(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Chicago City Council members have given preliminary approval for a Boys and Girls Club to be located next to planned police and fire training academy on the West Side.
The Council's Housing Committee on Wednesday voted unanimously to give a $1 annual lease to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Chicago.
The plan is for the organization to build their first new facility in Chicago in a generation. It will be an $8 million building on the campus of the Public Safety Training Academy along West Chicago Avenue.
Some Community groups have protested this arrangement, saying young people will be intimidated by the presence of police officers and personnel.
But Deputy City Housing Commissioner Gerardo Garcia said teenagers told the city just the opposite. Officials say many young people said they’d feel safer at that location.
Even Ald. Ray Lopez, who often quarrels with what the Lightfoot Administration, agrees it would be good for police officers and young people to be able to interact.
During Public comment, former Boys and Girls Club member Victoria Doris, now an employee, told aldermen that young people need a safe place where they can get help and support.