![]() However, activists have sought to portray the plant relocation as an issue of environmental racism. The issue becomes a question of life or death. The plant’s relocation will increase the toxicity of the already polluted air in the area and lead to more health problems, if not long-term and life-threatening complications. The issues raised in the protests of the community members and that of the hunger strikers are legitimate. In doing so, Lightfoot is attempting to pawn off responsibility for the decision to allow the plant’s operation to proceed-one she has supported up to this point-by having the federal government decide whether the plant’s operation violated the civil rights of community members. While conceding nothing to their demands, she did reach out to federal regulators for guidance last week. The hunger strikers are appealing to Lightfoot to stop the city from granting RMG a permit to begin operations.Ĭhicago Mayor Lightfoot recently postured as offering a fig leaf to the hunger strikers. ![]() Activists have been on a limited liquid-only diet for over two weeks. One response to the proposed development is an ongoing hunger strike by multiple Chicago activists and community members who oppose the new plant. According to the American Lung Association, it increases the risk of “premature death and other serious health effects such as lung cancer, asthma attacks, cardiovascular damage, and developmental and reproductive harm.” While asthma hospitalization rates in Chicago are twice the national average of the United States-a horrible enough statistic-the Chicago Health Atlas reports the 60617 zip code in 2017, in which the new plant is located, had the highest number of asthma-related emergency calls in the city for anyone under age 19.Īs result of the deadly health risks, which many community members are already familiar with, the metal recycling plant’s move to the Southeast Side has been met with overwhelming opposition from local residents. ![]() Its process of shredding and recycling produces toxic metal particles that are emitted into the air and land on surrounding areas.Īir pollution is an enormous health risk. The new Southside Recycling plant will increase pollution. Along with other plants, it includes the Ford Chicago Assembly Plant, which produces the Ford Explorer, Lincoln Aviator, and the Police Interceptor Utility.Īccording to a 2020 air quality report conducted by the city, Chicago’s overwhelmingly working class South and West Sides are “over-burdened” by “high concentrations of industry experiencing high levels of both pollution and vulnerability.” And in turn, Chicago’s Southeast Side will receive a toxic metal recycling plant.Ĭhicago’s South Side historically and presently is the manufacturing and industrial base of the city. The development is a boon for its developers and the already wealthy neighborhood of Lincoln Park and its adjacent neighborhoods. The opportunity may also give the company an opportunity to modernize their plant, reduce costs and increase profits, a win-win for the city and company. The city no doubt worked with RMG to give them a deal to relocate. The $6 billion megadevelopment, hatched by former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, is receiving some $1.6 billion in city subsidies. The driving impetus of RMG’s move is the development of the Lincoln Yards project, which neighbors the now defunct plant. In May 2020, it agreed to pay $18,000 to settle with the city, a slap on the wrist overseen by Chicago’s Democratic Mayor Lori Lightfoot. Between December 2019 and March 2020, it was cited 11 times for violations of pollution and nuisance laws. The General Iron plant has a history of violations. RMG is building its new plant, called Southside Recycling, along the Calumet River in Chicago’s southeast Hegewisch neighborhood, where the median household income, according to, is $61,168 per year. Situated on the Chicago River, the former plant is located in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood, an upper-middle-class-to-extremely wealthy neighborhood with an average household income, according to, of $138,558 per year. Reserve Management Group (RMG) shuttered their one-hundred-year-old metal recycling plant, named General Iron, at the end of the last year. The conditions of Chicago’s working-class neighborhoods are the end results of decades of pro-capitalist policies implemented by the Democratic Party. ![]() Chicago activists are engaged in a hunger strike to stop the relocation of a metal recycler from a wealthy North Side neighborhood to a working-class neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side.Ĭhicago’s working-class neighborhoods bear the burden of being home to most of the city’s industrial and manufacturing plants and, with it, their deleterious health consequences.
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