The Little Angels Memorial Service Wednesday at Assumption Catholic Cemetery and Mausoleum in Glenwood was one of two held each year for families who lost a child that did not survive past 20 weeks in the womb. The second service is held in October during National Respect for Life Month.

Laurie Crosby, executive director of the Franciscan Health Foundation, said this was the hospital’s 17th memorial service in nine years. She said the service supports the values of the Franciscan Alliance’s health care ministry, which respects life at all stages, including unborn and newborn children.

“It’s just part of our Catholic tradition, just to care for every soul, so it was important to do something … to kind of commemorate their life, as short as it was,” Crosby said.

Next to the burial marker in the infant and children’s section of the Glenwood cemetery was a bouquet, surrounded by 27 white roses to symbolize purity and a life taken too early, one for each lost baby.

A nearby memorial bench built to honor the lost babies is engraved with a Bible verse from the book of Jeremiah: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you.”

Although there were not any mothers present Wednesday, Crosby said they sent letters to each woman who lost a child at their hospital, inviting them to attend. Crosby said while it may be difficult for mothers to attend the service, she believes it is important for staff members to honor the newborns’ lives in their place.

“I think for a lot of them, it’s comforting to know that someone’s praying for their baby and taking care of them the right way,” Crosby said.

A Franciscan Health priest, the Rev. Phil Cyscon, led with an opening prayer, a psalm, a few gospel readings, a reflection and a petition. Then attendees blessed the burial site for the lost newborns and a letter for the parents was read. The service closed with a prayer.

“Everybody who comes to our door is a family,” said Dobaro Dogisso, director of spiritual care for Franciscan Health Olympia Fields. “So if one of our family members loves the baby, that is how we’re feeling.”

Check-in begins at 8:30 a.m. and the walk begins at 9 a.m. near the Vollmer Road Grove Forest Preserve, 4162 Vollmer Road, Flossmoor.

The goal is to raise $25,000 to donate 1,000 book bags with school supplies and gift cards and to purchase uniforms to unhoused school children in the region.

The founder of DBC Gifts of Love, Michiel Burnett said in a news release she she has done giveaways to support unhoused school children for a few years now.

“The families are always grateful for the resources, and the children deserve the assistance, so that they can be prepared and focused for the new school year,” she said.

Burnett and her husband, Sean, were once unhoused after an adjusted loan rate caused them to lose their home 20 years ago.

While renting, staying with relatives and even hotels, the Burnetts started the nonprofit to help other families without homes.

Last week, the Burnetts became homeowners once again.

“Homelessness can happen to anyone,” Michiel Burnett said. “We were blessed with a supportive village who didn’t judge us for the mistakes we made.”

An estimated 12,800 people are unhoused in the Southland region, according to data from South Suburban PADS.

Burnett said she hopes to use her experiences to help families navigate home purchases more effectively, urging them to carefully scrutinize the fine print to steer clear of the challenges she and her husband encountered.

“We learned the hard way and went through some hard times, but now we are trying to be an example to help others and help them avoid the pitfalls of homelessness,” she said.

Business owners said their licenses were not being issued if they did not pay at least $2,500 in fines for delinquent property taxes, pastors were outraged over a Harvey law requiring churches to obtain business licenses and residents protested a water rate hike.

Protesters marched from Transformation Community United Methodist Church to the municipal building before the monthly City Council meeting.

Residents and business owners called for an investigation into Mayor Christopher Clark’s administration and its business dealings, chanting in unison “stop the extortion” and “where is the money?”

Harvey business owner Benecia Gonzalez, one of the organizers, said the chants were in response to settlement agreements offered to businesses with delinquent property taxes.

The City Council passed an ordinance in January to deny operating licenses to businesses that owe property taxes.

Clark said the city collects 52% of its property tax revenue, and some businesses have evaded property tax payments for up to 20 years, costing the city $25 million a year in tax revenue with roughly $12 million from overdue property taxes.

Clark said the city also loses 35% of all sales tax revenue to the state because of unpaid Police and Fire department pensions, an issue he says he inherited from his predecessor.

Businesses with overdue taxes who choose to operate without a license are being presented with a settlement agreement allowing them to sidestep fines of up to $2,500 per day and continue to run their business while they determine how to settle the property tax debt.

Harvey’s 2nd Ward Ald. Colby Chapman said the decision to offer a settlement agreement was not presented to the City Council for a vote.

“Certainly an agreement of any sort where the city of Harvey is recouping dollars for something should have been presented in front of the council,” Colby said.

Delinquent business owners can pay a $2,500 down payment plus an additional $2,500 a month, eventually totaling $30,000; two installments of $12,000 for the year totaling $24,000; or $20,000 for the entire year up front, according to a copy of an agreement obtained by the Daily Southtown.

“We tried to find a way that, in lieu of prosecution, we would be able to allow them to stay open, but they would have to pay some type of fine as a result, and that way we didn’t have to continually charge them $2,500 a day,” Clark said.

But some residents at Monday’s meeting expressed confusion and frustration over the settlement and withholding of operating licenses.

Gonzalez said she inherited her grandfather’s auto shop along with years of late property tax bills when she was 20. Gonzalez, now 24, said the city ordered her auto shop to close in May due to outstanding property taxes, shortly after she applied to renew her business license.

The city’s planning department reviews business licenses and all renewal documents are due at the end of April, according to a city ordinance. Failure to renew a license by the deadline will result in a daily $2,500 fine, according to the license renewal policy letter for 2023-24 applications.

“All we want to do is provide for our families,” Gonzalez told the City Council. “We feel like we have nothing to lose anymore.”

Gonzalez said when she went to city officials to plead her case, she was given the settlement agreement, which she has not accepted.

Business owners who had accepted the settlement deal expressed frustration Monday that their business licenses were still being withheld.

Clark said by law, the city cannot award licenses to any business with outstanding property taxes. He said the settlement agreement is a way for businesses to avoid these fines, but also give back to the city in some form.

