AUSTIN — Plans to convert the Amundsen Park field house into a migrant shelter is not sitting well with some Austin residents who say the decision took them by surprise.
Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29th) announced late last week that the park field house at 6200 W. Bloomingdale Ave. would be converted into a migrant shelter, one of many across the city set up to house the more than 17,000 migrants that have arrived from South America.
The shelter is expected to house 200 people and those migrants will arrive by Saturday, according to Taliaferro. Field house activities and programs such as baseball and football games would be moved to Sayre Park and Lovett Elementary.
Taliaferro held a community meeting at Amundsen Park Tuesday evening, where an overflow crowd of outraged neighbors sounded off on the plan, often shouting over each other throughout the night. Neighbors who spoke at the meeting were concerned about an increase in crime and lack of access to the park for the community.
More than anything, many Austin neighbors say the city is handing the neighborhood a burden it is ill equipped to deal with, citing decades of disinvestment and neglect on the West Side. Residents say the lack of resources will only lead to more violence and concern for their children’s futures.
“Why is the mayor not important enough to show up for us, when we show up for him? We are dealing with crime and poverty already,” one woman said. “We already have to compete with scraps.”
While Taliaferro believes Chicago should still embrace its status as a sanctuary city, he voiced his opposition to the plan to convert the park facility, saying the proposal would negatively impact the park and public safety and that the community had no say on the matter. Taliaferro said he learned of the shelter plan on Friday.
At the meeting, he urged neighbors to keep fighting for their park, telling the audience it will be something he debates with other city and state officials.
“It takes away valuable neighborhood resources from a community that, in part, has been disinvested in for decades,” Taliaferro said in an earlier statement. “It is because of these reasons and the fact that viable alternatives are available that I strongly oppose closing Amundsen Park to house migrants seeking asylum.”
Amundsen Park is the latest temporary migrant shelter opening in Chicago as the city works to house ever-increasing numbers of migrants bused in from border states like Texas. A record 27 buses of migrants arrived in less than a week in late September as the pace of bus arrivals increases.
The city has been struggling with housing migrants in the city throughout the year, with roughly 3,000 migrants sleeping on police station floors and at O’Hare Airport, according to the city. That’s despite the opening on nearly two dozen temporary shelters.
Many migrants have come to the United States from Venezuela, which has struggled with political and economic upheaval resulting in severe food and medicine shortages, surging inflation, rising unemployment and violent crime. Roughly a quarter of Venezuela’s population has left the country.
While many Austin neighbors sympathize with the migrants’ plight, many feel blindsided by the sudden decision to house migrants at the park and panned the lack of planning and communication by the city.
“We do have empathy for migrants, but we have to take care of our community,” Austin neighbor Tasha Dudley said. “My nephews come to this park and it’s just been taken away and there’s no plan. It’s like nobody is fighting for us.”
Both Dudley and Windy City Dolphins Youth Football League coach Brion Page said the city would be better off housing migrants in other underutilized buildings in the area, such as underpopulated schools nearby.
Page and local student-athletes protested the shelter plan, saying it impedes their season as they play games at Amudsen Park. It cuts off access to a resource children need that could keep them safe and happy, they said.
“We’re not just a program, we’re a family. The city is doing something that could be entirely avoided,” Page said. “You’re just saying, ‘The hell with our kids.’ I do believe they need help, but you’re putting a problem into an area that already has problems.’”
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