Mayor defends Whittier fieldhouse demolition

BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter August 20, 2013 3:00PM

Demolition crews dismantling the fieldhouse behind Whittier Elementary in Chicago on Saturday, August 17, 2013. | Chandler West/For Sun-Times Media

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Updated: August 21, 2013 2:21AM

Mayor Rahm Emanuel fended off allegations that the weekend demolition of a Pilsen school fieldhouse was a sneak attack akin to former Mayor Richard M. Daleys infamous midnight destruction of Meigs Field.

Emanuel said he appreciates the emotional attachment that people have to the Whittier Elementary School fieldhouse, which they were using as a volunteer community center.

But he said the run-down fieldhouse was unsafe for children and should have been torn down three years ago, when a parental protest prompted the Chicago Public Schools to call off the demolition trucks.

Three years ago there was a discussion of just tearing it down. Were not doing that. Were taking it down and building something new to replace it, he said.

Building up a new AstroTurf field, a new basketball court and a new playground that is safe for kids is exactly the right thing to do for the families . . . in and around Whittier. . . . That was not the case three years ago. There was no commitment to the neighborhood to make the type of investment which we are making now.

Emanuel likened the Whittier protests, which triggered 10 weekend arrests, to last years overnight campus sit-in at Brian Piccolo Elementary Specialty School in West Humboldt Park.

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Mayor defends Whittier fieldhouse demolition