Toxic Tour in Little Village

Probably the most memorable field visit this semester was our “Toxic Tour” of the Little Village neighborhood conducted by Kim Wasserman, executive director of LVEJO (Little Village Environmental Justice Organization).  LVEJO started the tours seven years ago as a way to educate the community and others about the toxic presence of several industries right in their backyards. 

The injustices seem insurmountable.  Factories run their businesses with no regard for the pollutants they release into the environment, the citizens that live next door, or the employees that suffer burns while they work.  According to a report compiled by the Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago, Chicago ranks 2^nd among all cities in the country adversely affected by power plant pollution, leading to 855 premature deaths, 848 hospitalizations, 1,519 heart attacks and 23,650 asthma attacks.   

In addition to toxic pollutants, the community has to deal with overcrowded schools, and schools built on toxic sights.  There is one park to serve 95,000 residents.   Bus service has been halted for three miles in the middle of the community, leaving residents unable to access the lakefront, colleges, or to simply move around the city.

Yet there are successes.  Toxins were removed from school sites.   Factories have become more accountable.  OSHA came in to protect workers.  There are plans for a large park to be built.  And the biggest success is that after more than 10 years of grassroots campaigning, the Crawford Generating Station, a coal power plant owned by Midwest Generation, an Edison International Company, will be closing in 2014. 

The 95,000 people that live in Little Village need LVEJO to help fight threats to their environment.   As Kim states, “The reality is we deserve to live in a safe community.  We have every right to speak out.”

Here are some photos from our visit to the Garfield Park Conservatory  this semester.  We were able to enjoy azaleas and hydrangeas long before they are blooming outside in Chicago!

Photos courtesy of Emily N. Summers

 
 
 

Cancel Lollapalooza? Casinos opening in the loop? Taxpayer $ for bike lanes? Don’t panic (yet) … it’s only a debate!

Chicago Program students debated the pros and cons of adding more dedicated bike lanes to Chicago streets, legalizing gambling/casinos in Chicago and hosting the Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago.

Teams incorporated their research of the environmental, economic and social impact of the issues on the community.   I learned a lot about both sides of the issues, and am a much more informed citizen. It made me realize you really have to do your research before you can formulate an opinion.  For more about the issues, read on…

Lollapalooza

Pro.  Lollapalooza is one of the top 5 tourist attractions in Chicago, and brings in $80 million revenue; mainly for hotel/retail industries; recycles waste from festival, plants trees and restores Grant Park grounds to it’s original condition and brings people together with music.  

Con.  Organizers need to be more transparent; skipped out on paying taxes and there is an antitrust suit against C3, the festival promoters.  They also need to be more sustainable; last year they  destroyed Grant Park, leaving the grounds a mud pit for two months before restoring it.  The festival insists bands have a radius clause in their contract, so local bands can’t perform at other venues in the area for 9 months out of the year.

Gambling—Casinos in Chicago

Pro.  Casinos would bring in a source of revenue badly needed by the city.  The city is losing potential revenue to casinos in northwest Indiana, as most of the gamblers in Northwest Indiana are from Illinois.  Casinos would bring jobs to help city unemployment rate of 9.3%.  Casinos would bring more tourists, more customer spending into the area, generating more revenue for the city. 

Con.  Bringing casinos to Chicago would bring crime and corruption into an area where there is already corruption. Legalizing gambling brings with it social problems of bankruptcy, domestic abuse, suicide, robbery.  In other cities where casinos have been built, crime rates have increased, requiring increased law enforcement, lowering housing values. Surveys show citizens don’t want casinos in Chicago.  Casinos would take away from other attractions and restaurants Chicago has to offer.  

 

 

Dedicated bike lanes in Chicago

Pro.  Dedicating more bike lanes would be good for Chicago economically, socially and environmentally. Economically, bikers can make more stops at shops and restaurants along the route, since they don’t have to worry about parking. Socially, citizens would get more physical activity, be more social out among other riders. Environmentally, less cars means less pollution, no emissions, and less gas  consumption.  Less cars on the road means less road rage, less accidents.

Con.  Chicago has an extensive public transportation system, which makes it easy for folks to get around; there is no need to add more bike lanes. Taxpayer dollars would be better spent on badly needed CTA renovations. Spending money on bike lanes in already privileged areas increases economic disparity in the city; less advantaged neighborhoods wouldn’t get the rewards; in fact, some neighborhoods don’t have essential bus service. There are dangers of bikers merging into traffic and, unfortunately, numerous serious traffic accidents occur.

 

 

 

Great job, everyone!

 

Growing Power

Growing Power began with a farmer, a plot of land, and a core group of dedicated young people.  The idea is to develop healthy food systems locally to provide high quality, safe, healthy, affordable food for all residents in the community.

ACM students visited one of Growing Power's six farms in Chicago, Iron Street Farm, an urban farm growing produce on the bank of the Chicago River in the Bridgeport neighborhood of Chicago.  Built on an abandoned industrial site, the farm has numerous gardens and a warehouse that grow food year round.  It was ACM day at the farm, as Erica Hougland, who gave us the tour, is a graduate of Grinnell College, and Gillian Knight who also works there and helped arrange our tour, is a Lake Forest College graduate. 



Photos courtesy of Emily N. Summers



Will Allen started the nonprofit organization in Milwaukee, and his daughter Erika runs six farms in Chicago including Iron Street Urban Farm, Altgeld Gardens Urban Farm, Chicago Lights Urban Farm, Grant Park “Art on the Farm” Urban Agriculture Potager and the Jackson Park Urban Farm and Community Allotment Garden.

Local restaurants provide food scraps the organization uses for compost, which are housed in wooden boxes.  The farm uses aguaponics, where the water from fish tanks is used to fertilize soil, and then cleansed and circulated back to the fish tank.  There’s a vertical mushroom-growing station, greenhouses for planting, and six beehives on the roof. 

Growing power hires 200 young people in the summer, and youth programs reconnect folks to what is healthy food, where does it come from, and how to get involved.