CPS Cuts Gas to Building at Center of Whittier School Standoff
By Kevin Robinson in News on Oct 5, 2010 4:20PM
Chicago Public School officials ordered the gas shut off at the fieldhouse at Pilsen's Whittier Elementary School, where parents have been staging a sit-in for almost a month. The city wants to tear down the building and turn the land into a soccer field, which will be used by Cristo Rey Catholic High School. Neighborhood parents want the fieldhouse repaired and turned into a library for Whittier students to use.
CPS disputes the safety of the building, saying that it is structurally unsound. Parents say that their own structural engineer, which they hired to inspect the building, says it can be repaired and put to a different use. "Intimidation. I mean, they've done it before," Laura Ramirez told CBS2 when asked why she thought the gas was cut off. "We are going to continue being here," said Araceli Gonzalez, who's 10-year-old daughter is a student at the school. "They are not going to intimidate us."
CPS says that it will cost $350,000 to demolish the building, and another $1.5 million to build the soccer field. The demolition and construction costs will be paid for out of the Pilsen Industrial Corridor TIF District. The TIF's stated purpose is "the revitalization of long-established Southwest Side industrial and commercial areas with uses that create jobs for residents of the Pilsen community," and was established to "maximize the Pilsen Industrial Corridor’s proximity to major highways, rail lines and water routes for manufacturing, distribution and warehouse purposes, and to coordinate retail and service-oriented development on appropriate sites," including "improvements to seawalls along the Chicago River and assistance for job training and readiness programs."
Parents say they intend to stay until CPS CEO Ron Huberman agrees to meet with them. CPS spokeswoman Monique Bond says they will not meet with parents until they vacate the building. In the meantime, parents have already established a library in the fieldhouse with donated books.