CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Residents and preservationists are calling for a halt to plans to tear down a CPS school that’s been vacant for decades on the Far South Side. But, CPS said the school is too unsafe and long past its “usable life.”
Cheryl Johnson, a longtime resident of the Altgeld Gardens development on the Far South Side heads People for Community Recovery, which is fighting to keep and have renovated a school that’s been vacant for decades.
It’s known as Building C. It’s a school that was built in 1944 and is under consideration to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Johnson would like to see it possibly as a multi-purpose building containing veteran’s assistance and an environmental learning center.
“We live in a toxic donut and we need to revitalize. We need to have a trained workforce to be able to do that, but also to compliment some of the veterans in this community who have to go way on the West Side for services," she said.
“There’s always been conversations around the community and with representatives of CPS to talk about reimagine that building, revitalizing that building.”
Johnson said a feasibility study was done several years ago and that the building was found to be “viable.” She acknowledges that, “Because it’s an old building, you expect for lead and asbestos and some PCBs from the transformers to be in that building.”
The Chicago Public Schools said in a statement that Building C is unsafe and well-beyond its useful life. CPS has plans a new playground and turf field on the site.
CPS said that before deciding to have the building torn down, CPS met with the Chicago Housing Authority, Landmarks Illinois, and DPD/HP to explore other options for the building. CPS said the building “poses significant safety risks” and that “the best path forward was demolition and redevelopment of the site."
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