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A city in seemingly constant crisis-management mode

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Illinois

* Strong reporting from the Sun-Times…

Chicago’s response to a growing immigrant crisis has turned police stations into makeshift shelters where asylum seekers have been provided with expired meal rations and where infections and infestations are a common problem. […]

Boxes of meal rations that were sent to the Gresham District last week had expired in September 2020, and a notice was sent out urging police officials to return any expired meals they’d received, according to sources with knowledge of the situation and photos shared with the Sun-Times. […]

A City Hall source said hospitals, hotels and short-term rentals have all declined to take in the asylum seekers because they view the crisis as a public health matter, leaving city officials in a tough spot. […]

Some of the new arrivals have stayed at police stations with no beds for as long as a week, according to [Mary Schaaf, a volunteer with the online community Refugee Community Connection], who noted that some residents have opened up their homes to allow individuals to take a shower or wash their clothes while they wait for a city shelter. […]

A family staying at a police station last week developed what was believed to be lice or bed bugs, leading to a logistical scramble to get them treatment, said Dr. Evelyn Figueroa of the Pilsen Food Pantry, who has been assisting in community efforts to help the new arrivals. […]

“How long are we going to fight about politics and let people sleep in police stations?” Figueroa said. “We are trying to separate social work from policing, and yet we are coercing them into these roles we know are not right for them, not what they signed up for and overwhelm the police stations.”

A police source complained that officers are being given “zero assistance” from the city, leaving them to personally support those in need. He recalled sending a tactical officer to grab food for a group of immigrants and personally purchasing baby wipes and diapers for an infant after his district started filling up in recent weeks.

* Regardless of what’s happened in the past week or so, the city and the state have been well aware for months that a big surge was likely coming…

The Covid restriction known as Title 42 has blocked migrants from crossing the U.S.-Mexico border to seek asylum more than 2.5 million times since it was put in place at the start of the pandemic. It is the third time the Biden administration has been preparing to lift Title 42. The previous attempts were blocked by courts, but this time a court challenge does not seem likely to prevent the ban from lifting on May 11.

And yet…

The city has established 20 shelters since the 108 buses were sent from Texas, [Matt Doughtie, manager of emergency management services at the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications] said. Twelve of them have closed, leaving just eight, he said.

Lovely.

So, once again, the city is engaged in a hair-on-fire crisis management situation.

Brandon Johnson could do everyone in this entire state a huge favor by not waiting for these sorts of situations to explode before finally trying to manage a problem.

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 10:01 am

Comments

Man, so many of Chicago’s problems aren’t ideological, they just come down to bad management. I don’t know if Johnson can fix ‘em, but at least the team that clearly couldn’t handle ‘em is leaving.

Comment by Arsenal Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 10:11 am
“He recalled sending a tactical officer to grab food for a group of immigrants and personally purchasing baby wipes and diapers for an infant after his district started filling up in recent weeks.”

I’ve heard hundreds of examples of teachers doing this kind of thing over the years. First time I can recall hearing a cop do it.

Comment by Ben L. Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 10:14 am
What confuses me is the welcoming rhetoric offered by the mayor and others, only to be followed up by a complete lack of planning. They knew about the challenges. And yet, here we are.

Comment by Rogo Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 10:14 am
No fan of the current Mayor but why put them on blast and ignore the state and federal government’s complete failure to help. Where do you think exactly the City was magically supposed to get all the resources to impact this.

Comment by Ah the City Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 10:25 am
Can somebody at City Hall at least get a box truck from one department, drive to O’Hare and borrow several hundred cots and drop them off at police stations to get these poor people off the floor where they sit all day? Or do we need a stakeholder meeting of key departments and a 20 page slide deck to establish KPIs before we can get refugees off the floors?

Comment by ChicagoBars Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 10:28 am
===magically supposed to get all the resources===

They spend plenty of money on plenty of other things. Those silly lotteries for instance. Instead of planning, doing the work to get ready, getting ducks aligned, it just exploded all over everything.

