MWRD approves additional financial aid for two former Myrtle Ave. residents

The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District awarded two former Myrtle Ave. residents financial relocation assistance to aid in the cost of leaving their homes at the board’s Jan. 9 meeting. 

Homeowner Rose Smith’s received $74,000. Renter Armando Aguilar received $24,200 for vacating their homes in pursuit of Harvey and the District’s controversial water retention pond and park project. 

The District applied for $5 million in federal funding to aid the effort. Last fall, the District acquired homes and forced residents to leave four months later.

For months, Harvey residents have commented at MWRD meetings in opposition to the project on Smith’s behalf. That, and organized a petition of 1,200 signatures condemning the endeavor. Many displaced residents are older adults who have lived on the block for decades.

Most have vacated the block, except for one family. The District is pursuing eminent domain against them to remove them from their homes. They, like Smith, had lived on the block for decades. “I love my house. I like my neighbors. I like my neighborhood. You know, I don’t know how my new situation will be,” Smith told the HWH in an interview in October 2023. “This has not been a part of my imagination at 75 years old — I’ve never been asked to move from no place.”

As an older adult navigating an unfamiliar housing market, Smith had many considerations. She wanted to find a living situation that would accommodate her changing needs without entering assisted living.  “How do you look for a house or an apartment anymore?” she said. “You know, I had to think about [the fact that] I have a disability. Do we have stairs? Can I drive my car around there? Am I going to be safe?”

Official business

The District board reappointed Commissioner Kari Steele as president, Teresa Flynn as vice president, and Marcelino Garcia as finance committee chairman.

The District deferred advertising its contract of a new environmentally friendly playground at Burnham Elementary School in the Village of Burnham for further review and discussion, the motion made by Flynn. 

The Suburban Green Playground Pilot Project is designed to offer kids a green space to play while reducing area flooding. It’s an expansion of an initiative that began in Chicago, called “Space to Grow.” The District estimates the Burnham schoolyard project will cost between $1.8 and $2.2 million. The District has installed 34 playgrounds in public schools across Chicago, which captured 192,000 gallons of water during rainfalls, according to its website.