Clark said he made efforts to inform business owners and residents about the settlement agreement option before licenses were due for renewal.

“We were hopeful that the businesses would take advantage of it so much so that I had my team send a letter out to the businesses to let them know that this was available for them,” Clark said.

Clark said the money from the settlement does not go toward a business owner’s outstanding property tax balance, but gives them time to determine how to pay back their dues.

Business owners said even if they wanted to take the settlement, they cannot afford $2,500 a month.

Other protesters spoke out against a city ordinance requiring charitable organizations and churches to acquire business licenses.

The Rev. Johnathan Johnson, a pastor at Holy Bible Missionary Baptist in Harvey, said he is frustrated because the business license his church applied for over two months ago is still under review.

“They have not given us a word as to where they are with the review,” Johnson said. “And we’re not a business. We’re a charity. We operate solely off of donations, not profits.”

Clark said he has made an effort to communicate his agenda and invite open discussion, but residents and elected officials say there has not been enough transparency regarding how city money is being spent.

Colby expressed her ongoing efforts to obtain information from the city regarding the transition from the annual treasurer’s report, which provides a detailed breakdown of government expenditures and revenues, to the comptroller’s report, offering a more comprehensive view of the city’s financial well-being. She said she has yet to receive any responses.

The city has not released a yearly treasurer’s report since 2022, but recently published a comptroller’s report in March, Colby said.

“The residents need to know what’s going on,” she said. “This is very important that as an administration, we can be heard like our minority voice means something, even if it’s not a part of the majority vote. But we must be heard.”

smoilanen@chicagotribune.com

If not for plumbing problems, Summerville might not have found out about the threat.

“We have got to do what we have got to do to be safe, and then for these children, especially the children in my care, I don’t want them growing up and they have all these issues,’’ she said.

Summerville was able to take advantage of LeadCare Cook County, an initiative aimed at helping child care providers address lead in drinking water. She now runs Nana’s House, where she cares for children 6 weeks to 12 years old.

Replacing lead pipes in the Chicago area is a complex process. Even those who know about and qualify for the city’s free lead line replacement programs struggle with red tape, and community organizers and advocates for clean water say the city needs to overcome financial and educational challenges and move more swiftly to implement a plan.

Chicago has the highest number of lead service lines in the nation, with close to 400,000 lead pipes supplying water to the city’s residents. And many homeowners with properties built before 1986 — the year lead pipes were nationally banned — likely have a lead pipe running directly from their home to the nearest water main.

Children are most at risk from lead exposure, which can have harmful effects on their early development. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there is no safe blood lead level in children, and any exposure can cause long-term harm.

A recent study published in the JAMA Pediatrics journal found more than two-thirds of children under the age of 6 may be exposed to lead-contaminated water in Chicago.

Deborah Carroll, director of the government finance research center at the University of Illinois at Chicago, is part of a research team studying lead levels in Chicago by neighborhood. From her research, Carroll said there are educational barriers to replacing lead pipes.

“One of the biggest challenges with replacing lead service lines is that people don’t know that they have lead in their service lines, or they don’t really have any interest in getting them replaced because there potentially could be some cost burden for the homeowner,” Carroll said.

To build trust between communities and water providers, the city should prioritize outreach efforts aimed at educating residents on the lead line replacement process, Carroll said.

“A lot of the academic research shows that minority populations are especially distrusting of public water systems,” Carroll said. “And African American individuals have a tendency to consume greater amounts of bottled water as a result of the lack of trust. So that’s an issue.”

Collective action is needed to accelerate the removal of all lead lines, according to Caroline Packenham, the director of water programs at Elevate, which administers LeadCare.

“We all need to come together to figure out what we can do to accelerate lead service line replacement, because the longer we have these pipes in the ground, more generations are going to be exposed to drinking water from, essentially, a lead straw,” Pakenham said.

An equity issue

Summerville said the LeadCare staff helped her test her water for lead, and when it came back showing 2.5 parts per billion (ppb), she added filters to her bathroom and kitchen faucets. In Illinois, all homes with licensed child care operations with children under the age of 6 and built before the year 2000 must take action when lead is detected over 2 ppb.

LeadCare sent contractors to inspect her lead pipe and explain the replacement process. Once the lead pipe was replaced with a new copper one, Summerville said she noticed the water from her tap was clearer and the pressure greatly improved.

“I pray that every house in the world can have this done,” Summerville said. “I still use bottled water for drinking and stuff, but it runs out of the faucet much better. And it’s really clear, you know, something worked.”

LeadCare Cook County is administered by Elevate, a Chicago-based, national nonprofit committed to helping child care providers address lead in drinking water. Elevate has partnered with Cook County to administer the program, which offers free lead service line replacements for home-based and center-based child care facilities in suburban Cook County.

Packenham said the program is funded by the American Rescue Plan Act to address infrastructure investment gaps in suburban Cook County.

“It was really an equity issue. Like you have these standards but there aren’t a lot of finances or resources and support in place to help you when you do find lead in your water,” Pakenham said.

In 2021, Illinois mandated the removal of all lead service lines with the Lead Service Line Replacement and Notification Act. But according to Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration, it could take 40 years and cost up to $12 billion.

The city Department of Water Management offers five free lead service line replacement programs under Lead-Safe Chicago, a project launched in 2020 under then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration to address the need for complete lead line removal.

These programs include:

• Equity lead service line replacement, for eligible low-income homeowners.
• Homeowner-initiated replacement, with up to $5,000 in permit fee waived.
• Day care replacement in low-income neighborhoods.
• Breaks and leaks, offering free replacements for damaged lines
• Block-long replacement, for lines affected by water main work.

The water department cited numerous challenges in replacing lead pipes throughout Chicago, including the need for more federal and state funding, the scarcity of plumbing companies willing to do replacements, the complexities of urban construction, and residents’ reluctance to agree to excavation on their properties.