Again.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 10:28 am
“Ah the City” - well, more than nothing would have been good. There’s always blame to go around, whatever, but the government for the 3rd largest city in the nation should be capable of coming up with some proposals and doing something on its own.

Comment by Perrid Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 10:29 am
There is a significant difference in the following;

One, to have a governor, without coordination, bus human beings as political pawns, forcing chaos in an immediate.

And another, to realize and recognize these instances and these difficulties are coming, and to look ahead before getting a call or influx and wonder “now what?”.

What has been lacking in recent times is a 5th Floor that can handle crisis by evaluating the crisis in real time and use lessons learned to prepare for the inevitable reoccurrence of the same situations.

In recent times, I’ve yet to see or get an impression that the only mode existing is “Crisis Mode”, meaning too that the 5th Floor, now, and in recent pasts…

I have yet to see these 5th Floor leaders be about the governing that is about being prepared to govern… not react type governing to being *required* to govern.

The Mayor-Elect must look at governing as the act of preparing and implementing, not reacting, assessing, and reacting again.

This situation is not ending anytime soon, these instances are not stopping either.

This quote seems apropos… “Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.”

Do better, do so by preparing

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 10:29 am
Rogo, are you accusing Mayor Lightfoot of governing by press release and public image and neglecting the hard work of actually governing and trying to manage the city bureaucracy? I am shocked by your claim.

Comment by ZC Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 10:31 am
I expected Greg Abbott to tell the Mayor to call Joe Biden. I did not expect the Governor to say the same.

Comment by Ah the City Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 10:43 am
But yes of course the City could plan better. There are always “reasons” they cannot do things. There were probably reasons Meigs Field couldn’t be torn up, but it was, whether you think it should have been or not.

Comment by Ah the City Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 10:45 am
===But yes of course the City could plan better===

Or at all.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 10:55 am
Also, btw, this doesn’t leave the state off the hook. As mentioned above, state leaders also knew about the upcoming deluge.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 10:57 am
do you see the tents under bridges, by the side of the highway? those have been there for a while. it is a much larger problem than migrants sent by the idiot Gov. of Texas. everyone got it together for the pandemic, creating a huge facility that thankfully no one ended up needing. create something for the unhoused people who are in Chicago year round. try and convince all of them to come in from the weather. and create something to deal with the wave of migrants. big biz touted how they worked on (made money) on the pandemic need, come on big biz, help.

Comment by Amalia Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 11:02 am
With so many shuttered schools in Chicago, the buildings could be repurposed as shelters for the newly arrived immigrants. Classroom spaces are divided, bathrooms on every floor, office space and cafeteria space is available. Outdoor playgrounds for the children.

This is an obvious choice yet individuals remain in CPD buildings. As this option is not a long term solution but in the short term, it is a better option than what currently exists.

Comment by Rudy’s teeth Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 11:11 am
For years, Texas has been dealing with the never ending deluge and received nothing but lectures about xenophobia and “hate” from these sanctimonious “adults in the room.” They loudly and proudly proclaimed that Illinois and Chicago would welcome anyone and everyone (well, except conservatives. There’s “no place in Illinois” for them.)

Anyway, the governor of Texas takes y’all at your word and sends you just a fraction of the influx of new arrivals they deal with on the regular. And now you whine because he responded to your political rhetoric with a “stunt?”

Sorry so many of y’all got exposed for the shams you perpetrate.

It’s put up or shut up time.

Comment by JB13 Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 11:13 am
I expect that the incoming chief-of-staff, coming from the Office of Emergency Management & Communications will handle this differently and the new COO is detail oriented. Taking an approach from the Emanuel book, pull in the major philanthropic organizations and corporate leaders while also pounding D.C. may help some. But, D.C. is really failing in providing Chicago, New York and other cities with the help they need. Not sure what Biden can do without Congress.

