Chicago City Wire

This week, three Chicago aldermen have publicly called on Mayor Brandon Johnson to demand the resignation of several City Hall staffers. The aldermen believe these staffers mishandled plans to construct a migrant tent camp on contaminated property in the Brighton Park neighborhood.

In their letter, Aldermen Anthony Beale, Ray Lopez and Anthony Napolitano expressed their dissatisfaction with the administration's handling of the situation. "What we have seen in Brighton Park, however, does not show members of your administration as being either serious, deliberative or collaborative in addressing this issue," they wrote.

The aldermen specifically called for the resignation of seven members of Johnson's administration, according to WGNTV. These include Deputy Mayor of Community Safety Garien Gatewood; Deputy Mayor for Immigrant, Migrant and Refugee Rights Beatriz Ponce de Leon; Deputy Mayor of Infrastructure and Services Lori Lypson; Project Manager Alyxandra Goodwin; Deputy Chief of Staff and former state Sen. Cristina Pacione-Zayas; Managing Deputy Commissioner at Chicago Department of Family and Support Services Maura McCauley; and Deputy Commissioner of Behavioral Health Matthew Richards.

A spokesperson for Johnson's administration responded to these demands in an interview with Crain's Chicago Business. The spokesperson stated that the mayor considered the call for resignations as "not serious," adding that the staff members named in the letter are "doing very serious work."

Earlier this week, Prairie State Wire reported that Gov. J.B. Pritzker's administration withdrew funding for Johnson's plan to establish a winterized tent encampment for 2,000 asylum-seeking migrants at 38th and California. This location is formerly industrial land found by a City Hall-commissioned environmental study to be contaminated with high levels of lead, arsenic, and mercury.

Alderwoman Julia Ramirez represents Brighton Park and has objected to housing migrants on this contaminated land within her ward. According to ABC7 Chicago, Ramirez has said that the mayor's staff did not consult her office or nearby neighbors before taking unilateral action to begin work on setting up the encampment.

Beale, Lopez and Napolitano were also involved in an unsuccessful attempt to place a non-binding referendum on the April ballot. This referendum would have asked voters if Chicago should retain its sanctuary city status. A report from Chicago City Wire states that a special City Council meeting convened to decide on this potential referendum descended into chaos and concluded without resolution.