Buckner calls out Chicago Mayor’s “Game of Chicken” with HUD that threatens to create a public housing crisis
Kam Buckner, a candidate for Chicago Mayor in the Spring 2023 elections criticized beleaguered Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot for violating the rights of Blacks and Latinos when she granted General Iron permission to move to the Southeast side.
Buckner has long opposed the City’s decision to support the metal shredder over residents:
“Chicago needs a mayor who will fight for them, not against them,” Buckner said.
“Residents on the Southeast side made their voices heard loud and clear protesting the City’s decision to allow General Iron, a known polluter, to relocate to the Southeast side from Lincoln Park. Three-hundred people participated in a month-long hunger strike that culminated in protests outside the Mayor’s home. They told Mayor Lightfoot that relocating General Iron would exacerbate environmental racism. They saw through claims that the jobs the metal shredder would provide outweighed the dangers to their children’s health.”
Buckner added, “But the Mayor did what she always does: bullishly ignore opposition in a blind pursuit of winning. That’s not leadership, that’s ego, and now the Mayor’s ego threatens to cost Chicago hundreds of millions of dollars in federal housing grants if her administration does not rectify its racist policies that discriminate against Black and Latino communities.”
According to Buckner, “The Mayor can’t admit when she’s wrong, she only wants to fight. And this time her game of chicken puts millions of dollars and a public housing crisis on the line.”
Kambium Elijah “Kam” Buckner is a Democratic member of the Illinois House of Representatives from the 26th district. The district, located entirely in the City of Chicago, includes Bronzeville, Douglas, Downtown, Gold Coast, Hyde Park, Kenwood, Near South Side, River North, South Chicago, South Shore, and Woodlawn.
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