Mayor puts halt on demolition work after neighborhood is coated in dust

Chicago's mayor halted all non-emergency demolition Sunday after destruction of a defunct coal plant's smokestack a day earlier covered a southwest side neighborhood in dust.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said at an Easter morning news conference that the city would hand out masks to residents living near the site of the former Crawford Coal Plant.

"This is absolutely and utterly unacceptable. It’s unsafe. It’s unsanitary. I would not tolerate this in my neighborhood and we’re not going to tolerate it here either," Lightfood said.

She demanded that the company doing the demolition clean cars and property too.

Alderman Michael Rodriguez, whose ward includes the affected Little Village neighborhood, said the demolition's impact only "exasperated" residents who are already afraid of respiratory problems from COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus.