CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Six months after an implosion at a former coal plant created a massive cloud of dust, Little Village residents are finding new ways to voice concern about a new development.
Two new billboards now stand near the corner of 33rd Street and Pulaski Road in Little Village, showing a little girl next to the Crawford Generation Station coal plant and reads “exchanging coal for diesel doesn’t save her lungs.”
The billboards are in response to Hilco Redevelopment Partners’ work to demolish the former Crawford coal plant and build a 1-million-square-foot logistics facility for Target.
Hilco Redevelopment Partners released a video update on the Exchange 55 project last week, and CEO Roberto Perez said “we’re not looking to just develop the site, we’re looking to be part of the community.”
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But Little Village residents said the new facility is unwanted in their community, citing health concerns.
“What we have seen, based on the research that we have done ourselves, is that Little Village residents already suffer from high rates of asthma and respiratory illness so diesel trucks and a logistics facility does not serve the wellbeing of our residents,” said Edith Tovar, a community organizer for the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization.
Despite the city’s denial for air quality studies, the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization purchased and installed air monitors, and plans to add at least 20 more for its own study.
“We are using Purple Air air monitors and anyone can easily login to www2.purpleair.com. It will automatically zoom you into the location that you are in and it will notify you if there are any air monitors near you,” said Tovar.
LVEJO plans to host another virtual community meeting on Tuesday, November 17 at 6 p.m. on Facebook Live.
WBBM reached out to Hilco Redevelopment Partners for comment but Perez was unavailable.