Southeast Side residents want say in plans for new quantum computing park

(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Southeast Side residents are demanding a voice in the state’s plans for a quantum computing park planned for their community.

The Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park is slated to be built on the site of the old U.S. Steel Plant in the Bush neighborhood on the Southeast Side. Developers would like to have it completed by 2027.

Southeast Siders say they feel frustrated and left out of the process. They demand to be heard and want a seat at the table on the development’s governing board.

Anne Holcomb of ETHOS (which stands for Environment Transportation Health and Open Spaces) said the community should not, once again, be a “sacrifice zone”. She especially wants to know about the environmental impacts of the proposed development.

“This needs to slow down. I’ve never seen a development go at such a pace. Our tax dollars are involved. We’re supporting this as a planned development and we just definitely need to see how it’s going to impact us,” she said.

Holcomb said she’d like to see two or three Southeast Side residents on the quantum processing park’s governing board, including people from the impacted neighborhoods, South Shore, South Chicago and East Side.

Southeast Side activists and residents made their demands known this morning during a news conference via Zoom.

Amalia NietoGomez of the Alliance of the Southeast said Governor Pritzker’s office has been contacted but that, so far, they’ve not had a response.

“To say we’re frustrated is, I think, an understatement. We need to have real community benefits. We need to have these conversations and we need this to be slowed down,” NietoGomez said.

Sam Corona of Alliance of the Southeast said the Southeast Side has sacrificed for so long while waiting for development following the closure of US Steel South Works and other steel making companies. She added that development does not end at the fence of South Works.

Please include us. Don’t forget about us. We’ve been forgotten for so long that we’ve been buried as a lost community,” Corona said.
WBBM Newsradio has reached out to Gov. JB Pritzker’s office for comment but has not yet received a response.

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