Development of the Damen Silos property must include the McKinley Park community’s knowledge, consent, and interest
Chicago has a long history of environmental racism. Last year, the city signed a federal agreement promising to address it by changing how it plans, develops, and engages with communities.
The Damen Silos are a high-profile example of exactly what that agreement, and the cumulative impacts assessment, are meant to address: a prominent property in an overburdened community has been sold to a private industrialist, who will demolish historic buildings towards unclear ends.
Chicago also has a history of breaking its promises. The officials who oversaw the botched implosion of the Crawford Coal plant were not disciplined, but promoted. New permits are still being issued for pollution in neighborhoods that already have too much.
That cannot happen here. We must have honesty, care, caution, and communication.
As a community surrounded by sources of industrial pollution, McKinley Park does not need another polluter adding to our health burdens from heavy industry. Michael Tadin Jr.’s purchase of the Damen Silos property in December 2022 caused immediate concern for residents in McKinley Park as it followed the procedural footsteps of MAT Asphalt, which was constructed in 2018, without public notice or consent from the community.
Despite heavy pushback against demolishing the Damen Silos from both community members and multiple organizations (see public comments here) for the sake of preserving them as community assets, the green light has been given by the US Army Corps of Engineers to tear down these beloved and iconic structures. Now that preservation is no longer an option, we must look towards holding the City of Chicago and Michael Tadin Jr. accountable for developing this property in a way that adds no additional health burdens to our already overburdened community.
- If the buildings cannot be preserved, the demolition must be slow and deliberate, with the community informed and involved every step of the way. Processes to hold city departments (Department of Buildings, Department of Public Health, and Department of Planning and Development) and Henegan Construction accountable for the remediation, demolition, and development processes must be operationalized first.
- This site is considered a complex demolition – which brings with it more extensive demolition requirements that Henegan Construction would have to follow and that the city departments would have to commit to overseeing.
- Development must include the community while there is still time for it to matter, instead of as the last step of a private process. Though the silos are now cleared for demolition, the resounding asks for preservation and public use should still be considered in the development of this property.
- Chicago must make good on the promise of implementing findings from the cumulative impacts assessment and the HUD agreement. The city must consider what pollution is already here, and reject proposals that would further burden the community.
- Lastly, we will continue to challenge the property owner, Michael Tadin Jr., of any inaccuracies during the development process and demand transparency about his plans. We have no reason to believe his assurances that the Damen Silos site will not be a truck lot, a warehouse, or another MAT Asphalt. Whatever happens next must be within the McKinley Park community’s knowledge, consent, and interest.
Now that the federal green light has been given for the Damen Silos to be demolished (despite resounding community support for their preservation), we are calling on the city to stand up for our already overburdened community.
