(The Center Square) – Residents on Chicago’s South Side booed their mayor off stage following his answer to questions from the crowd at an event put together by community groups against a large taxpayer-funded development over the weekend.
The Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park under development at the former U.S. Steel South Works site has been funded by $500 million from state taxpayers through Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration, alongside hundreds of millions more in tax incentives for companies that take part.
Residents and community members near the 128-acre development have protested the park, calling it a new data center being built under the guise of a “rebrand” to quantum.
IQMP CEO Harley Johnson said in a letter to the mayor’s office last week that the park wouldn’t include a data center.
“The IQMP is a first-of-its-kind, 128-acre campus built for quantum technology and microelectronics innovation – home to companies, researchers, and suppliers working to develop technologies,” wrote the CEO.
At a town hall organized by the community organization Southside Together on Saturday, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson took questions from community members frustrated by a potential data center and the wider project being built in their area.
The rowdy crowd interjected multiple times before Johnson could address concerns over environmental impacts of the multi-billion dollar public-private venture.
“Here are my values: That innovation cannot take place at the expense of environmental justice. And that development cannot happen at the expense of utilities and working people. And that private investment cannot happen at the expense of our overall public health,” Johnson said.
Johnson referred to his recent signing of an executive order placing heavier restrictions on data centers and calling on the city council to impose a moratorium on their construction.
Community members still weren’t satisfied, but Johnson said he was committed to working with a coalition of organizations against the park.
“I'm prepared and willing to commit all of my resources and that includes not just my office but the re-establishment of the Department of the Environment to work with this coalition to do what is legally possible to make sure that development that is happening is not happening at the expense of working people,” Johnson said.
Following his answer, the mayor was booed off stage and left the event, with members of the audience shouting as an organizer said his answer “wasn’t satisfactory.”
Despite the event’s turn, the mayor’s office released a statement Monday, saying the project is still beneficial to its surrounding residents, touting that the project wouldn’t move forward with a data center.
“The mayor understands that removing a data center from the project does not resolve every concern. Residents continue to have serious questions about the Quantum campus’s environmental impacts, as well as the potential for displacement and gentrification. Those concerns deserve to be heard and considered,” a spokesperson said.
In a news release Monday, Southside Together said they’re thankful for the mayor hearing the concerns, turning some ire towardPritzker and PsiQuantum, a company anchoring the park and receiving $500 million in tax credits over 30 years
“That is more than can be said of PsiQuantum and Governor Pritzker, who have continued to ignore the true desire of the community and instead have invested significant public resources and political support in bringing Quantum to the South Side. We will continue to organize until this harmful development is fully stopped,” read the release.