By: Ashmar Mandou

A group of residents in the Little Village neighborhood will be holding a meeting on Thursday in front of Madero School in an effort to keep the 11-acre land public. The residents want a news CPS Washburne Career Technical Education (CTE) High School on the land owned by CPS at 31st and Kedzie as opposed to St. Anthony’s Chicago Southwest Development Corporation’s Focal Point Project or Cinespace Studios. “Why would Chicago and Illinois taxpayers fork over $110 million of our hard earned money for the St. Anthony boondoggle, white elephant for-profit project,” asked Little Village resident Lucky Camargo. It has been nearly ten years since Madero operated as a school; since then St. Anthony Hospital’s Chicago Southwest Development Corporation’s Focal Point Project has shown interest in acquiring the land, but has failed to raise the funds and meet the City of Chicago’s criteria to obtain the 11-acre site. “Instead Chicago and Little Village residents want our public CPS land to remain public and build a new 21st century CPS CTE High School to serve all the youth of our city-not fill the pockets of for-profits like St. Anthony’s Chicago Southwest Development Corporation” stated Dr. Howard Ehrman, who has worked and lived in the neighborhood for 50 years. “We want a new Washburne Chicago Public High School to give our children and grandchildren a career in renewable energy, information technology, media and arts, health care, construction, architecture, and prepare them for college.” Alderman Mike Rodriguez is expected to attend the meeting.