What is the point of a "community meeting"?
The decision on South Shore High School has been made
With less than two weeks left in her term Mayor Lori Lightfoot is exiting with the same autocratic style she came into office with four years ago. Independent of city council members or affected community residents, Lightfoot is forging ahead with plans to convert a second shuttered CPS school as a way station for migrants from Texas.
Lightfoot’s office announced plans for a community meeting May 5 to discuss plans to open the former South Shore High School on Constance Avenue into a “respite center.” The administration maintains the term distinguishes it from a shelter as this will be spot for the migrants until space is found elsewhere. I am missing the distinction between the two.
City officials already strong-armed their way into Woodlawn and opened a migrant shelter in the former Wadsworth School. That happened despite objections from Alderman Jeanette Taylor (20th) where the school sits. Taylor, who has has at least one public run-in with Lightfoot, said neither she or residents got a heads up that the school was being converted. She also raised the point that the migrants are from Central America and are primarily Spanish speaking. That, she suggested, exacerbates tensions between Black and Brown people. Adding fuel to the fire, most residents object to the repurposing of the school, according to Taylor
.The same scenario was played out in the Eighth Ward where South Shore High School is located. The alderman there, Michelle Harris, said she got no advance notice of what was planned for the school. Like the residents in the area of the Wadsworth School, those around the South Shore school are opposed to plans to house migrants-regardless of how temporary. Unlike Taylor, Harris was a staunch supporter of Lightfoot, until the recent runoff election when she backed Paul Vallas -Lightfoot’s challenger.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott rebuffed Lightfoot’s request to stop sending migrants here. He wrote that the mayor should be addressing her concerns to President Joe Biden urging him to make the border less porous, thereby stifling migrants’ ability to cross into Texas.
Mayor-elected Johnson is being stifled from day one
Brandon Johnson, who becomes Chicago mayor in exactly 11 days, said his transition team is already developing strategies to deal with the South Shore school issue on his first day in office. Like Alderman Harris, Johnson is opposed to the plans Lightfoot has laid out. There’s no question that even though it is not a citywide issue, Johnson will have to devote an inordinate time to this location along with the migrant issue. This will prevent or at least delay giving his full attention to matters such as the budget deficit, public safety and ingratiating himself to the business community-a cohort that did not support him.
Lightfoot is on record that Chicago is spending $20 million dollars to address the asylum seeker issue. With a budget deficit in the hundreds of millions, it is is obviously money the city doesn’t have. If Gov. Abbott keeps his promise to keep sending migrants here it will mean more draws on over-stressed city coffers, and more headaches for the new mayor.
Although Johnson has named a city hall veteran as his chief of staff, no one has been through the experience of migration like this staring at Johnson. The learning curve translates into a delay on some matters that many feel are crucial, but they will have to wait.
He should expect that many, if not most, of the members of the city council’s Latino Caucus will be unabashed in offering advice and opinions on how the mayor should proceed. Johnson will be walking a tightrope as he most likely doesn’t want and certainly cannot afford to alienate that bloc of council members. Their votes will be vital to advancing any of his policy plans.
The new mayor also will need to deal with strong sentiments in some areas of the Black community where the rumbling is the city has done little for us, but are bending over backward for people who have never lived here or contributed in any way.