A spokesperson for the water department said securing enough funding to replace the private and public sides of the lines is critical to meet the 40-year timeline. The department also cited a need for more professional plumbers trained in lead service line removal.

Lengthy journey

Reviews of the city’s process to replace lead pipes have been mixed. One early participant of the city’s equity program said it was unduly burdensome for the homeowner, requiring extensive documentation to prove eligibility.

Gina Ramirez, who works for the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council, persuaded her parents to apply for the city’s equity lead line replacement program in July 2021, not long after it was launched in 2020 to alleviate the financial burden of lead line replacement — a project that costs between $16,000 and $30,000 — for low-income residents.

Ramirez’s mother applied for the city’s program because her disability, retirement status and limited income matched the eligibility requirements. Ramirez’s sister and 13-year-old son also live at their family home, which Ramirez said bolstered their chances of getting approved.

But the Ramirez family didn’t anticipate it would take two years to prove their eligibility.

Ramirez said her mother’s application was repeatedly held up as the city needed more documents, including the deed to their house, utility bills and her grandson’s report card, and, later, a water sample to prove her eligibility.

“A few times she wanted to give up, but my sister and I just kept encouraging her to submit the documentation,” Ramirez said.

Ramirez also has a lead service line running beneath her home in Chicago’s Southeast Side, but unlike her parents, she does not qualify for the city’s free replacement program.

“I also can’t afford a $30,000 (replacement) job,” Ramirez said. “That sucks. I’m pregnant right now and I’m drinking bottled water or filtered water.”

Since Ramirez had her family’s lead line replaced, the water department spokesperson said the paperwork required by the HUD Community Development Block Grant, which is funding the program, has been reduced and there is no longer a requirement for a homeowner’s water to test above the U.S. EPA’s lead action level of 15 ppb.

One resident’s success

While Ramirez found the city’s equity replacement program challenging for her family, Shirley Hall, a 79-year-old homeowner in the West Side neighborhood of North Austin, reported a much smoother experience.

Hall, a widow, has lived in her home since 1979 when she moved in with her husband and two children. After living on her own for the last 24 years, Hall applied for the city’s equity lead line removal program in September 2022.

Hall said she was unaware there were city programs where she could replace her lead pipe for free until watching the news one evening.

“I’d seen it on the news, and my neighbor had gone to a meeting and she had given me the application,” Hall said.

Both she and her neighbor applied for the program.

To prove her eligibility, Hall said she submitted extensive documentation including her husband’s death certificate, her state ID, Social Security benefits, income verification, property deed, real estate property tax bill, utility bill and income tax return from the most recent two years.

Despite having to gather all of these documents, Hall said filling out the application and getting approved was easy.

“I had to help my neighbor across the street with some parts, but it was simple, just following the directions,” Hall said.

Around nine months after she applied, Hall said her application was approved, and the work was completed in October.

Since the pipe was replaced, Hall said she has noticed significant improvement in the water pressure from her faucets and washing machine. Without the city’s program, Hall said she would have been unable to afford the nearly $30,000 job.

Ongoing efforts

In November, the city borrowed $336 million from the EPA to replace 30,000 lead service lines, but Chicago faces challenges in accessing other federal grant funding because the section of lead service lines between homes and water shut-off boxes is classified as private property.

As of December, 3,777 lead pipes have been replaced, but city officials hope the addition of the breaks and leaks and block-long replacement programs will speed up the process.

While the city is working on prioritizing low-income residents through its free lead line removal programs, Ramirez, who advocates for water quality justice, said there is an urgent need to speed up the removal of all lead pipes in the city.

A 2020 analysis by the Metropolitan Planning Council shows Black and Hispanic residents are twice as likely as white residents to live in communities with the highest concentration of lead service lines.

“It’s scary because South Chicago is so poor and then to see those high lead lines, and then there isn’t even a health center in the neighborhood,” Ramirez said. “It’s like a human right, the right to clean drinking water.”

Editor’s note: Earlier versions of this story incorrectly identified and characterized the organization that replaced Doris Summerville’s lead service line. LeadCare Cook County, which is administered by Elevate and funded through the American Rescue Plan Act, replaced the line. The program is available to home-based and center-based day cares in suburban Cook County. Also, earlier versions misstated which homes are subject to action when lead is detected. Homes built before 2000 with licensed child care operations must take action when lead is detected. 

These residential developments are built for long-term renters and offer the traditional advantages of apartment living — including no mortgage payments or maintenance responsibilities — along with the space and feel of single-family housing. Some build-to-rent communities even offer yards, garages and a choice of floor plans.

When June Nilles came across a build-to-rent housing community in Oswego, she wasn’t looking to move.

“I said to my husband, let’s just go take a look,” she said. “And that’s really the attitude we walked in with that day. Let’s just go take a look. But we walked out having said yes, we want to live here.”

In December, June and her husband, Steve Nilles, moved into Home at Ashcroft, a housing community with build-to-rent attached luxury townhomes in Oswego. They were one of Ashcroft’s first residents, and moved in while many of the units were still under construction.

June and Steve Nilles are both in their early 70s and frequent travelers. Before moving into Ashcroft, they lived in an apartment in Oswego, which they transitioned to after retiring and selling their house in Sugar Grove. Despite the convenience of apartment living, June and her husband found they were not entirely satisfied with their new lifestyle.

“We chose apartment living originally, but over time we just felt like we needed more,” she said.

Because the couple frequently travels to and from Florida during the winter months, June Nilles said they were drawn to Ashcroft because they were looking for the feel of a home, without the responsibility that comes with homeownership.

The rise of build-to-rent properties

Home at Ashcroft is one of several Illinois build-to-rent communities, which are primarily located in suburban neighborhoods close to an hour outside of Chicago. RMK Management Corp., a Chicago-based property management company, is currently managing four new build-to-rent properties in Antioch, Yorkville, Gilberts and Crystal Lake completed in 2023.

