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Brighton Park migrant tent city shutdown coverage roundup

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* We covered this yesterday, but lots of you might not have seen some late updates because of the timing and the very long length of the post. Mayor Brandon Johnson to NBC 5…

Johnson said “discovering toxicity [at the Brighton Park migrant tent site] wasn’t a surprise], but said “the contract that the state of Illinois went into with Gardaworld, as they continued to build out on this site, there was no indication throughout this entire process, that a standard or a different methodology was preferable by the state of Illinois.”

“There was no additional information that was provided that would have led us to believe that this particular report that has been validated to be safe by third parties, that somehow that operation will be halted,” Johnson said.

* From the mayor’s office…

After announcing last month its intention to support the city’s humanitarian migrant shelter mission, the State of Illinois entered into an agreement, leveraging its original contract with GardaWorld, to construct and operate a basecamp at a site previously identified by the City at 38th and California. Shortly after entering into its agreement, the State instructed GardaWorld to proceed with construction of the base camp simultaneous with the performance of the environmental assessment and remediation work previously contracted by the City.

The City contracted Terracon Consultants, Inc. to conduct a field investigation under a sampling plan that was developed for this specific site in accordance with an emergency response protocol under the Illinois Emergency Management Act. The investigation included soil sampling, groundwater sampling, and soil gas sampling which yielded soil analytical results, groundwater analytical results, and soil gas analytical results. Per the findings, the City conducted remediation work which included both the removal of contaminants and the introduction of new materials to eliminate safety risks for individuals who would reside in temporary residential housing.

Despite being made aware of the above assessment and remediation process, the State provided no additional guidance on its preferred methodology or assessment criteria, nor raised any concerns about its own decision to move forward with construction prior to the release of Terracon’s report.

* From the governor’s office…

IEPA standards on sampling and remediation are clear and known to the City. Those are not the standards the City chose to use. The City did not engage with IEPA or the State before releasing the report and when it did release the report, was unable to explain the lesser standards they did choose to use and how they arrived at those standards. We understand that the City selected this site and holds the lease and is therefore frustrated it cannot move forward. The State shares that frustration. But while the City might be comfortable placing asylum seekers on a site where toxins are present without a full understanding of whether it is safe, the State is not. This site will not move forward as a shelter with State involvement.

* From Isabel…

* Sun-Times | Pritzker tells Chicago to fold its tents — governor rejects toxic migrant shelter site in Brighton Park: Citing “serious environmental concerns,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Tuesday that the state is ending development of a proposed migrant camp in Brighton Park. The decision follows the city of Chicago’s release of an environmental report Friday night that showed the location at 38th Street and California Avenue required cleanup of heavy metals and toxic chemicals. The state halted construction Sunday.

* CBS Chicago | Gov. JB Pritzker scraps Chicago’s plan for first migrant tent camp in Brighton Park over contaminated soil: “IEPA would not approve the proposed Brighton Park site for residential use, based on our regulatory standards for remediation of contaminated properties,” said Illinois EPA Director John J. Kim. “The well-being of residents and workers at the site is our highest priority, and current and planned site conditions do not adequately reduce risks of human exposure to known and potential environmental conditions.”

* Greg Hinz | Brandon Johnson and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week: The nastiest flap is over a planned refugee tent base encampment the city had wanted to erect at a former industrial site at 38th and California in the Brighton Park neighborhood. The Johnson and Pritzker camps already had been jostling over that and an increasing number of other matters, but the situation exploded yesterday when Pritzker’s Illinois Environmental Protection Agency said the site was still unfit for human habitation despite claims to the contrary from Johnson.

* NBC Chicago | Chicago mayor reacts after state halts Brighton Park migrant site: Johnson said “discovering toxicity [at the site] wasn’t a surprise], but said “the contract that the state of Illinois went into with Gardaworld, as they continued to build out on this site, there was no indication throughout this entire process, that a standard or a different methodology was preferable by the state of Illinois.” “There was no additional information that was provided that would have led us to believe that this particular report that has been validated to be safe by third parties, that somehow that operation will be halted,” Johnson said.

* Tribune | Gov. J.B. Pritzker won’t proceed with Brighton Park migrant camp, citing ‘serious’ environmental concerns: Underscoring the escalating tension between Springfield and City Hall, Pritzker spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh shot back at Johnson’s statement, saying state environmental standards “are clear and known to the city.” “Those are not the standards the city chose to use,” Abudayyeh said in a statement. “The city did not engage with IEPA or the state before releasing the report and when it did release the report, was unable to explain the lesser standards they did choose to use and how they arrived at those standards.” “While the city might be comfortable placing asylum seekers on a site where toxins are present without a full understanding of whether it is safe, the state is not,” Abudayyeh added.

