Deadline for Comments on RMG Relocation Approaches
The Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) displays Chicago’s logo on Zoom as attendees wait for their public hearing on RMG expansion site to start.
CHICAGO - Southeast Side residents have until Jan. 14 to submit their final written comments to The Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) about their concerns on RMG (Reserved Management Group) receiving their final recycling permits. These permits would allow the company to operate out of a facility at 11600 S. Burley Ave. on Chicago’s Southeast Side in 2021.
Residents can still submit their comments to envcoments@cityofchaicago.org. CDPH are requesting these comments following their latest online public hearing that was held on Zoom Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020. This was the second public hearing that the city had regarding the proposed location for the recycling company. The first town hall was held on July 25, 2020 to inform residents that RMG, the parent company of recycler General Iron, had not filed an application for permits with CDPH.
Similar to the previous community meeting, this hearing opened with greetings from public officials. Angela Tovar, chief sustainability officer of Chicago, gave an overview of the meeting then Ald. Susan Sadlowski Garza (10th Ward) welcomed the members of her ward. Later during the informational period, Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Allison Arwady addressed the community and discussed large metal recycler rules, the permitting process, and the RMG application again.
The two-hour long meeting then concluded with a public comment section. CDPH asked those that wanted to testify to sign-up in advance to give comments, and residents of Chicago’s 10th Ward were given priority to speak. During the meeting, those who signed-up to speak were called upon to testify. Unlike the previous town hall attendees could not use their microphone to speak and did not have access to type in the comment section of Zoom.
The majority of residents did not express support for RMG’s proposed relocation and asked the city to deny the final permit. Some residents even emphasized that they were “walking out” of the meeting to join an online event on Facebook called “Public Hearing on General Iron Final Permit”organized by Stop General Iron. The day of the town hall, the event had around 70 participants.
Screenshot of the “Public Hearing on General Iron” Facebook event organized by Stop General Iron.
Olga Bautista, a Southeast Side resident for 43 years, was one of the many participants to share her disapproval of the company, the recycling rules, and permit process during the comment section. During the meeting she referred to rules as a “very watered-down version of the things that the community asked for.” Bautista, who is a board member of the environmental group Southeast Environmental Task Force and the founder of Southeast Side Coalition to Ban Petcoke also expressed her disappointment with how the meeting was organized as community members testified they were given 10 days to prepare for the meeting.
She said, “We [Southeast Environmental Task Force] were not ready to really recruit and prepare people to testify and to, you know, make comments on what was a very technical application that the company had submitted and we were you know, required to make comments on that application and it was just not enough time to be able to have like, you know, hire an engineer, or an expert to look at this application to give us a report in it for us to make a decision about what we wanted, you know, to talk about.”
One noticeable difference in comparison to the previous town hall was how the presentation was made accessible to Spanish speakers. During the most recent public hearing, there was a separate phone line that Spanish speakers were invited to join. This change was made after the last town hall.
Southeast side resident, Olga Baustista, testifies at The Chicago Department of Public Health public hearing on December 10, 2020.
Bautista, who was on the English Zoom call, said that she was informed that this new system created problems. She felt as if the city mishandled the bilingual services by creating a process that was hard to navigate.
She said, “The Spanish speaking, folks were just not able to get through, like their names were called. And they were like, ‘are you there? Go ahead caller.’ And you couldn't hear anything, we were getting texts and emails from these people that were like, ‘something's wrong with their system, we're not able to get through.’ And this was the only chance that these families had to participate, because there was only one hearing.”
Interview: Bautista shares her thoughts on the RMG relocation
There were a few 10th Ward residents that expressed their support for the relocation of the facility into their area.
Bautista said, “We heard a couple people, some people that we know from the neighborhood that were making comments about their support for this for General Iron to move to the Southeast Side. And some of these folks like we grew up with them. And we know that they're not engineers. And when they make, you know, comments that they have reviewed the application, and that they are very pleased with, like, the environmental protections that the company is doing. We know that they're not experts.”
She continued, “We also received a letter that RMG employees had received encouraging them to testify. You know, this is like, right, as they were also getting a bonus of, I think, $100 or $150, for Christmas. So I believe RMG paid for those, for those people to come and testify.”
CDPH has not announced what day the final permit could be granted or denied to RMG. Bautista shared that regardless of the final decision the environmental fight has created solidarity between their ward, environmental groups, and other neighborhoods throughout Chicago and the state.
She said, “This community is building power and building relationships with folks all across the city, all across the state. And this is not going to be something that is just going to fizz out, you know, once the last permits are granted. I think people are really interested in working together to figure out a plan for this community that is rooted in social justice and sustainability.”
For more information visit the city’s webpage dedicated to the RMG expansion into the Southeast Side.