Dozens of protesters gathered near the Homewood Village Hall on Tuesday evening to protest the proposed rezoning of the former Calumet Country Club into what they see as tearing down open space to build a polluting, fulfillment/trucking hub.
The protest started about 6 p.m., and participants were multiracial and multigenerational. It was organized by South Suburbs for Greenspace over Concrete. Organizers handed out stickers and signs with a red slash through a truck and the message “Truck, No.” Many protesters brought their own signs with messages such as “Environmental Racism 101” and “Homewood Strong, Keep it Green.”
“The development is going to bring a lot of pollution and truck traffic into our neighborhoods,” said Geralyn Johnson, a resident of the Governors Park neighborhood. “I have a daughter. She’s six years old. She already has asthma. We don’t need more pollution to increase the asthma.”
The group organized to make certain the village trustees would know they were outside the meeting room as the board meeting began at 7 p.m. They walked from the corner of Chestnut Road and Dixie Highway to stand directly in front of Homewood Village Hall. Protesters chanted “Walt Brown, get out of town,” referring to Walt Brown Jr., the CEO of Diversified Partners that plans to build the fulfillment/trucking hub.
They chanted “Truck, no,” “Hear our voices,” “Trees over trucks,” and “When I say truck, you say no.”
Vehicles rolled up and down Chestnut, honking their horns showing solidarity for the protesters. Keaton Fisher, a 28-year-old man with brightly collared clothing and a top hat with flashing lights, was parked in an SUV in front of the village hall. He played music from the speakers and occasionally talked to the crowd with a megaphone.
According to protesters, the goal was for those inside at the meeting to “hear our voices.” The mayor, the village manager and village attorney were in the board room. The trustees attended the meeting via Zoom.
“We have no access to any open meetings. Our public comments have to be submitted via email. And we can’t participate in the meetings,” said Liz Varmecky of Greenspace Over Concrete.
Village Manager Jim Marino told the Chronicle the meeting was public and the doors were open.
“We need to be making better decisions, especially in this day and age. We’re on the edge of a sixth mass extinction caused by human action,” said Fisher. “For the village to even consider putting that in just for jobs and for our tax base is incredibly short-sighted. Most of these people won’t even live to see the actual impacts [of climate change]. But our children and our children’s children will not be able to breathe because of what they decide to do.”
“[Walt Brown Jr.] lives all the way in Arizona, and they’re bringing this into predominately African American communities. This is environmental racism,” said Marcia Hollis-Batcher, a mayoral candidate for Hazel Crest. “This needs to stop. And it needs to stop now.”
At about 7:30, the protesters walked back to the corner of Chestnut and Dixie, taking their message to passers-by on Dixie who could see their signs and hear their chants.