WEST LAWN (WBBM Newsradio) -- People on Chicago's Southwest side may be closer than ever to getting a new police district in their area, through language in this year's city budget.
The building at 5400 W. 63rd Street looks like any number of older muncipal structures in the city: a sprawling New Deal-era brick building at the south end of Midway Airport with "ILLINOIS NATIONAL GUARD" etched above the entrance.
But for more than two years, leaders representing the Southwest side have sought to turn the unused structure into a new police district station for officers who are described as under-resourced and over-worked.
"The 8th District is the largest by population and has the worst officer-per-ten-thousand ratio ... but number one for calls for service," local Ald. Marty Quinn told WBBM Newsradio Thursday at the 13th Ward office, 6500 S. Pulaski.
Ald. Quinn and others worked with state lawmakers to pass a measure clearing the way for the city to buy the property for $1 for a police station, but he says the response from the Johnson Administration has been ... silence.
"He hasn't responded at all!" the alderman exclaimed. "We're getting ignored by the Mayor of the City of Chicago. It just defies logic."
However, the city budget in December, and then enacted without the mayor's signature, includes a provision that says any city projects getting state help go to the front of the line for construction scheduling.
Ald. Quinn and colleagues have now formally requested a meeting with the city's head of fleet and facilities management to discuss scheduling the project.
"It's really sad that we have to put it in writing and bake it into a management ordinance to have a sit down to discuss next steps for the police district," said the alderman. "This is a no-brainer."
The meeting has not been scheduled. The mayor's office has not responded to our request for comment.