By King Jemison
Medill Reports
Broadway Armory Park has been a vital community center in Edgewater for decades. But in August, the city closed the park to the public and converted it to a migrant shelter.
More than six months later, city officials still have no answers about when it will reopen. Edgewater residents say the closure has hurt their community’s families and businesses. They’re now fighting to get their park back.
TRANSCRIPT:
HUSSAIN MOHAMMED: The people of Chicago are fed up. And the 48th Ward wants our programming back.
JEMISON: Hussain Mohammed wants to reopen Broadway Armory Park, which has been a fixture of the Edgewater community for years, providing active programming for all ages. But in August, it closed suddenly, as the city converted it to a migrant shelter to house over 300 recent arrivals. Mohammed says that has been difficult for Edgewater families who counted on its after-school programming.
MOHAMMED: A lot of people rely on these facilities on a day-to-day basis. The mayor’s kids are probably attending programming somewhere else. But what about our community? Our community has been taken away from.
JEMISON: Local residents say the park closure has hurt the business community along Thorndale Avenue, where many storefronts are boarded up and some businesses say they’ve closed or moved to other locations.
MOHAMMED: So, it’s been a struggle, I would say, for a lot of the people here.
JEMISON: The park’s status as a shelter was set to be reevaluated on Feb. 1. Alderwoman Leni Manaa-Hoppenworth offered this update.
MANAA-HOPPENWORTH: It’s very difficult to say exactly when we’re going to be able to see our parks open.
JEMISON: Migrants I spoke to said the conditions inside the shelter were good. Some were told they’ll be able to stay for at least the next two months. However, many have been forced to panhandle in the surrounding community to provide for their families. Mohammed believes that reopening programming in the park, even while some migrants still call it home, can be a help to everyone involved.
MOHAMMED: We can potentially reopen the gym and actually integrate not only the community but the migrants as well, because the migrants can benefit from programming as well.
JEMISON: Concerned citizens are encouraged to attend one of the monthly meetings of the Broadway Armory Park Advisory Council, held on the third Thursday of every month at the park.
In Edgewater, I’m King Jemison for Medill Reports.
King Jemison is a sports media graduate student at Medill. You can follow him on X @king_jemison.
