Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration should hold off on issuing a final operating permit for General Iron’s owner as the government investigates whether the move to the Southeast Side violates the civil rights of residents there, according to a federal official.
In a letter to the city’s Law Department, a U.S. Housing and Urban Development official in Chicago said a federal civil rights inquiry likely would be hampered if the city issues the permit. Last month, HUD officials confirmed they were investigating after Southeast Side community groups filed a complaint with the agency saying that the business’ move from white, affluent Lincoln Park to a Latino-majority neighborhood was a violation of fair-housing laws.
The complaint alleges the city is aiding the transfer of the metal-shredding operations — a nuisance that causes air pollution — to the South Side through a Lightfoot Administration agreement signed with the business’ owner last year.
“The city’s actions to facilitate this transfer are central to this complaint,” Lon Meltesen, director of HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity in Chicago, said in a letter dated last week. “Any further actions to this effect could frustrate efforts to settle this matter.”
Meltesen added that a preliminary review of the complaint brought against the city “finds persuasive complainants’ evidence that this transfer would subject complainant organizations and the neighborhoods they represent to serious and irreparable injury.”
Under an agreement with the city signed in the fall of 2019, General Iron will stop accepting scrap metal at its North Side location at the end of the year and will begin dismantling its operation there. New owner Reserve Management Group is building a new shredding operation along the Calumet River at East 116th Street but needs a final city permit for so-called metal recycling to start up. The company hopes to be up and running within the first three months of 2021.
The fair-housing complaint was brought by three groups, the Southeast Environmental Task Force, the Southeast Side Coalition to Ban Petcoke and People for Community Recovery. The groups have pointed to city citations for pollution and nuisance. Recently RMG paid $18,000 to settle its outstanding complaints with the city.
In his letter, Meltesen asked the city to respond to his request Tuesday. A spokeswoman for Lightfoot said she couldn’t immediately comment.
“Your commitment to pause any action to facilitate this transfer of metal recycling operations is crucial to the successful resolution of this complaint,” Meltesen said in his letter.
Meltesen didn’t return calls seeking comment.
A HUD spokeswoman in Washington said the agency cannot publicly comment on cases under investigation.
Brett Chase’s reporting on the environment and public health is made possible by a grant from The Chicago Community Trust.
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November 17, 2020 at 11:24PM
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Feds to Lightfoot: Don’t issue General Iron a city permit - Chicago Sun-Times
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