Speaker 1: WBEZ features is supported by the poetry foundation. Their River North space is open to the public and includes a library with over 30,000 books plus a new exhibition on Harriet monroe, the woman who founded poetry magazine in chicago. In 1912. Details for planning a visit are at poetry foundation.org/visit.

Speaker 2: You're listening to Wbez Governor JB Pritzker's administration announcing today it will not move forward with constructing a base camp to house migrants in the Brighton Park neighborhood on Chicago's Southwest Side. The state says the land does not meet environmental safety standards that comes after the city said the site was safe for temporary residential use and is blaming the state for not raising issues sooner. Joining us now is Wbez city government and politics reporter Tessa Weinberg, who's got more on this story and Tessa the plan to house the migrants at this site in Brighton Park has had a lot of stops and starts tell us more about today's decision. What does it mean that the state decided not to do

Speaker 3: this? Yeah. So right now, the base camp isn't moving forward. A spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Human Services says a contractor is actually going to deconstruct and vacate the site, the state was helping put up this site with the city. And so now it says they're looking for other locations. They've asked the city to identify what those sites could be. And they're doing the same with the archdiocese of chicago Catholic Charities has been a big provider of helping migrants apply for rental assistance in the past. And so the state was also helping the city set up a brick and mortar shelter at a former CV S in Little Village. And they say now they're going to work on speeding up that shelters opening instead. But the state's decision has really opened up this new can of worms with Mayor Brandon Johnson's administration. You know, Johnson released a statement this afternoon casting some of the blame on the state and the city says the state told a private contractor to move forward on the construction in the first place for the base camp. And they say the state didn't raise these concerns before. Still. They say they're looking forward to working with the state to set up that CBS shelter.

Speaker 2: What can you tell us tess about why the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency said the site, the site should be scrapped. What's actually wrong with the site?

Speaker 3: Yeah. So, you know, first off this site has a history of industrial use and so there were concerns about people even living there for a short period of time on the land. So the city hired an outside consultant to do an independent environmental review. That review though showed that mercury and other contaminants were indeed present in the soil. And so then the city took steps to address that they said they deposited soil in a landfill, placing a six inch layer of stone to cover the land itself. And the city says those cleanup efforts made the land suitable for temporary residential use. A claim that they reiterated in their statements today. But the environmental protection agencies, the Illinois IE epa the review of that city consultant report, you know, it was kind of the opposite. They say the site still isn't safe. And that Pritzker today shut the plan down. This

Speaker 2: plan for this migrant housing site was already controversial. Even before the environmental questions, the neighbors didn't want it. People have worried about migrants sleeping in winterized tents that wouldn't be warm enough to begin with. How are people reacting to the news?

Speaker 3: Yeah, 12 Ford Alder person julia Ramirez, you know, she's she's happy to see the state really take these safety concerns seriously the results of the review. She says validates the concerns residents, environmental advocates are raising about the site's history. But she says the environmental study you really should have been prioritized before construction even started. Here's Ramirez,

Speaker 4: I wish that we would have had this conversation. What now a month and a half, two months ago, we already knew that it was on manufacturing that there was heavy manufacturing already historically and a lot.

Speaker 3: And you know, she says she wants her ward to still be a welcoming one for asylum seekers and that she's looking forward to having conversations about how to safely shelter migrants going forward.

Speaker 2: There's been some reporting by our colleagues at the Sun Times this week that Governor Pritzker and Mayor Johnson are at political odds these days. What does today's disagreement mean for that relationship? Yeah. You

Speaker 3: know, I think this is a telling moment for Johnson and Pritzker's relationship. For sure. We've got dueling narratives here between the state and the city over who did what, you know why this plan fell apart and it really underscores the tension that's been building as the city asked the state for more money while the state has been critical of the city's slow pace at managing the crisis. So getting this site shut down in the middle of construction as winter is coming. Yeah. You know, it's another example of the disconnect between Johnson's administration and the governor's

Speaker 2: Tessa Weinberg. Thanks for bringing us this late update. Yeah, thanks so much. That was WBEZ city government and politics reporter Tessa Weinberg. This is Wbez.

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