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Chicago’s plan to help migrants is still unclear, community orgs work to pick up slack

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Illinois

Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Gov. J.B. Pritzker stood together in April 2020 at the start of the coronavirus pandemic to showcase the rapid transformation of an empty convention hall at McCormick Place East into a medical facility with 500 beds — and 2,500 more to be installed later. […]

The city kept 126 full-size beds from the McCormick Place temporary hospital. City officials say it would be difficult to set them up quickly because the beds include a mattress, headboard, footboard, bed frame and no linens.

Instead, the Lightfoot administration chose to send cots for immigrants to sleep on at temporary shelters because they’re “easy to deploy and set up during an emergency,” according to Mary May, a spokeswoman for the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications. […]

The state has kept 750 “quick beds” and 375 hospital beds from the McCormick Place field hospital, according to Kevin Sur, a spokesman for the Illinois Emergency Management Agency and Office of Homeland Security. A quick bed is a heavy, sturdy, tubular metal frame bed. The hospital beds are powered to help position a patient for better care and recovery, he said.

Sur said the state is willing to provide those beds to the city, but the city hasn’t requested them.

* Block Club Chicago…

Migrants are being temporarily housed at police stations while the city’s shelters are at capacity — but the stopgap is reaching a breaking point.

A migrant, who asked not to be named, told Block Club people who showed up Monday evening at the 12th District station at 1412 S. Blue Island Ave. were turned away and locked out.

Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th), whose ward includes the station, said Tuesday he heard about the situation from district Cmdr. Beth Giltmier. The alderman said he was told the police station had nearly 100 people staying inside and officers had to turn away people because there was no more room. […]

The Police Department referred questions to Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office, which didn’t respond.

* CBS Chicago…

With shelters at capacity, lobbies of police stations like the one behind me, now serve as temporary housing. But compassionate people, and volunteers are stepping up big time.

Air mattresses, food along with access to bathrooms and showers. A once empty warehouse in Pilsen is alive again, serving as an emergency shelter for at least 70 migrants.

Most of them from the 12 District police station.

“They’ve already given us mattresses. They’ve already given us clothes. We’re eating well.”

* Sun-Times…

Heather Kofke-Egger, who lives in Logan Square, has delivered meals and other necessities to the new arrivals since mid-April and estimates she’s spent hundreds, possibly thousands of dollars.

“People don’t want to look away,” Kofke-Egger said. “They don’t want to see children go hungry. They don’t want to see their new neighbors sleeping on the floor of police stations in these really difficult conditions.”

With more people now sleeping in police stations, Kofke-Egger said the last few weeks have been like running a small government in the absence of a city response.

“We need a city response that is comprehensive and addresses both the needs as people are waiting for shelter and the needs as people transition into the shelter system,” she said. “Counting on volunteers to do this work is just not appropriate.”

* ABC Chicago…

Residents of South Shore are taking legal action against the city of Chicago over plans to turn a shuttered neighborhood high school into a migrant respite center.

“Members of the Black Community Collaborative, South Shore constituents and stakeholders are extremely dismayed by the city of Chicago’s inability to control and develop safe parameters around housing migrants that have been transported here from the border,” said Natasha Dunn.

A week ago, hundreds of South Shore neighbors packed into an auditorium and pilloried city officials as they attempted to explain plans to open a respite center for incoming migrants in the former school building.

“There is also a due process issue,” said attorney Frank Avila. “We want the refugees and the asylum-seekers and migrants to come in, but we have areas across the city where they can go. Not centralized in one community.”

posted by Isabel Miller
Friday, May 12, 23 @ 1:15 pm

Comments

MLL had 9 months to do something. The administration seems no further along then where they were last year. Totally unacceptable and is a fitting end to this failed mayor’s term. Thank goodness she lost

Comment by low level Friday, May 12, 23 @ 2:05 pm
“Sur said the state is willing to provide those beds to the city, but the city hasn’t requested them.”

Meanwhile, the Mayor is on a bus tour today to pat herself on the back.

Comment by NIU Grad Friday, May 12, 23 @ 2:15 pm
A fittingly dysfunctional end to the Lightfoot era. It’s heartening to see neighbors and community orgs stepping in to fill the void, but it’s awfully difficult to do anything at scale absent a coordinated response from the city.

Comment by Mark Friday, May 12, 23 @ 2:25 pm
Wait? What? How fast were the beds setup at McCormick for Covid? Mayor Lightfoot has truth issues.

Comment by Lurker Friday, May 12, 23 @ 2:26 pm
And where is the mayor-elect’s chief of staff coming from - the OEMC. I think we are going to see some improvements at home. Amazing that this wasn’t done weeks ago.

Comment by levivotedforjudy Friday, May 12, 23 @ 2:44 pm
==Mayor is on a bus tour today to pat herself on the back.==

And at City Hall, a sendoff / “clap out” for LL is scheduled for the end of the day. Never saw that with any previous administration.

Comment by low level Friday, May 12, 23 @ 3:56 pm