* NBC Chicago | City releases statement after state halts plans for migrant site in Chicago’s Brighton Park neighborhood: “The City’s goal has been and continues to be to move with urgency in providing shelter for new arrivals currently sleeping on the floors of Chicago Police Department district stations, airports and sidewalks. We have been planning for both the present and the future of the new arrivals mission by standing up nearly one temporary shelter a week and reducing the number of new arrivals sleeping at emergency staging areas and outdoors from nearly 4,000 to approximately 600.”

* Crain’s | Citing environmental concerns, Pritzker nixes Brighton Park migrant tent camp plan: No immediate plans were shared on where the state may pay for the construction of a tent camp at a new location. The city has identified another location for a separate tent camp, on vacant land at 115th and Halsted, but it’s unclear whethe the state will fund construction at that location.

* ABC Chicago | State will not proceed with Brighton Park camp for Chicago migrants after environmental review: Alderwoman Julia Ramirez, who represents the 12th Ward, said on Tuesday that better decisions should have been made from the very beginning. “As manufacturing-zoned area that shouldn’t have ever been considered. And so, looking forward, I think that should use be something they don’t move forward with if a place is zone for heavy manufacturing,” Ramirez said. “It is unacceptable to proceed without a comprehensive assessment of the health risks. We are pleased to see the halt of construction and the continued work towards assessing the safety of this site.”

* Block Club | State Says No Tent Camp For Migrants On Contaminated Brighton Park Site: Despite the tent plan being halted, Ramirez said she’s committed to making her ward a welcoming neighborhood for migrants. “I’m really, really happy the state intervened and was able to further assess,” she said.

* Sun-Times Editorial Board | Gov. Pritzker took the right step by ending city’s Brighton Park migrant tent plan: The Johnson administration picked the known industrial site at 38th Street and California Avenue without any thought to its environmental ramifications. Then it rushed through soil testing and started construction last week — while test findings were still pending, and telling the public as little as possible. … Slapdash and slipshod from the start, the tent camp plan had all the warning signs of developing into a hot mess of the first order. And yet Johnson and his administration pressed on.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Dec 6, 23 @ 12:47 pm

Comments

IEMA and IEPA having different standards seems like a problem. Has this been verified?

Comment by John Muir Suarez Wednesday, Dec 6, 23 @ 12:59 pm
Not difficult to imagine that the tone would be a lot different had the city/Johnson come to Pritzker with some concrete plans. Instead of this current mess.

Comment by Nick Wednesday, Dec 6, 23 @ 1:03 pm
===Has this been verified? ===

No.

Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Dec 6, 23 @ 1:06 pm
So I’m to understand there are no oversized parking lots ANYWHERE in the Chicagoland area that could be repurposed for a tent city?

At the very least, Mayor Brandon could dust off the plans Daley used for the 2016 Olympics bid.

Comment by Jocko Wednesday, Dec 6, 23 @ 1:10 pm
All I can say is Ouch ,The city needs to do a better job. Get their act together and work with the state . There are so many talented people in Chicago with great organizing and management skills to tap into. The Mayor’s team seems to be the “the not ready for prime time players”.

Comment by Tinman Wednesday, Dec 6, 23 @ 1:12 pm
If only MBJ had the foresight to contact individuals at the U of Chicago and the Environmental Science Department to consult regarding acceptable sites for migrants.

With so many universities located in the city, there are experts available to assist in the process.

Is anyone home on the fifth floor?

Comment by Rudy’s teeth Wednesday, Dec 6, 23 @ 1:30 pm
The Mayor appears to be saying that the Governor jumped the gun and ordered the tent to be put up and construction started before the soil test were done. The Governor says the city entered into lease and lease is city problem. How could remediation been started before all testing completed? I guess the city might be able to get out of lease but who pays for remediation and semi construction? It is as though there was no communication at all

Comment by DuPage Saint Wednesday, Dec 6, 23 @ 1:37 pm
It is bizarre that Mayor Johnson and his team are upset the state is pointing to a higher SAFER standard on-site assessment than the city. If Lori/Rahm had used this logic, the CTU and UWF would have paid protestors to match on their homes. It’s disappointing to see. My family had high hopes for this administratio.

