North Side Chicago residents push city leaders to provide timeline for Broadway Armory return
North Side residents are gearing up to present their demands at Wednesday’s Council meeting in City Hall. The intend to request that the councile restores a migrant shelter-converted facility to the community. This is the six-month milestone since the transformation of Broadway Armory.
Edgewater residents, asserting their generosity and emphasizing their pro-immigrant stance, seek clarity from the city. Block club President Pat Sharkey expressed, “We feel like we’ve been really generous. This has nothing to do with being anti-immigrant. This is a very welcoming community, and we welcome immigrants.”
The closure of the expansive park facility has incurred significant costs, particularly impacting local seniors and children, with over 1,200 people relying on it weekly, according to residents.
Amid the challenges, Edgewater residents faced a disruption in the summer when city leaders abruptly canceled park district programs to accommodate a surge of migrants entering Chicago. Beatriz Ponce de Leon remarked, “It is hard for us to repurpose space, but it’s the time we’re living in now where we need to repurpose space.”