Members of a teen football program plan to protest Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s decision to shut them out of their park district field house so that the facility can be used to house illegal aliens.
During a town meeting of some 400 residents, many voiced their opposition to City Hall’s plan to turn the facility into a migrant shelter. Also in attendance were the teen members of the local football team that had been using the field house as a home base. They are planning a protest for Friday afternoon.
Windy City Dolphins Youth Football League coach Brion Page spoke out against the plan and insisted that it is taking away an important facility for the kids in the area and for his football players.
“We’re not just a program, we’re a family. The city is doing something that could be entirely avoided,” Page said, according to Fox News. “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.”
On Monday, Chicago alderman Chris Taliaferro confirmed that the administration plans to close the Amundsen Park field house to recreational use so that around 200 border crossers can be housed there.
Taliaferro said in a statement:
On Friday, September 29, 2023, I was informed by Deputy Chief of Staff Cristina Pacione-Zayas that a decision had been made to utilize Amundsen Park, 6200 W. Bloomingdale Ave., to house approximately 200 migrants. I immediately informed Deputy Pacione-Zayas that I strongly opposed the proposal and that this would adversely impact the neighborhood and park programming.
This proposal disregards the issues of public safety that are of great neighborhood concern and that our police department has been working tirelessly to turn around. It overlooks the programming that is enjoyed by our senior and youth residents that actively utilize the park.
The proposal further disregards democracy whereby the residents and their locally elected officials have an opportunity to discuss the issues before decisions are made that would impact their lives. It takes away valuable neighborhood resources from a community that, in part, had been disinvested in for decades. 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.
For its part, the team said it will continue operating even if they have to find a new place to practice and play, and issued a statement to that effect:
Finding a new home is something we may have to do but the fight is still going on with that as too many people have put in the work to build the program to what it is now. We appreciate all the support from all over but don’t get it twisted the Dolphins [are] still standing strong.
Mayor Johnson has repeatedly faced criticism from Chicago neighborhoods for opening migrant shelters in their areas without consulting locals or even telling them he is doing so until the facilities are opened or about to be opened.
Attendees listen to speakers during an information and discussion meeting about housing migrants at Wilbur Wright College on May 23, 2023. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty)
Johnson took criticism for his migrant shelter in Wilbur Wright College on the Northwest Side, even though citizens gathered in May to protest the plans, and was blasted for designating Chicago’s Daley College as a shelter where he stashed another 400 border crossers. And another meeting was held at the end of August to protest Johnson’s move to stash hundreds of illegals in the Hyde Park neighborhood.
Just this week residents of the majority Hispanic Pilsen neighborhood gathered at a meeting to oppose the Johnson administration’s plans to open a shelter in their area as well.
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