Mayor Johnson: reboot your team and get people who know government to work in government. Otherwise, Jeannette Taylor’s comments on mailers will be enough to sink you.

Comment by pragmatist Wednesday, Dec 6, 23 @ 1:48 pm
Give the Gov’s comms team an award for this one

Comment by waiting Wednesday, Dec 6, 23 @ 2:04 pm
I posted this late yesterday (and now have fixed an autocorrect spelling error and cleaned it up):

–This is from the Terrace report:

AIS (Department of Assets,Information, and Services) provided Terracon with an environmental summary radius report by EDR, historical Sanborn Maps, as well as the proposed locations of the winterized shelters to aid in the creation of a site-specific Sampling and Analysis Plan (SAP). *The SAP was reviewed and approved by AIS.*

“AIS directed…”
“Per AIS request…”
(over and over again)

AIS is not the IEPA and the City should know this.–

Additional points:

The Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) has nothing to do with environmental cleanups. It is the agency to which spills and releases are reported, but after that administrative role it is out of the picture.

Gravel is not an engineered barrier. Asphalt or concrete is, and there is an obvious time and cost difference.

The Illinois EPA is the lead review/evaluation/approval agency for environmental matters in Illinois. Hands down. In my career I have seen zero successful attempts to go around the Illinois EPA on these types of matters no matter how connected/wealthy/credentialed anyone is.

The idea that the State dropped the ball somewhere on this doesn’t pass my smell test. We in the industry - and I’m including City staff, consultants, contractors, developers, lenders - all know that it’s a huge risk to act without IEPA approval. Now, whether the Governor’s office is supposed to explicitly state to the City that “you better wait for the IEPA to weigh in” - I don’t know. That’s politics that, again, the IEPA isn’t going to muddy its hands with.

Comment by Lefty Lefty Wednesday, Dec 6, 23 @ 2:05 pm
Just to be clear, from my viewpoint - everything said by the Governor’s office is accurate. The sampling plan was insufficient, and the remedial action was substandard.

This IEPA program (the Site Remediation Program) and the related Tiered Approach to Corrective Action Objectives (yes it’s referred to as TACO) are over 25 years old, and their requirements are pretty clear on these types of projects.

Comment by Lefty Lefty Wednesday, Dec 6, 23 @ 2:18 pm
This is too pathetic to be funny. Did everyone retire at the City Dept. that issues environmental permits after the last election? His chief-of-staff should know better. How do you get it this screwed up?

Comment by levivotedforjudy Wednesday, Dec 6, 23 @ 2:35 pm
== The Mayor appears to be saying that the Governor jumped the gun and ordered the tent to be put up and construction started before the soil test were done. ==

This seems pretty significant as it relates to the state’s share of responsibility in this debacle. Am I misreading the governor’s response, or did he not refute this claim by the mayor?

Comment by Mark D Wednesday, Dec 6, 23 @ 2:37 pm
The COS and the COO of Mayor Johnson should imagine the thumping they would have gotten if this work under their watch had happened in the administration of Mayor Daley. They should know better. And anyone who is responsible for this debacle should be sent off.

Comment by Amalia Wednesday, Dec 6, 23 @ 2:53 pm
Parks, forest preserves, the empty Walmart stores and their parking lots, Illinois National Guard parking lots, and others. If they look hard enough, they surely can find a place for the tents.

Comment by DuPage Wednesday, Dec 6, 23 @ 3:37 pm
DuPage is correct. And Cook County,DuPage County and more, pitch in.

Comment by Amalia Wednesday, Dec 6, 23 @ 3:42 pm
I would have thought that the soil sampling and remediation contractor would have known what standard to use, advised his client appropriately and documented any deviations that were requested. Assuming of course that the standards are clear and well known.

Comment by MikeMacD Wednesday, Dec 6, 23 @ 3:56 pm
Dupage Saint -

The Terracon report is dated 12/01/2023 but the lab report is dated 11/08/2023 so I suspect decisions were made to proceed right after that.

Mark D -

Correct - who gave the directive to start construction remains a question. But the data and the plan are not close to what is typically acceptable to the IEPA.

MikeMacD -

The standards are in the data summary tables that show exceedances of generic remediation objectives, and the types of barriers acceptable in these situations (NOT 6 inches of gravel) are clearly spelled out in state regulations (35 IAC Part 742).

Comment by Lefty Lefty Wednesday, Dec 6, 23 @ 5:41 pm