Nine aldermen turned up the heat on Mayor Brandon Johnson accusing him of brushing aside the Southwest Side’s need for a new police district based at the Midway Armory and an ambulance attachment at a too-small West Ridge Ridge firehouse needing upgrades.
In a step that will force the mayor to act, aldermen sent a letter to Dept. of Fleet and Facilities Management Commissioner (2-FM) Julie Hernandez-Tomlin asking her to put the projects on the city’s construction schedule.
Officials who signed the letter represent a diverse group of elected aldermen and State of Illinois agencies who believe the new police district is necessary, Ald. Marty Quinn (13th) said.
Quinn and other officials want the city to split the 8th District into two districts because of its size and population.
“What that letter represents is getting people into the room to begin executing the 2026 management ordinance,” he said.
The ordinance states it is the responsibility of the Commissioner of 2-FM to prioritize the rehab or reconstruction of public buildings or city-owned facilities that received funding from, or were sold to, the city for a minimal dollar amount by the state or federal government.
The 2026 “Prioritization of City Projects Receiving State or Federal Funding,” ordinance updating 2-51-090 (a)(9) includes the new language passed by the City Council in December.
Both projects meet the ordinance’s criteria for prioritization by the city, Quinn said.
The length of time and effort spent getting the mayor to meet on a new Southwest Side police district is “really sad,” Quinn said.
“To blatantly ignore the voices of the residents of the Southwest Side, all hardworking taxpayers, is really a disservice to the community and to the entire City of Chicago,” he said.
The added amended language was a “big win” that forces the mayor into taking action, Quinn said.
When a final cost of rehabbing the armory is arrived at, the City Council and State of Illinois will continue with next steps, he said.
Last May, state Sen. Mike Porfirio (D-11th) and state Rep. Angie Guerrero Cuellar (D-22nd) secured $3 million from the state to renovate the vacant Midway Armory on West 63rd Street into a new police district police station.
“They’ve done this absent the Mayor of the City of Chicago,” Quinn said. “If the mayor does not act or tells his commissioners not to be responsive, that’s a dereliction of duty.”
Porfirio said the 8th District project is an example of good state and city partnership and the updated law moves the reality of the new police district forward.
“Now, we have to execute the deal and get the facility converted into the new police district,” he said.
Porfirio reiterated the $3 million is already allocated and secured for capital improvements on the site.
“We will continue to “look for ways to secure additional funding or revenue sources to support the new police district,” he said. “This is a really promising development. The coalition continues to advance this important initiative.”
The location of the facility provides an opportunity to split the 8th District in a common sense way, Porfirio said.
“We’re going to keep charging,” he said. “We have the opportunity to make this a state of the art facility and I look forward to continuing to work on it. That’s what the community and residents want and what the coalition has been advocating for.”
Al Cacciottolo, 8th Police District Councilman and president of Garfield Ridge Neighborhood Watch, said the 8th is the biggest police district in the city and needs to be split.
259 police officers currently serve approximately 250,000 district residents, meaning there is one officer per 965 residents.
“Police response time can be terrible based on the size of the district,” he said. “We pay our taxes and everybody feels we deserve a smaller district.”
Splitting the district in half would better serve community members, Cacciottolo said.
Freight trains stalled at critical crossings for over an hour, police shift changes and the number of 911 calls received affects response times putting great pressure on 8th District officers, he said.
“And our police are fantastic,” Cacciottolo said. “They do what they can but their hands are tied because they’re overwhelmed.”
In the past 10 years, crime has increased because the 8th District is too big, he said.
A recently completed ward-by-ward analysis of the Chicago Police Department’s staffing and function by California-based Matrix Consulting Group produced recommendations to the city to provide better service.
The study said that variation in “geography, unit and function” resulted in “erratic service, less supervisory oversight in increased-demand areas and decreased response times,” and recommended hiring 290 more officers, 90 new sergeants and switching 600 officer positions to civilian hires, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Ald. Debra Silverstein (50th) signed the letter due to safety issues in her ward.
The need for an ambulance attachment and upgrades to the Chicago Fire Department Engine 71 station has been too long in the making.
“This is a priority for my community,” she said. “We have one of the smallest fire houses in the City of Chicago, there is no ambulance attachment and there is a great need.”
The 50th Ward has been without city ambulance service from its fire station for approximately five years, Silverstein said.
“We have been able to receive money from the state for it and additionally, I was just told there is some federal money allocated to this annex. It’s very frustrating that we’re still waiting for it,” she said.
The funding received by the 50th Ward is separate from funding received for the 8th District, Silverstein said.
50th Ward residents have circulated signed petitions asking for a 71st fire station ambulance attachment, she said.
“Right now, the people in my community have to wait for an ambulance that comes from a location further away,” Silverstein said. “It’s a matter of saving a life.”
The 50th ward’s 71st firehouse is also in poor condition and needs repairs, she said.
“When they pull the fire truck into the firehouse, they use the bumpers of the truck as an end table,” Silverstein said. “That’s how tight it is for them.”
Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th) does not believe the mayor or his administration intends to prioritize a new police district at the Midway Armory, or upgrades to the 71st fire station.
“Our concerns are not the mayor’s concerns,” he said. “The mayor has shown time and again he has a warped sense of public safety. On the Southwest Side we are talking about the needs of proper policing in the 8th District. On the far north side, you’re talking about a firehouse that is not fully equipped.”
The mayor is tone deaf to any other wards’ needs aside from increased Chicago Public School funding and his pet not-for-profit projects, Lopez said.
“Which is why we continue to have to keep filing orders, resolutions and ordinances to try to force the mayor’s hand to do what elected representatives need done [for their communities],” Lopez said. “If we do nothing, he will do nothing.”