Frustration about park space for migrants boils over in 29th Ward: ‘I have compassion but I can only go so far’

Anger erupted at the Amundsen Park field house Tuesday night as Northwest Side residents shouted their frustration at officials tasked with explaining the city’s move to open a shelter for newly arrived migrants in the neighborhood’s Park District facility.

About 300 residents drowned out a panel of city officials representing several agencies, including Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office, police and the Park District. They filled the field house gym at 6200 W. Bloomingdale Ave., lined up to vent their outrage at officials.

Outside, a crowd of people gathered at the door as police watched from inside, saying the building had reached its capacity for fire hazards.

At some points during the meeting, the crowd chanted in unison “you work for us” and “what about kids?” Two groups of football players who use the park to practice filed into the meeting to stand before city representatives, some getting on the stage with officials, as attendees jumped onto chairs to film on their cellphones, cheering.

The meeting was the second the city has held in as many days as officials sprint to house and administer a mounting number of asylum-seekers arriving from the southern border.

At previous meetings, city representatives have presented about how the shelters will be operated and gone through frequently asked questions. On Tuesday, most of the officials on the panel were not able to speak because the crowd was shouting back at them.

Deputy Mayor Beatriz Ponce de León’s comment that “the people that we’re talking about are human beings just like you” was met with enough shouting that the second part of her statement was not audible.

Ald. Chris Taliaferro, 29th, asked many times for people to allow city representatives to speak and received loud boos and shouts as he expressed support for Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration’s work to house and administer to migrants.

Later, the crowd responded with stomping and cheers when he repeated his opposition to the use of Amundsen Park as a shelter.

“We cannot take resources from the Black community, a community that has already for decades been disinvested in,” Taliaferro said to applause.

More Top Picks Best Kegerators For Home Bars

Neighbors shared many fears and frustrations that have also characterized preceding meetings, including the short notice on which the city intended to open the shelter, and expressed fears about public safety and anger at how the city has historically allocated resources to predominantly Black and brown communities.

Linda Johnson, 69, told the panel of city officials that “how we got here is not our problem.”

“This is our park and we have a right to say so,” she said. “You need to stop the buses, stop sanctuary city right now and get to the root of the problem.”

James Frazier, 75, said the panel of city officials at the gym should tell city leadership that the neighborhood did not want to see a migrant shelter open in the park.

“I have compassion, but I can only go so far,” he continued to applause.

City Chief Operating Officer John Roberson said the panelists would take what they had heard back to City Hall.

Outside the field house, 25th District Police Council member Angelica Green said she didn’t feel the meeting had gone well: “It was just a yelling match.”

Green said she wished residents who pay taxes to maintain the park had been given more notice and input on the plan to turn the site into a migrant shelter, though she also saw how the effort to house migrants created tense situations for host neighborhoods and the city.

“Nobody wants to feel unwanted,” she said. “But nobody wants to feel put out either.”

[email protected]