Comment by levivotedforjudy Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 11:16 am
Rudy’s teeth…

Mayor’s office did try to use a closed school as refuge shelter. The community was not receptive to the idea. At all. https://news.wttw.com/2023/01/06/amid-uproar-lightfoot-delays-opening-temporary-shelter-immigrants-shuttered-woodlawn

Comment by ChicagoBars Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 11:17 am
The welcoming rhetoric? Law enforcement won’t assist in deporting people without a warrant is not a welcome mat for the Border Patrol and the Governor to Texas to actively facilitate a mass transfer of people with no warning for political purposes.

Comment by Nuke The Whales Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 11:18 am
===Sorry so many of y’all got exposed for the shams you perpetrate.===

When one’s own anger is so raging, they can’t have an understanding that accepting people, not props of hate, needs preparation to rest them as actual human beings and not chattel…

I feel bad for you that you see this crisis well outside the people who are political props for you.

Lacking compassion to teach liberals a lesson isn’t solving anything or showing others what Texas is facing.

The lack of compassion and hate is the feature being displaced as these people are, not showing any mercy.

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 11:21 am
Would be refreshing to see the city halt their massive subsidies to developers until affordable housing scaled for an influx of migrants is developed. People first then projects. I think Johnson has some Peronist in this arena

Comment by Stormsw7706 Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 11:23 am
Promise not Peronist.

Comment by Stormsw7706 Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 11:24 am
===I’ve heard hundreds of examples of teachers doing this kind of thing over the years. First time I can recall hearing a cop do it.===

First time you’ve heard of it isn’t the first time it was done. Police do this frequently.

Comment by Leslie K Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 11:24 am
I’m old enough to remember when we turned McCormick Place into a 500-bed hospital within like two weeks. What ever happened to all those beds and tents and stuff?

Comment by Sterling Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 11:29 am
Agree with OW.

The guv’nor of Texas, who claims to be “xtian” at least when it comes to the care of Zygotes, might want to read up on some of the Main Jesus’s other teachings.

He is obviously a Cafeteria Christian…if it serves the purpose he believes.

Comment by Jerry Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 11:31 am
Abbott said what he was going to do, the pro-sanctuary / pro illegal immigrant ‘leaders’ thought it was only a threat. Nope.

Comment by Sayitaintso Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 11:34 am
What’s missing from JB13’s spittle-flecked rant is the understanding that the people being shipped across the country are, well, *people*, and not just props to let right wing politicians say “ha ha! You’re just as awful as we are.”

Which, of course, Illinois is not, this very post is about how Illinois is struggling to take care of these people, not just ship them off to somewhere else like Texas did. And most of the comments in the thread are Illinoisans angry at their political leadership (especially someone who was just voted out) for doing a bad job at it.

Comment by Arsenal Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 11:37 am
“Sorry so many of y’all got exposed for the shams you perpetrate.”

Yeah you got me Sparky. Now you can go back and tell all everyone on patriot warrior facebook how you owned the libs today.

Comment by Larry Bowa Jr. Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 11:37 am
Also:

==Sorry so many of y’all got exposed for the shams you perpetrate.

It’s put up or shut up time.==

Clearly your only problem with the sanctimonious lectures was that you wanted in on the game.

Comment by Arsenal Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 11:41 am
“ Brandon Johnson could do everyone in this entire state a huge favor by not waiting for these sorts of situations to explode before finally trying to manage a problem.”

Brandon Johnson is in a position to manage?

Comment by Who dat? Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 11:42 am
Using old McCormick Place was my first thought, but I do like the closed school buildings idea as well. The second thought I have is that the busses could be divided up amongst multiple communities to spread the load a bit.

Another idea would be to repurpose an old, closed air Base like Rantoul into a camp for transitional housing.

Comment by Give Us Barabbas Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 11:43 am
==Brandon Johnson is in a position to manage?==

I mean, he’s going to be very soon?

I don’t think he’s saying that this is BJ’s fault, just that BJ will have an opportunity to fix this.

MLL’s poor management is really getting exposed. I don’t think you can chalk this all up to just the media being against her or whatever.

Comment by Arsenal Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 11:44 am
===Another idea would be to===

Or, you know, maybe just reopen the 12 of 20 shelters they closed.

