"Chicago Mayor Unveils Reforms to Fight Environmental Racism"

"“In the greatest city in the world, no neighborhood should have to suffer the burdens of pollution more so than any other neighborhood,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said."

"Promising to end the practice of piling on more environmental burdens to the same South and West Side communities, Mayor Brandon Johnson is proposing a series of reforms aimed at changing city practices after federal investigators last year determined Chicago violates the civil rights of its residents by concentrating polluting businesses in Black and Brown communities.

The proposals include new policies for city departments that include better response times to environmental complaints, air monitoring and measures to reduce air pollution, public engagement around planning and development, and investments in so-called environmental justice communities, areas that receive a disproportionate share of pollution.

The Johnson administration also will ask the City Council to pass new laws related to planning and zoning that make it more difficult to continue placing polluting businesses in the same communities that have historically received them, all on the city’s South and West sides."

Brett Chase reports for the Chicago Sun-Times September 19, 2023.Brett Chase reports for the Chicago Sun-Times September 19, 2023.

Source: Chicago Sun-Times, 09/21/2023