Excerpts from the ChicagoTribune.com:
Mayor Rahm Emanuel plans to sell a prime piece of property near Goose Island to try to spur development in an economically depressed South Side neighborhood by relocating the city’s largest maintenance garage to Englewood.
Under the plan, the Chicago Department of Fleet and Facility Management’s headquarters would move from an 18-acre site along the North Branch of the Chicago River on Throop Street to a similarly-sized parcel that served as the old Kennedy-King College campus at Marquette Road and South Wentworth Avenue.
The riverside parcel would be sold to a developer, who not only would redevelop the current garage site, but would be required to build the new maintenance headquarters on the South Side, according to the mayor’s office.
The Emanuel administration didn’t offer an estimate of how much the city expects to fetch for the Goose Island site, which is in an area where developers have been anxious to build residential, retail and high-tech space. But the mayor’s office did say the new fleet facility for Englewood would cost between $25 million and $30 million to build.
#1 by Chuck on August 29, 2016 - 10:35 PM
Why not just go back to 31st & Sacramento?
#2 by CrabbyMilton on August 29, 2016 - 11:34 AM
They’ll spend money for things like that when they won’t spend money to hire more cops to go after the criminal turds to improve the quality of life for the rest of the people and businesses.
More jails and prisons should be built provided we had people in the justice system that believe in keeping the bad people locked up.
There goes the insurance rates too and then we wonder why bigger cities buy lower cost apparatus and turn over rigs after less than ten years in front line service.
#3 by Bill Post on August 29, 2016 - 11:12 AM
Here is a link to photo in the Tribune.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-rahm-emanuel-fleet-and-facility-management-met-0828-20160827-story.html
So the now the city is moving from a good relatively centrally located site to the Englewood shooting gallery. So now the fire trucks and other city vehicles and workers can be used for target practice. If they need to move then at least put Fleet Management in a better area or in an area where the city already had property. The city had facilities around Pershing and Ashland as well as the warehouse where special operations is located, why not build the new Fleet Management garage there, where there is plenty of land and the city already has property.
Even in the article the head of Fleet Management admits that a local tavern relies on business from the city employees. Instead “Da Mayor” is rewarding the urban terrorists.
The current location is at least centrally located. Now when the Northside and Westside companies need to exchange rigs they have an even longer trip to get to an area whose claim to fame are daily shootings and homicides.