About 300 residents turned out Sept. 6 for a community Shred Day in the 13th Ward, but the top question for Ald. Marty Quinn was when they will get a new police station at the Midway Illinois State Armory.
Despite the mayor’s stated reliance on Chicago Police as opposed to a national guard or federal presence, the alderman’s request has fallen on deaf ears from the mayor to date, Quinn added.
“When the mayor talks about his budget and its representation of the values of the City of Chicago, I would push back and say that the residents on the southwest side deserve a new district because there’s a discrepancy right now in the services they’re getting and what they’re paying in taxes,” he said.
Mayor Johnson’s first year “People’s Plan for Community Safety” report states police resource allocation is decided by key persons leading to political and unequal service delivery and disparate response times where, in some areas, “no officers may be able to respond for hours.”
According to a Jan. 2025 WTTW story, Mayor Johnson’s anti-violence strategy focus, including police response, is on four Chicago neighborhoods, Englewood, West Garfield Park, Austin and Little Village.
The Southwest News Herald previously reported that the current 8th district serves 250,000 residents with 259 police officers in the Ashburn, Archer Heights, Brighton Park, Chicago Lawn, Clearing, Gage Park, Garfield Ridge, South Lawndale, West Elsdon and West Lawn leaving the district with the worst officer-per-capita ratio in the city.
The 8th district is the largest in the city.
Quinn and other aldermen, including state leaders noted during a tour of the Illinois National Guard Midway Armory, for which $3 million earmarked for renovation to house the new police district and its helicopters, was secured.
State and local leaders also said a new police district is needed to cut down on first responder response times due to lengthy freight train delays.
The Belt Railway of Chicago (BRC) freight train line, deemed a “911 critical crossing” bisects, east to west, Chicago’s Clearing neighborhood, served by the 8th police district located at 3920 W. 63rd St., at multiple points from Harlem at 63rd and Natchez, Moody and Meade Avenues that run north to south, then east to Central Ave., all located within the city’s 8th police district.
A critical crossing is defined as a critical location for emergency services to access communities that have a high frequency of train movements or delays, according to the Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency Program website.
The 8th police district is also bisected by the Grand Trunk Western Railroad (GTW) running north and south which lies between it and the West Elsdon neighborhood it serves.
Multiple reports of first responders unable to cross tracks due to a stationary train at W. 63rd St., the most recent being Sept. 11, 2025, also includes a description of pedestrians “climbing on, over or through the train cars,” according to the U.S. Dept. of Transportation’s, Federal Railroad Administration, Blocked Crossing Data website.
The reporting observer also noted “No answer at railroad. Phone kept ringing and got ignored.”
The duration of the delay is logged at 31 to 60 minutes.
An Oct. 2024 delay at W. 63rd was logged from between 1-2 hours resulting in first responders also observed being unable to get across the tracks with the reporting observer stating “THE ENTIRE NEIGHBORHOOD IS IN GRIDLOCK! THEY SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO DO THIS!”
Waiting too long for 911 response calls is no longer acceptable for residents saying new district boundaries and beat lines would improve emergency response times, according to Quinn.
“That’s no disrespect to our officers; our officers are great,” he added. “They’re just being set up to fail right now. At this point it’s a blatant disregard to the taxpayers on the Southwest side by the mayor of the City of Chicago.”
Another immediate budget issue for Quinn revolves around a grocery tax of 1% repealed by Governor Pritzker. The city’s deadline to enact the tax in Chicago is Oct. 1, 2025.
13th ward residents are against the tax, he said.
“I believe there’s going to be an ordinance put forth by the mayor for a vote [on the tax] in the next couple weeks before the Oct. 1 deadline,” Quinn stated. “I will be voting no. The mayor says the grocery tax will generate $80 million. I believe we pay enough for groceries right now. My residents have had enough. We pay taxes but what do we get [from the city] in return? There’s a gap there and has been.”
The alderman pledged to be active during this year’s budget-making process on the mayor’s revenue raising ideas, “much like last year,” he said.