No need for all this brainstorming. The city had the infrastructure and then abandoned it.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 11:45 am
How about using the closed schools that the city has for temporary housing. I believe they have had to maintain them and alot are still empty .

Comment by Tinman Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 11:58 am
If migrants are coming over to bask in the glow of sanctuary cities then why bother bussing them here? Wouldn’t they just naturally settle here?

Comment by Common Sense Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 12:00 pm
===why bother bussing them here?===

Where’s the fun in that?

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 12:01 pm
A lot can be done but it has to be local, state and federal solutions. The Feds need to speed up the processing of the asylum applications and expedite access to temporary work permits. Once the work permits are issued local employers can begin to hire and people have money to get housed. In the interim use vacant buildings. FEMA needs to increase funding for food, staff, shelter etc. Local churches could also do more to adopt families. So much that needs coordination and work. Whining gets you no where. Leaders roll up your sleeves and get this done.

Comment by illinifan Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 12:02 pm
===Abbott said what he was going to do, the pro-sanctuary / pro illegal immigrant ‘leaders’ thought it was only a threat. Nope.===

It’s kind of creepy, sounds like the idea of following through and purposely causing chaos for human beings is something you are cheering? Making them props to own the Libs?

The callous way one may seem proud to own the Libs because “he did what he said” without any human factor to it, it would be ironic if you were also “pro-life”

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 12:24 pm
Couldn’t agree more with OW.

Comment by Jerry Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 12:45 pm
Eva Longoria is doing a great show on CNN about Mexico, food and more. It’s a perfect riff off the Stanley Tucci Italy show. Business is booming in so many places in Mexico. HUGE cities. Why isn’t asylum being sought there? granted there are cartels, but different criminals, right? is there some international ring that can’t reach folks in the U.S.? the food grows more easily in Mexic, stunning stuff, there are giant cities. traveling all the way from Central America through Mexico to the US to face weather never seen never mind how to find jobs seems like a really long way to go for work and safety. How can the U.S. get Mexico to deal with the migration?

Comment by Amalia Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 1:20 pm
(Tips cap to - Jerry -)

===granted there are cartels===

Sounds a bit flippant to the power of the cartels, given other criminal action globally is of the scale of the cartels, since foreign policy includes how countries are overrun by them.

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 1:27 pm
== traveling all the way from Central America through Mexico to the US to face weather never seen never mind how to find jobs seems like a really long way to go for work and safety ==

I have ancestors who came from Russia (they were Germans who left Germany) sometime in the late 1880’s from what I understand. From what I understand my ancestors helped operate railroads in Russia since they had experience doing so back in Germany. The special deal they had in Russia came to an end so they left. They settled in Illinois, crossed parts of Europe (didn’t just go back to Germany), and crossed an ocean to come here. I suspect they had their reasons. So it doesn’t seem that far-fetched that folks would want to come here vs the first place a bit better that speaks the same language.

As for getting Mexico to deal with the migration. I was in Calais during the height of the immigrant influx there a few years back, with lots of fences and lots of law enforcement (big parts of the city felt like an armed camp). From what I recall the French and English are still arguing over how to deal with that situation.

Comment by OneMan Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 1:39 pm
= How about using the closed schools that the city has for temporary housing. =

In fact, Lightfoot is considering using my old high school: https://blockclubchicago.org/2023/05/02/lightfoot-plans-to-turn-old-south-shore-high-school-into-migrant-shelter-as-more-buses-arrive/

Comment by JoanP Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 1:52 pm
==Business is booming in so many places in Mexico. HUGE cities. Why isn’t asylum being sought there?==

Because America has been marketing itself as “the land of opportunity” for, what, a century? I mean, there should certainly be a lot of caveats to that claim, but we’ve set ourselves up as this beacon of hope in the world, we shouldn’t be surprised that people want in on that.

Comment by Arsenal Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 2:05 pm
What are IEMA, IDHS, and IDPH doing? And Preckwinkle gets a pass? Shouldn’t CCDPH be involved?

And of course FEMA is asleep at the wheel per usual.

Comment by Chicagonk Tuesday, May 2, 23 @ 2:39 pm