouting over each other throughout the night.”

“Neighbors who spoke at the meeting were concerned about an increase in crime and lack of access to the park for the community. More than anything, many Austin neighbors say the city is handing the neighborhood a burden it is ill equipped to deal with, citing decades of disinvestment and neglect on the West Side. Residents say the lack of resources will only lead to more violence and concern for their children’s futures,” Block Club Chicago notes.

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Austin is the name of the 29th Ward.

“You want to take the little scraps of resources we have and put us at the bottom of the barrel? That’s not fair!” one local resident said during the meeting, according to Fox News.

“A lot of these young boys, they don’t have fathers, so a lot of these coaches, they are their fathers. They spend part of their weekend here along with during the week. That keeps them in a safe place. It gives them mentorship. It shows them discipline,” the resident added.

“Turn the buses around! Turn the buses around!” a second resident said.

“We’re not anti-migrants, but it should not be on our backs,” a third resident added.

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To his credit, Taliaferro for his part reportedly said he’s “strongly opposed” to the mayor’s plan.

“It takes away valuable neighborhood resources from a community that, in part, has been disinvested in for decades. It is because of these reasons and the fact that viable alternatives are available that I strongly oppose closing Amundsen Park to house migrants seeking asylum,” he said in an earlier statement.

But his opposition did little to calm the “heated” crowd.

“What I want to say is, Mayor Brandon Johnson, we are disappointed in you. This is the community that supported you, how dare you,” one local said at the meeting.

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“We do have empathy for migrants, but we have to take care of our community. My nephews come to this park and it’s just been taken away and there’s no plan. It’s like nobody is fighting for us,” another local said.

Windy City Dolphins Youth Football League coach Brion Page was also at the meeting. He argued that Johnson’s plan would deprive young student-athletes of a vital resource.

“We’re not just a program, we’re a family. The city is doing something that could be entirely avoided. You’re just saying, ‘The hell with our kids.’ I do believe they need help, but you’re putting a problem into an area that already has problems,” he said.

Another local, identified as Linda Johnson, noted that she and her peers have been paying for access to the field house for their own children.

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“When there’s a lack of communication, there’s dictatorship, and I feel like that’s what’s happening right now. It makes us look like we don’t care for people, and we do. But when you work all your life in this city and you retire, then you have an outing, which is your park district. Then you wanna take that? We should not have to suffer. We are paying our tax money for parks and everything else,” she said.

Vivek Saxena
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