Anthony Tiritilli, president of development for Lynd Living, a real estate firm based in San Antonio that manages Home at Ashcroft, said build-to-rent properties primarily appeal to young couples looking for their starter home, empty nesters trying to downsize, divorced individuals and older adults over the age of 55 who frequently travel or own a second home in a warmer climate.

“This provides them the luxury and convenience, again, of living in an apartment-style community with all the amenities, but having a home and it’s brand-new,” Tiritilli said. “There’s not a lot of that.”

In Illinois, there are 1,203 build-to-rent units planned or under construction, according to the National Rental Home Council.

First built in the 1980s, build-to-rent neighborhoods have gained popularity in recent years, partly due to the changing housing market and evolving renter preferences.

Real estate experts say the build-to-rent model originated from the single-family rental market, which grew during the financial crisis of 2007-08 when many homes were lost to foreclosure.

“During the financial crisis of 2007-2008, a lot of single-family homes were lost in foreclosure,” said Joseph Pagliari, a John Mazarakis and Chicago Atlantic clinical professor of real estate at the University of Chicago. “And a lot of the larger private equity funds started to buy these homes out of foreclosure at distressed prices.”

Since the recession, Pagliari said rising mortgage rates and fewer homes for sale have pushed prices to unaffordable levels for many prospective buyers. As a result, Pagliari said there is a growing demand for reasonably priced rental homes.

While the pandemic exacerbated housing supply shortages, Pagliari said it also led to movement away from cities, which greatly influenced the demand for build-to-rent housing in suburban areas.

Rent prices have also increased dramatically since the pandemic. In 2021, rent prices in the U.S. rose 16.3%, according to Apartment List. Pagliari attributed this shift to a combination of factors, including the limited availability of housing, restrictive zoning regulation and societal changes such as the widespread adoption of remote work.

Navigating affordability and renter stigmas

Build-to-rent communities gained significant popularity after the pandemic, targeting renters who may not want the financial burden of a home, Tiritilli said.

“Not everybody can afford to buy today because of what home prices have done or now interest rates, which is very prohibitive for anybody to get in,” Tiritilli said.

In Illinois, the median monthly home payment is $1,804, just slightly more than the national average, according to Business Insider calculations.

At Ashcroft, rent prices for single-family homes range from $2,800 to $4,000 a month. On the lower end, this number is not significantly higher than the median rent for 3-bedroom properties in Illinois, which falls at $2,200 a month, according to Zillow Rental Manager.

Tiritilli said another benefit of choosing a build-to-rent community is that there is a perceived stigma associated with renting in a neighborhood dominated by homeowners.

“You’re gonna be a renter on a block that is surrounded by people that own homes,” Tiritilli said. “Everybody that owns a home on that street knows who the renter is … and people worry about the tenancy that comes with renting.”

Pagliari said this perception comes from “not in my backyard” attitudes, which he says are more prevalent in suburban areas than in big cities.

“There’s some reluctance in certain suburban municipalities that if you have a bunch of renters, particularly in kind of conventional multistory apartment complexes, that that’s going to be a drain on the school system and the park district and maybe even the police force,” Pagliari said.

Choosing community and flexibility

Like June and Steve Nilles, other residents said location and flexibility played a significant role in their decision to move to Home at Ashcroft.

LaTanya McMahan waited months to move into Home at Ashcroft after touring the rental community in 2023 while she was still tied up in a lease. While she waited, McMahon had her unit customized to include a finished basement.

“I definitely did not want to be tied down into homeownership at the time. I wanted something new and I wanted something that I felt like I helped design,” she said. “This (Ashcroft) gave me everything, honestly, that I needed without buying it myself.”

McMahan, who lives with her 28-year-old daughter and 5-year-old granddaughter, said her decision to move into Home at Ashcroft was largely influenced by the property’s close proximity to reputable elementary and junior high schools, which she hopes her granddaughter will eventually attend. With a young child at home, McMahan said space was also a determining factor.

At Home at Ashcroft, there are three floor plans renters can choose from including Birch, Douglass and Cypress. The floor plans vary in square footage and layout, but each has three bedrooms, at least two bathrooms and a two-car garage.

McMahan chose the Cypress model, which has a private master bedroom on the upper level, situated away from the other two rooms on the main floor.

Build-to-rent communities come with amenities Tiritilli says resemble those in an apartment building, but include more specialized offerings like wine tastings or even cooking classes.

Some of the most common amenities include fitness centers, co-working spaces, game rooms, clubhouses and outdoor pools, which Tiritilli said are designed to foster a sense of community among renters.

McMahan said she is looking forward to using the clubhouse, where she hopes her daughter and granddaughter can build relationships with other renters in the neighborhood.

“Having the clubhouse where you can meet people, where my daughter can meet friends or my granddaughter can meet little friends over there and hang out, having just that individual home feel with that community feel,” she said.

In light of the increasingly competitive housing market, some Illinois residents are opting to be renters for life, favoring build-to-rent communities over traditional homeownership.

“I think we are renters to stay. We love this community,” June Nilles said.

For developers like Tiritilli, the build-to-rent model represents a crucial element of the evolving housing market, addressing the changing demands of today’s renters.

“Five years ago I didn’t walk around saying oh my god, we’ve got to build BTRs,” Tiritilli said. “I didn’t even know what BTR stood for because it just wasn’t what we did. Now, we see that the BTR is something that’s here to stay.”

Samantha Moilanen is a freelance reporter.

After living in California, where wildfires and landslides have increased, and then attending college in New Orleans only a few years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast in 2005, he was looking for an area better insulated from natural disasters.

“I really wanted to live in a region which I felt like, long term, had a lot of climate resilience,” he said. “And so I was always kind of interested in the Midwest.”

More than a decade later, the Humboldt Park resident said he has noticed significant changes in winter weather patterns, which he says have been an unexpected adjustment.

“Being here for 12 years you can definitely see that winters have changed. They’ve become shorter but sometimes more severe at times,” McGuire said. “I guess it makes me question my thesis of climate resilience; there’s really no region that’s completely immune.”

