Environmental Advocates, City of Chicago, and HUD Sign Landmark Settlement to Overhaul Zoning Laws

Lawndale News Chicago's Bilingual Newspaper - Business

Southeast Side environmental justice groups, the City of Chicago and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) have reached a landmark agreement that will require the City to overhaul the policies that shape communities that have long been seen as sacrifice zones for industry. The first-of-its-kind settlement resulted from a federal civil rights investigation that was initiated by community organizations on the city’s Southeast Side when a notorious metal shredding operation proposed moving from the Lincoln Park neighborhood to the Southside community. Despite a strong commitment to stop General Iron from moving their operation to the Southeast Side during initial Lightfoot’s mayoral campaign, community advocates sparred with her administration for years, eventually leading to a month-long hunger strike by teachers and community members. The agreement in the final week of Lightfoot’s term as mayor firmly commits the City to structural reforms that community advocates have fought to secure for decades. The agreement creates both a blueprint and a ground floor for executive action from the Johnson administration. The agreement includes provisions that will reform the city’s zoning and land-use policies that have facilitated industry to move and accumulate on the city’s South and West Sides. Additionally, the City’s system of designating industrial corridors will be overhauled and designed using a public health lens and the City will complete a city-wide Cumulative Impact Assessment.

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