A group of Austin residents, nonprofits and disaster relief agencies are demanding as much as $50 million from Mayor Brandon Johnson to help victims of last July’s floods recover from the damage.
The West Side Long-Term Recovery Group gathered at the Christian Community Center on West Augusta Boulevard Feb. 21 to call on the mayor to find $25 million to $50 million to help clean up hundreds of residents’ mold damage and debris, plus fund humidifiers and replace water heaters and furnaces that were destroyed by the storms that hit Chicago last June 29 and July 2.
Although some residents have received assistance from FEMA and the City of Chicago, more than 200 of those affected in Austin are seniors who still have damage to their homes, the group said.
“We still have hundreds, if not thousands of people, who don’t have water heaters, who don’t have furnaces, who still have mold in their basement,” said Jitu Brown, an Austin resident and national director for the Journey for Justice Alliance.
His numbers come from West Side Long-Term Recovery Group’s database of about 600 people, which they created as they gave out cleaning supplies after the flooding and hosted weekly meetings at the Christian Community Center.
Ald. Emma Mitts of the 37th Ward called on various other officials to assist, as well.
“When I say I’m not through talking, that goes for every level of government in the state of Illinois. I’m talking to the [Cook County] Board of Review, I’m talking to the [Cook County] Assessor, Fritz Kaegi. You want to raise our taxes? What about the flood?” Mitts said. “I’m talking to the water department. Where is the money to help us with the flood?”
Community organizer Princess Shaw invited four elders who live in Austin to the press conference to speak about the destruction that the flood left on their homes.
“They are our pioneers,” Shaw said of these elders. “They have paved the way, and they should be able to enjoy their last days and what they built from the ground up.”
“I lost a lot. I thought I had it all covered,” said Queen Jackson, 83, an Austin resident. “I talk to a lot of people in the area every day. They’re constantly telling me, ‘I need this’ or ‘They’re not doing this.’ I understand it takes time for things to be regenerated, but as a whole, now we need for our mayor to put his effort into showing us he’s interested in us, not to put us on the back burner.”
Mary Buchanan was raised in Austin and moved back around a year ago, when her mother, who was friends with Jackson, died. Buchanan inherited her mother’s property that she had owned for the last 56 years and was affected by the flood.
“I knew we had insurance, but it wasn’t flood insurance, so we weren’t covered,” Buchanan said. “Everything [was] lost in the basement. Everything. Mold everywhere, water up past my knees.”
Speakers at the press conference also called for volunteers to help mediate the damage from the flood. They thanked construction workers and general contractors, like Murphy’s Construction, that have taken off from their day jobs to help treat more than 60 of the homes affected by the flood.
“Just because you drive down that street and it looks fine, and it looks clean, and you don’t have any debris on the street, you don’t know what’s going on the inside. And it’s been that way for quite some time,” Shaw said. “The social services, the social justice, we deserve it.” She added, “This is turmoil. This is modern day, urban day traumatization.”
Those who have been affected by the flood and need assistance can go to https://www.westsideltrg.com/ or call 773-909-8502.