As meteorological winter comes to a close Thursday, temperatures are forecast to reach the mid-70s Tuesday, snowfall is more than 50% below average in Chicago, and ice coverage for the Great Lakes is in single digits.

While some may welcome these changing weather patterns, they also bring ecological concerns like the expansion of non-native species.

On Sunday, sunny weather drew crowds hauling blankets, books and picnics to the concrete steps along Lake Michigan near Belmont Harbor. As temperatures crept into the high 50s, it looked like a weekend in June, with scores of people walking dogs and roller-skating along the bike path. Several men jogged by shirtless.

“This is crazy,” a woman said as her group tried to cut through a constant stream of bikers and pedestrians going the opposite direction.

A few scattered patches of snow on the grass were the only evidence of the cold temperatures and snow that blew through the area Friday.

“Unfortunately or fortunately, however you look at it … it moved on rather quickly,” said Kevin Birk, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Chicago.

According to Trent Ford, the state climatologist, all four seasons have seen warmer temperatures because of human-driven climate change, but winter temperatures have increased at a much faster rate than all other seasons.

“Winter warming is probably the most substantial trend that we can see over the last 100 years as far as how our climate has changed, and is also strongly tied to sort of the global warming forcing,” Ford said.

Tuesday will be the hottest day this month, as temperatures could reach 75 and could break a record for that date set in 1976, Birk said.

More coverage: Chicago’s February is the warmest so far in nearly 150 years.

Last year was the warmest year on record globally, and last month was the warmest January on record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

McGuire said he became interested in climate resilience after seeing the effects of Hurricane Katrina and living in New Orleans when Hurricane Gustav hit in 2008.

When he first moved to Chicago, McGuire said he checked the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Plant Hardiness Zone Map, which provides information about the average annual minimum winter temperature in specific geographical areas, to determine which plants would thrive in his backyard garden.

He said he was not surprised to learn the USDA released a new map in 2023 showing Chicago’s climate zone had changed to reflect the warming temperatures.

“There’s direct empirical evidence that things are changing that way, but you definitely see it every single year,” McGuire said. “It’s a fine science of when you plant your first plants in your backyard, and I’m looking around and it looks like a good time to start right now.”

A crucial role

Bryan Mroczka, a physical scientist with the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, said that compared with other areas of the continent, the Great Lakes region is experiencing some of the most significant rates of winter warming.

Mroczka said the average peak ice coverage for the Great Lakes is between 40% and 45%, but regional weather patterns have caused ice formation to significantly decline over the past 50 years.

According to NOAA, the Great Lakes had only 7.4% ice coverage on Saturday.

“We’ve seen, on average, a 5% decrease in ice on the lakes per decade. So put that in perspective, that’s about on average, 25% less ice on the Great Lakes since the early ’70s,” Mroczka said.

Great Lakes set a record for low ice in February, likely leading to warmer seasons for the rest of the year

While the region has experienced brief periods of below-freezing temperatures, Mroczka said prolonged cold air is needed for ice formation, and the fluctuating temperatures in recent years due to a warming climate are making it challenging for this geological process to occur.

Alongside the gradual warming trend in the Northern Hemisphere, NOAA said an El Niño year started in June. The El Niño phenomenon, a period characterized by unusually warm sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean, occurs every two to seven years and significantly influences global weather patterns.

Alexander Gottlieb, a graduate student at Dartmouth who co-authored a recent study of the human influence on snowfall decline in the Northern Hemisphere, said El Niño events are reorganizing atmospheric pressure, which is contributing to warmer winters globally. However, Gottlieb said this trend can be explained by a combination of human-caused global warming and natural variability.

In addition to a lack of ice coverage on the Great Lakes, Gottlieb said the warming temperatures are causing declines in snowfall, particularly in the Midwest due to the increased likelihood of rain instead of snow.

Snowfall in Chicago has been declining over the past few years, with numbers well below the weather service’s 38.4-inch average. During the 2022-23 season, Chicago saw 20.2 inches of snow recorded at O’Hare International Airport, the city’s official recording site. So far, the city has only seen 18.5 inches of snow this winter, according to the weather service’s latest data.

In regions like the Midwest, which experience precipitation year-round, the impact of diminished snowpack is less pronounced, according to Gottlieb. However, he said snow plays a crucial role in protecting soil from freezing during the winter months, and without this protective barrier, some regions face heightened risk of midwinter flooding.

Tuesday will see thunderstorms pass through the area, so the possibility of minor flooding in the city is “not out of the question,” according to Kirk, the meteorologist.

“It’s almost like we’re ahead a month, more like late March, with the warm conditions we have here,” he said. “So (it’s) kind of a spring storm system coming across.”

The rain will bring in a cold front, causing temperatures to drop into the 30s Wednesday. But this cold spell will also likely be brief, as highs are expected to rebound into the 60s by the weekend.

Health concerns

Ford said warmer winters in the Great Lakes region have also caused ecological shifts.

“What we’ve seen is an expansion of certain species of plants and animals that would otherwise, in a preindustrial climate, not have been able to thrive in the state,” Ford said. “On its face value, that may not be that big of a problem, but some of these plants and animals are quite competitive … and can really wreak havoc in native ecosystems.”

Still, some of the effects of warmer winters are more subtle. Ford said the changing climate caused by global warming patterns poses health concerns many may not be aware of.

For example, warmer winters contribute to the expansion of tick and mosquito populations, increasing the prevalence of tick-borne diseases like Rocky Mountain spotted fever and Lyme disease.

‘These things are everywhere’: Experts and Lyme disease patients warn of tick season

Gradual warming also poses other challenges.

Mroczka said ice coverage plays a pivotal role in preventing shoreline erosion and coastal flooding, which can damage infrastructure near the lakes.

“The ice is actually very protective of our shorelines. And we’ve certainly seen some significant issues during winters when the ice is lacking,” Mroczka said.

More coverage: How bitter cold winter blasts and a warming planet will chew up the Lake Michigan shoreline, faster and faster

Still, warmer winters bring some benefits. From an economic perspective, Mroczka said the lack of ice on the lakes significantly benefits the shipping industry, serving as a huge economic driver.

“There are entities out there that are excited about the lack of ice, but there are a lot of negatives too, mostly because the ecosystem is designed for ice. And when it’s not there, there are problems. And so we’ll just have to certainly adapt if this trend continues.”

Ford said it is important to adapt to the changing climate but also assess ways to mitigate the effects of global warming, primarily by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Chicago homeowner McGuire said he hopes the changing climate does not alter Chicago winters forever.

“You know, to think of snow being something that might not be something my (future) kids can enjoy one day is just, it’s just really sad,” McGuire said. “It just feels like something that’s completely outside our control.”

“The city knows that there’s lead in the water, and they’re allowing these residents just to continue to drink it when there are steps we can take until we replace the water lines,” said Richard Zupkus, a licensed sewer specialist who lives directly behind the contaminated lot on 38th Street.

Brighton Park community leaders began holding monthly meetings at The Church of God, a global nondenominational church on 38th Street, after the city’s plan to house migrants in the neighborhood fell through.

At the most recent community meeting last week, Paul Adamczyk, who also lives near the contaminated lot, said residents have not received lead testing kits, and that no timeline has been given for when they will be distributed.

In December, shortly after the environmental report was released, Ald. Julia Ramirez, whose ward includes Brighton Park and McKinley Park, said her office would send free lead testing kits to all homes near the site.

According to a statement Wednesday from William Drew Jr., Ramirez’s chief of staff, the 12th Ward office was unable to obtain lead testing kits to distribute previously because of a city policy requiring residents to independently request testing kits online or through 311.

Joel Vieyra, first deputy commissioner at the Chicago Department of Water Management, passed out flyers at the meeting explaining how residents can get free water testing kits mailed to their homes and identified resources for residents with broken or inefficient service lines.

Ramirez’s office is also distributing flyers with information on how to request a test.

Zupkus said he ordered a lead testing kit the following morning. But according to the city, residents may have to wait up to eight weeks for test results.

“These are people that are supposed to be watching out for our best interests,” Zupkus said. “You see over and over, it’s constant evidence that they don’t care about our well-being.”

While lead was the primary focus of the water department’s presentation at last week’s meeting, some residents said they are also concerned about the other contaminants mentioned in the environmental assessment, including manganese, arsenic and mercury.

“I would like the government to provide all the affected residents with some means to test our water, soil and air for all the heavy metals identified in the environmental report,” Adamczyk said. “Lead may be the primary culprit, or it may just be the easiest one to test for because the city is doing it already.”

According to a statement Wednesday from a spokesperson for Mayor Brandon Johnson, the community is not presently at risk from the contaminants discovered at the former industrial lot at 38th and California.

“The environmental testing results of the groundwater did not indicate a current risk to neighborhood residents, but our community engagement team continues to meet with Ald. Ramirez to respond to questions she has gathered from residents and hear additional community concerns,” the statement said.

The city originally planned to temporarily house close to 2,000 migrants in a winterized base camp at the 9-acre property. However, after the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency reviewed the environmental assessment, Gov. J.B. Pritzker halted plans to use the site to house migrants citing “serious environmental concerns” in a statement released by the governor’s office Dec. 5.

Adamczyk said the city had already begun installing a service line from the water main on 38th Street to the proposed migrant camp before the environmental testing was completed.

During the excavation, Adamczyk said all homes connected to the 38th Street main had their water shut off for a brief period. According to a flyer distributed to residents, those affected were advised to consistently flush out their pipes to reduce the risk of elevated lead levels.

“I’m concerned that by disturbing the soil, the workers may have released these heavy metals into the air or the water,” Adamczyk said.

A Brighton Park homeowner who lives adjacent to the vacant lot, Sofia Salinas, asked Vieyra whether the city has a plan to ensure those affected by the water shut-off are not harmed by the exposed contaminants.

“Did you guys have a plan in action to follow up with whoever you did give all those letters to? Because I was one of those people,” said Salinas, referring to the flyer.

Vieyra said if a lead testing kit shows elevated lead levels, the city will send a crew to investigate. However, there is no program in place for accelerated lead service line replacement, he said, except at day care facilities.

“Right now, we don’t have funding for that, but in the future that’s something we’re probably going to have to look at,” Vieyra said.

The city announced plans to replace Chicago’s 400,000 lead service lines in 2020 under then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration, after denying the dangers for decades. Now, after Johnson’s administration projected it will take up to 40 years and up to $12 billion to replace toxic lead service lines, city aldermen are looking for ways to speed up the process while driving down costs.

According to the World Health Organization, children are most at risk because high levels of lead exposure can severely damage the brain and central nervous system. Children who survive severe lead poisoning may have permanent intellectual disability and often experience behavioral disorders.

At last week’s meeting, Vieyra said it is likely Brighton Park residents’ pipes were exposed to lead before the city turned off the water because most homes in the area were built before 1986, the year Congress passed the Safe Drinking Water Act prohibiting the use of lead water pipes.

Byron Benion, a pastor for The Church of God who leads the community meetings, said he believes the city water department presented a reactionary plan at last week’s meeting that is insufficient in addressing the underlying issue.

“I think the solution that the city has of allowing everyone to test their own water is nice, but it seems like they don’t have a contingency plan for people who have bad water,” Benion said.

Benion said promptly testing the water of all residents affected by the excavation at the vacant lot is a top priority for him.

“I would like the people in our community to be really well-informed of what is going on with their water,” Benion said. “And even if they can’t get it fixed, I think it’s better to really know and be informed than it is to just be ignorant and not know.”

Zupkus said the community is exploring options to independently test everyone’s water using their own funding.

“(We are) taking responsibility for our own lives,” Zupkus said.

