Migrants moved from two Chicago Park District facilities to allow return of services
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Migrants are no longer staying at two of the city's five designated parks serving as temporary shelters.
The parks belong to the Chicago Park District once again after the city used them to house migrants for almost a year. Nearly 200 migrants were moved out of Piotrowski Park in Little Village and Leone Beach Park in Rogers Park.
"We decided that Piotrowski Park was an ideal spot to serve them, to give them a temporary home. We knew that Piotrowski Park was going to be a temporary shelter," said 22nd Ward Ald. Mike Rodriguez.
It's an effort to restore the parks and their services before summer.
The city took over Leone Beach Park at the end of September to temporarily provide shelter to migrants. Now that the migrants have moved out the field house will go back to lifeguards for its summer use.
Five parks across the city have housed migrants since last summer. Since then, services that some say are essential have been removed, suspended, or halted. Now that these two parks have been cleared of migrants, the Chicago Park District can restore programs and services to those in the community.
"Piotrowski Park is a gem of our community," said Rodriguez. "It provides day camp in the summer and afterschool programs for many single parents who are working a job or two and need that help. Piotrowski Park is a Chicago Park. It's an institution here in the neighborhood. It's a needed institution for our young people to go after school, weekends."
The 140 migrants from Piotrowski Park were moved to the old CVS shelter at 26th and Pulaski in Little Village. That site currently holds 160 migrants and has a capacity of 230.
The city says it is moving migrants into nearby shelters so students can stay in the same schools.
The city says three of the five parks continue to serve as temporary shelters. There are 115 family members at Brands Park in Avondale and172 family members at the Broadway Armory in Edgewater. There are also 256 single men and women at Gage Park.
Rodriguez said when these parks reopen fully to the public they will be better than they were before.
"We're going to have a revitalized park and an upgraded park for community members to use day in and day out," he said. "That's going to include our newest arrivals but also those who have been here for many years leveraging that park for fun, for love, just for day-to-day activities."
Over the next few weeks, the city will continue to move migrants out of the Chicago parks and into shelters.
