From Crawford to Fisk: Has Chicago Closed the Gaps in Demolition Oversight?
By: Madison Harter
On the morning of April 11, 2020, the nearly 400-foot smokestack of the Crawford coal plant crumpled to the ground in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood.[1] The implosion caused dust to blanket homes, cars, and streets in a community that was already living through the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.[2] Today, Pilsen, another neighborhood in Chicago, is fighting the city over the partial demolition of another coal plant, Fisk.[3] This clash questions whether the City of Chicago has properly addressed mistakes made with the Crawford Plant and whether Fisk will suffer the same regulatory deficits. Chicago’s reforms after Crawford address some of the failures behind the 2020 implosion, but they do not guarantee the transparency, real notice, and cumulative impact reviews that communities need. The proposed Fisk demolition will show whether the City of Chicago has done enough to promote proper demolition protections.