However, what some may not realize is the glittering gift wrap, disposable decorations and excess food waste significantly harm the environment, advocates say.

Household waste increases by more than 25% from Thanksgiving to New Year’s, according to the Clean Air Partnership, a public-private organization that advocates for air quality. The added waste from food, shopping bags, packaging, wrapping paper, bows and ribbons contributes to an additional 1 million tons of trash entering landfills each week.

Sarah Blount, the program director of research and evaluation at the National Environmental Education Foundation, a nonprofit that complements the work of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said that when holiday materials decompose in landfills they produce greenhouse gases such as methane and carbon dioxide.

“Methane is a climate change powerhouse. It’s 28 times more effective than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the Earth’s atmosphere,” Blount said.

Landfills rank as the third-largest human-related source of methane emissions in the United States. According to Blount, landfills generate emissions equivalent to 23 million gas-powered vehicles.

“Reducing the amount of methane that we produce and we pump into the atmosphere, it’s an important step in slowing climate change,” Blount said. “And one way that we can do that is by reducing the amount of waste that we send to landfills during the holidays.”

Blount said some of the biggest sources of holiday waste are wrapping paper, returns, food, travel and decorations.

Some consumers are finding ways to lessen the damage.

Sherry Skalko, a North Side Chicago resident, founded Reduce Waste Chicago, a nonprofit that works to address climate change through waste reduction. Skalko said she had the idea for her nonprofit after being “radicalized by a toothbrush.”

Because toothbrushes can’t be recycled from home, Skalko looked into TerraCycle, a waste management company that has a program for recycling dental hygiene waste but was faced with a minimum requirement of 5 pounds.

“Do you know how many toothbrushes it takes to get to 5 pounds?” Skalko asked. “More than my little family of three can produce.”

Skalko began telling her neighbors to leave their recyclable items on her porch and hosting recycling pop-ups. Her commitment to waste reduction initiatives ultimately inspired her to launch the nonprofit in 2021.

Each year, Reduce Waste Chicago hosts events across the city to collect items to be reused or repurposed. Included in a list of items Chicago residents can drop off are nonworking holiday lights.

Skalko said that over the last two years the organization has collected about 2,800 pounds of holiday lights.

“There’s so many things that people can do to reduce their waste during the holidays,” Skalko said. “When you try to approach it as ‘I’m going to do everything,’ it can be overwhelming.”

Returning gifts

While receiving gifts during the holidays can be a joyous tradition, holiday gift returns can have a negative impact on the environment.

Optoro, a technology company looking to make retail more sustainable, released a report in 2020 researched by the Environmental Capital Group that found about 5.8 billion pounds of returned inventory ends up in landfills each year. In addition, the environmental research organization found the shipping process for returns emits close to 16 million metric tons of carbon dioxide a year.

The environmental impact of holiday gifts also encompasses the materials involved in their presentation — wrapping paper, boxes, gift bags, bows and ribbons.

The United States is estimated to produce 4.6 million pounds of wrapping paper each year, with half ending up in landfills. According to Blount, most wrapping paper and gift bags are coated with glitter and plastic and are not recyclable.

The Clean Air Partnership reports that approximately 8,000 tons of wrapping paper are used annually, the equivalent of about 50,000 trees.

To limit holiday waste, Blount recommends giving a gift that does not need packaging, like an experience. She also suggests reusing gift wrap or opting for materials that can be used year after year.

Trees and decorations

The Christmas tradition of decorating a tree with ornaments and lights also has an impact.

Although 25 million to 30 million real Christmas trees are sold in the United States every year, according to the National Christmas Tree Association, the consumer demand for a real tree has decreased.

A survey from the American Christmas Tree Association found 77% of consumers displaying a tree this holiday season said they would opt for an artificial one. However, the tree association states artificial trees contain nonbiodegradable plastics that take years to decompose when sent to a landfill.

To maximize sustainability, Blount recommends using a real Christmas tree or holding onto an artificial one for at least 20 years.

Chicago’s Department of Streets and Sanitation in partnership with the Chicago Park District is hosting its annual Holiday Tree Recycling Program at 27 locations throughout the city. Thousands of trees dropped off at these sites are used as mulch for local parks and forests.

Food waste

While decorations and gifts are large contributors to landfills, Blount said food is the biggest source of waste around the holidays.

Overall, Blount said, 30% of edible food in the United States goes uneaten each year. Consumers can help by trying to limit food waste while shopping and by composting leftovers and scraps, both of which reduce potential methane emissions from landfills.

Liam Donnelly, founder of WasteNot, a Chicago company that offers composting services for a fee to homes and businesses, said 40% of what most homes throw away can be composted with WasteNot.

Donnelly said he recommends consumers create shopping lists and plan meals ahead of time to reduce excess purchasing that leads to unwanted leftovers during holidays.

“Wasted food not only wastes the energy that goes into creating the food in the first place, but food waste in our landfills creates a significant amount of methane,” Donnelly said. “On a global scale, food waste is responsible for 8% to 10% of total greenhouse gas emissions.”

WasteNot also collects Christmas trees from Chicago residents’ homes to be composted, and Donnelly said the nonprofit partnered with Reduce Waste Chicago this year to collect broken holiday lights for recycling.

Celebrating sustainably

For Skalko, low consumer awareness of how waste affects the environment is the greatest barrier to sustainability.

Skalko said consumers should consider the life cycle of products when buying new items — though manufacturers also should bear the burden of environmental responsibility.

“The unfortunate part of it is, right now, that consideration is falling on the part of the consumer, which is a significant and unfortunate burden for us to bear,” Skalko said.

Despite the environmental toll the holidays take on the environment, Skalko remains optimistic that more consumers are looking to develop sustainable habits.

“I think a lot of people want to do the right thing and want to do their part in saving the environment. They just don’t know how,” Skalko said.

