Mayor Brandon Johnson presides over his first City Council meeting
CHICAGO (CBS)-- Mayor Brandon Johnson will preside over his first City Council meeting Wednesday.
A lot of people will be experiencing this for the first time today as new faces are expected in council chambers for the first official meeting.
It's Johnson's first city council meeting since his inauguration last week.
It will also be the first meeting for over a dozen alderpersons as 13 wards have new representation following the outgoing of many veteran council members in the past year.
Wednesday's agenda includes approval of $51 million in funding to help cover the costs of housing asylum seekers in Chicago. The money comes from a 2021 budget surplus that was set aside for emergencies.
The funding comes as the city prepares to open a temporary migrant shelter at Wilbur Wright College on the Northwest Side. Tuesday night, city officials held a community meeting in the 38th Ward to discuss the plan to house 400 migrants at the college through Aug. 1.
The meeting brought out tense moments between opponents and supporters of the plan to house migrants at Wright College.
"Your ward should be assessed to pay for this," resident Frank Coconate told one supporter of the plan.
"Because I live in the 4th Ward and I believe human beings are never illegal?" Kim Minnaugh, of Indivisible Chicago Alliance shot back.
"Yes. Why should I pay? I don't want to pay," Coconate said.
"This is about humanity," Minnaugh said.
City officials said the migrant shelter at Wright College will be prioritized for families, with curfews enforced. It will also include a dining area and showers, with cots and children's supplies provided.
Chicago has accepted nearly 10,000 asylum seekers into 20 shelters since last August, and there's word that another bus full of people is on its way from Laredo, Texas.
Meantime, in other City Council business, ahead of the meeting Wednesday morning, Ald. Debra Silverstein (50th), the council's lone Jewish alderperson, plans to speak on a new resolution declaring the month of May to be Jewish American History Month in Chicago. She'll be highlighting the sharp increase in antisemitism and hate crimes.
Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25h) is also expected to speak. He'll present a long-term housing plan for asylum seekers and people experiencing homelessness in the city.
The meeting will begin in Council Chambers at 10 a.m.