"it was like someone dumped feces on my front yard" Surprise! A factory we highlighted in our 2023 report Ineffective By Choice is still causing problems.

"it was like someone dumped feces on my front yard" Surprise! A factory we highlighted in our 2023 report Ineffective By Choice is still causing problems.

If you missed our town hall meeting about the Hazel Johnson Cumulative Impacts Ordinance, the video is up on youtube! This link starts with our presentations about the ordinance and the effects of pollution #HazelJohnsonCIO

We will also be livestreaming this meeting on our youtube channel: www.youtube.com/@n4ejchicago...

the 11th and 12th wards have a lot of people who speak Spanish or Chinese as a first language, so we will have interpreters. btw did you know that Chicago's 311 system only accepts air pollution complaints in English?

TONIGHT! Join us in person or online for a SW Chicago community forum about the Hazel Johnson Cumulative Impacts Ordinance. We'll be joined by Ald Ramirez (12), Ald Lee (11), Ald Rodriguez (22), and State Rep Theresa Mah RSVP at bit.ly/CIOmtg to get the zoom link or let us know you're coming!

Everybody following this story should know: 1) Tadin refuses to say what he plans to do w/the property 2) It's zoned PMD 11-A, which means intensive manufacturing is "permitted by right" (no special approval required) 3) The Hazel Johnson Cumulative Impacts Ordinance would change that

The Damen Silos are currently zoned for: "acetylene, cement lime, gypsum or plaster-of-paris, chlorine, corrosive acid or fertilizer, insecticides, disinfectants, poisons, explosives, paint, lacquer, varnish, petroleum products, coal products, plastic and synthetic resins and radioactive materials"

The Damen Silos are currently zoned for: "acetylene, cement lime, gypsum or plaster-of-paris, chlorine, corrosive acid or fertilizer, insecticides, disinfectants, poisons, explosives, paint, lacquer, varnish, petroleum products, coal products, plastic and synthetic resins and radioactive materials"

Everybody following this story should know: 1) Tadin refuses to say what he plans to do w/the property 2) It's zoned PMD 11-A, which means intensive manufacturing is "permitted by right" (no special approval required) 3) The Hazel Johnson Cumulative Impacts Ordinance would change that

“If I were them, I would be thinking about it as a measure to mitigate political risk,” Moser said. “If a warehouse opens up down the street....they’re going to assume that the alderperson did know. They’re going to assume you’re on the take.” #HazelJohnsonCIO

Let's go ward by ward and see where the cumulative impacts ordinance would offer new protections. bit.ly/CIOmaps #HazelJohnsonCIO

“If I were them, I would be thinking about it as a measure to mitigate political risk,” Moser said. “If a warehouse opens up down the street....they’re going to assume that the alderperson did know. They’re going to assume you’re on the take.” #HazelJohnsonCIO

Today from @borderlessmag.bsky.social, with a great catch by Aydali Campa: CDPH has *removed inspection narratives* from their public data sets. These narratives are a key tool for understanding city inspections, and CDPH is now hiding that data

In the new data set, all of this description is gone. It now reads "Result: Alleged violation not found"

when chicago doesn't like what data shows, it doesn't fix the problem. it hides the data

Today from @borderlessmag.bsky.social, with a great catch by Aydali Campa: CDPH has *removed inspection narratives* from their public data sets. These narratives are a key tool for understanding city inspections, and CDPH is now hiding that data

Let's talk about zoning! Did you know that some parts of Chicago are pre-approved for pollution? If you live there, developers can build a factory or huge warehouse with no public notice or city approval required. The Hazel Johnson Cumulative Impacts Ordinance can change that. #HazelJohnsonCIO

Neither of these alders has said how they will vote on the ordinance, so if you live in the 10th ward or the 43rd, give them a call!

When we say Chicago uses planning and zoning to keep pollution out of white neighborhoods and put it in communities of color, this is what that looks like. The General Iron fight happened because the city tried to move a scrap metal shredder from the first area to the second one

Right now all of the highlighted areas on the map are zoned "by right" for big warehouses. The PMD districts and M3 manufacturing districts also allow "intensive" industrial manufacturing like asphalt, corrosive acid, chlorine, and insecticides #HazelJohnsonCIO

Chicago peeps - call your Alders & tell them you support the Hazel Johnson Cumulative Impacts ordinance! I know there are a lot of shitty things going on right now & it’s hard to focus but this is important for our city.

tbh I think most people don't even know we need this, because they assume you must have to get approved to build a factory. not requiring it would be ridiculous! but Chicago is ridiculous. by right zoning should be for affordable housing, not heavy industry

