“The time to act on environmental justice is now,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said.
Kim Wasserman
Leaders of Chicago's environmental justice movement are confident Mayor Brandon Johnson has their backs – and they won’t have to fight City Hall as well as the businesses that they blame causing high rates of cancer, heart disease, respiratory ailments and asthma by polluting the air they breathe.
Crime has dominated much of the local and national media coverage around Chicago’s mayoral election. But environmental justice activists contend that environmental issues also have a significant impact on quality of life for residents.
A recent confidential watchdog report found that Chicago officials could and should have prevented a botched smokestack implosion in Little Village, rekindling conversations about the role of industry in neighborhoods and where accountability lies when violations occur.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot did not respond to a question from WTTW News about whether she thought it was appropriate for her appointees to reject the inspector general’s recommendation to fire an employee of the Chicago Department of Public Health and punish two other employees of the Department of Buildings responsible for approving and overseeing the implosion of the smokestack.
Feelings about Adam Toledo’s killing are particularly raw in Little Village, where Toledo’s family lives. We spent the day talking with residents and local leaders about their community, and the fatal shooting of the 13-year-old who called it home.
One year ago, crews imploded the smokestack at the defunct Crawford coal plant, sending a plume of dust over Little Village but illuminating the impact that toxic air pollution caused by industrial operations has had on South and West side neighborhoods for decades.
We discuss the history of Earth Day and the environmental challenges the planet is facing today with Denis Hayes, the organizer of the very first event in 1970, and local environmental activist Kim Wasserman.
Lawsuits have now been filed against the developer and other parties involved in the mishandled demolition of a former coal plant in Little Village, which recently left the neighborhood covered in a plume of unknown particles.
Chicago is investigating the demolition of a former coal plant in Little Village and halting additional work at the site following an uproar over the smokestack’s implosion, which sent a plume of fine powder all over the neighborhood.