Editor’s note: Some versions of this story incorrectly described WasteNot. The company offers composting services for a fee to homes and businesses.

smoilanen@chicagotribune.com

When the city announced a plan to build a migrant camp on the lot, some residents were angry they weren’t consulted. But when that plan was scrapped after the discovery of high levels of toxic metals, including lead, Salinas said it felt like “a slap in the face.”

A first-time homeowner who has lived in Brighton Park for four years, Salinas said she and other residents have been working to improve the area through regular community meetings, welcoming the opening of a new church and helping neighbors keep up their homes. Now she questions whether those efforts have been in vain.

“You don’t know whether or not you want to stick around. You don’t know whether or not to put your money into building a community when it’s toxic. It’s like, ‘Should I even be living here?'” Salinas said.

Ald. Julia Ramirez, 12th, whose ward includes Brighton Park and McKinley Park, said the 38th and California lot was once a freight terminal for the Alton Railroad. During that period, it housed a zinc smelter — an operation involving potentially toxic processes that use heat and chemicals for metal extraction.

Ramirez said diesel tanks also used to be stored underground, but those have since been removed.

In mid-October, residents said they woke to the sound of trees being cut down and the installation of bright overhead lights at the vacant lot.

Maria Rolon, a resident of Brighton Park for 54 years whose home is adjacent to the lot, said the community was not informed of the city’s plans to use the site to house migrants until construction had already begun.

“I was very upset,” Rolon said. “I’m a senior, even my daughter lives next door. I have other kids. … That was my main concern.”

The city signed a six-month land-use contract Oct. 26 for the lot owned by Barnacres Corp., a Markham-based company run by Otoniel “Tony” Sanchez. Sanchez was also a donor to Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, giving $1,500 to the mayor’s political fund two months before the lease signing. Johnson’s political advisers have said that money was being returned and that city workers involved in scouting the location did not know about the donation.

The city planned to temporarily house close to 2,000 migrants in a winterized base camp on the 9-acre property. Residents protested the city’s plan day and night, citing safety and environmental concerns due to the site’s history of industrial use.

After open records requests, the city released on Dec. 1 an 800-page environmental assessment report by outside contractor Terracon Consultants, which found high levels of mercury, lead, arsenic and manganese and traces of cancer-causing PCBs, among other contaminants.

A spokesperson for Johnson told the Tribune the site is “safe for temporary residential use.”

However, after the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency reviewed the report, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced the city would not use the Brighton Park site as a migrant camp citing “serious environmental concerns” in a statement released by the governor’s office Dec. 5.

According to the report, to limit access to the contaminated soil, contractors covered the entire lot with a 6-inch stone layer meant to provide an “engineered barrier” that would be routinely inspected and maintained by city workers.

Despite the addition of the stone barrier and the mayor’s statements that the site is safe for residential use, homeowners on 38th Street are not convinced the land isn’t toxic.

Ermelinda Quiles, a resident of Brighton Park for 49 years, has lived across from the vacant lot for most of her life.

Quiles said she struggles with health problems she believes are linked to the air she breathes as she lives 50 feet from the former industrial site.

“We all got sick all the time, I got very sick for a month, and my old friend (next door) died. They found out she had cancer,” Quiles said.

Javier Lopez, a Brighton Park resident whose home sits adjacent to the vacant lot, said the city had already initiated excavation at the site to evaluate plumbing installation for the winterized tents that were going to be set up for migrants. Lopez said the community is concerned the city exposed toxins in the soil when they began digging into the contaminated ground.

“We’re concerned, I mean, we’re concerned about our water; they shut off our water for a few hours to dig back there,” Lopez said. “I’m sure the pipes are surrounded by these contaminants. So it’s very, very scary that that stuff was coming into our house.”

Salinas said residents were notified the city would begin water testing in October. According to a flyer distributed to residents, they were instructed to flush out their water to mitigate potential lead levels after pipe disturbances. This involved opening every faucet in their homes for 30 minutes every two weeks over a three-month period.

“They were like, ‘You’re gonna have to flush out your water for the next three months, but don’t worry, it will only be like $1 each time you do that,'” Salinas said. “I don’t care if it’s $1 or a penny, I shouldn’t have to pay to flush my water out. Now this is scary to me.”

Quiles said her water has consistently been discolored since the city began digging at the lot.

“The water comes out brown, and (there’s) like snowflakes, I gotta let it run for at least 20 to 30 minutes,” Quiles said. “I had to buy water to be able to cook and because I’m a very sick person, I got a lot of health problems.”

Many residents on 38th Street said the city’s plan to house migrants at the vacant lot was done hastily and without community input.

Lopez said residents feel they were “left in the dark” on the city’s plans for the lot and the potential environmental impacts from disturbing the contaminated land.

“We’re kind of wondering what the next step is gonna be,” Lopez said.

Ramirez said she is following up with Johnson’s administration on whether plans will be developed to clean up the site.

“The highest priority for me is if we did find toxicity, contamination in the soil, that they’re able to provide full information on the details of it, you know, what can be done or what has been done,” Ramirez said. “These are ongoing conversations, and I will be having more conversations with people in the administration about this.”

Some residents are doubtful the city will clean up the site.

“I can guarantee you they’re just gonna leave it like it is,” Rolon said.

Ramirez said she is discussing what it means to be an environmental justice zone with the community.

In September, the Johnson administration released a cumulative impact report that is intended to capture how exposure to toxins, socioeconomic factors and health conditions vary throughout the city. The most burdened census tracts, which are designated environmental justice neighborhoods, would be subject to special considerations in future zoning and permitting decisions. Brighton Park is among these neighborhoods.

Ramirez also said lead testing kits are being distributed, and she is exploring ways to use the vacant lot for the neighborhood’s benefit.

Now that migrants won’t be living at the site, residents hope their concerns won’t be ignored.

“What I think (the mayor’s) No. 1 priority needs to be is safety. It can’t be temporarily safe. It needs to be safe,” Lopez said. “It’s not good enough just to get the migrants not to go through it. Now you gotta follow through all the way.”

Samantha Moilanen is a freelancer.