Op-eds: We can help Chicago communities that bear brunt of air pollution chicagotribune.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from chicagotribune.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Manny Ramos/Sun-Times
In response to the Sun-Times coverage regarding the city vacant lot program
Pilot Program’s Progress Falls Short By Lots and the editorial “For the good of neighborhoods, city must fix vacant lot beautification program,” the midpoint of the elected term of Mayor Lightfoot is an appropriate time to assess progress on her commitments made as Candidate and Mayor-elect Lightfoot. Based on the views being shared among community and environmental organizations and advocates in terms of environment and sustainability, the administration has seriously disappointed in matters of policy, program and equity. As the city’s last Commissioner of Environment for the City of Chicago (Mayor Emanuel shuttered the department in 2012), and a member of Mayor Lightfoot’s Environment Transition Team, I feel a disappointment that edges into anguish less for the administration’s lack of progress and more for its outright regression from any comprehensive environmental a