Let's talk about zoning! Did you know that some parts of Chicago are pre-approved for pollution? If you live there, developers can build a factory or huge warehouse with no public notice or city approval required. The Hazel Johnson Cumulative Impacts Ordinance can change that. #HazelJohnsonCIO

This was a significant topic in today's hearing, as Alders pushed the commissioner to explain why you can get a pile of parking tickets overnight but ongoing air pollution violations are allowed to continue for weeks or months

The hearing is now live

Today at 10am there is a city council hearing about environmental enforcement, where the Chicago Dept of Public Health will answer questions about how they enforce (or don't) the city's environmental laws. We'd like to offer some context. 🧵

您是否曾经闻到源于重工业、货仓、高速公路、以及柴油货车的污染异味？ 如果您居住在芝加哥的南边、您大有可能闻过。您亲身经历过空气污染的异味、感觉过它的压力、以及遭受过它造成的呼吸困难。

Vea este documento de N4EJ sobre el monitoreo del aire en Chicago para aprender cómo la contaminación del aire afecta su salud y qué medidas puede tomar para mejorar la calidad del aire.

¿Alguna vez ha olido la contaminación causada por las actividades de fábricas, almacenes, autopistas y camiones diésel? Si vive en el sur de Chicago, probablemente sí. Usted sabe cómo huele y lo que provoca la contaminación del aire, y lo difícil que resulta respirar.

Check out N4EJ + People for Community Recovery (PCR)’s one-pager about air monitoring in Chicago to find out how air pollution impacts your health and what actions you can take to improve air quality in your community.

WHAT'S THAT SMELL? Have you ever smelled pollution from heavy industries, warehouses, highways, and diesel trucks? If you live on the Southside of Chicago, odds are, you do. You know what air pollution smells like, feels like, and how hard it is to breathe in.

New data tool from @n4ej.org! Chicago has a batch of air monitors to install around town, and you can help suggest spots for them. 🏭 Is there a local facility you're concerned about? 🚚 A corner with a lot of truck traffic? Add your suggestions here chicagoaqi.com to target & reduce #AirPollution

If you're interested in learning more about ChicagoAQI.com, I'm presenting for @chihacknight.bsky.social on Tuesday. I'll be talking about building it as a data tool and an organizing tool, and how thinking about it in both of those frames shaped the design choices

This article highlights why we made ChicagoAQI.com - air pollution is a huge problem with wide ranging effects on people's health. We've come too far to leave these air monitors sitting on the shelf.

Suggest a location for an air monitor! Are there always trucks running in that one lot on the corner? Does it always smell bad when you go past a certain building? Curious if you're really getting fresh air at the park? Tell us! #ChicagoAQI

ICYMI

Today we're excited to announce a new tool: ChicagoAQI.com It's for two things: suggesting locations for city air monitors, and exploring data from Chicago's cumulative impacts assessment. Spanish: es.chicagoaqi.com Chinese: cn.chicagoaqi.com

Suggestions are immediately public, and anybody can download the data. You can also view those suggestions on the Explore Data map. The explore data map also shows you the EJ index values for the selected area: as a percentile of city values, and as a jitter plot of absolute measurements

Check out ChicagoAQI.com (es.chicagoaqi.com in Spanish, cn.chicagoaqi.com in Chinese)

Genuinely excited for this.

Fun fact: for years, n4ej has done educational outreach in our community on how to report air pollution to the city using the official tools as a result the city has said 311 pollution complaints data is "dirty" and doesn't really count Bc we told people how to do it and encouraged them to

Why are we doing this? Because the city promised to put up air monitors, but then they pushed out the employee running the project.

I have been working on this for a few weeks now, and it's finally ready for people to use. Please suggest locations for air monitors! Check out what you can learn about your neighborhood, and about the distribution of things like traffic, ozone, asthma

Today we're excited to announce a new tool: ChicagoAQI.com It's for two things: suggesting locations for city air monitors, and exploring data from Chicago's cumulative impacts assessment. Spanish: es.chicagoaqi.com Chinese: cn.chicagoaqi.com

It's been a long week for news in Chicago, and N4EJ has been all over the place trying to call attention to the city's environmental racism. ICYMI here's a recap:

It's been a long week for news in Chicago, and N4EJ has been all over the place trying to call attention to the city's environmental racism. ICYMI here's a recap:

I was on Outside The Loop today, talking about Paid to Pollute and how there is no city department responsible for monitoring or enforcing the environmental provisions in city contracts

CDOT public survey to inform the new Division of Planning and Policy. #bikechi might want to share their thoughts webapps4.chicago.gov/eforms/cdotp...

"electric" is not actually a synonym for environmentally friendly