09/16/2026
The 11th Ward, City of Chicago
AMTRAK MEETING CHANGE OF VENUE UPDATE
Late this afternoon, we were notified by Amtrak that this Thursday’s community meeting is being moved to a larger location, which is outside of the 11th Ward. It is a positive sign that they have been forced to expand the size of the venue in response to our increasing wave of support against this project, but it is still concerning that this change of venue happened last minute, and that it has now been moved north to 2121 S. Union at Cermak, in the 25th Ward. This will lead to a reduction in accessibility for our residents. It is further away from all the affected areas, and is harder to reach for residents of Chinatown, many of whom are seniors who do not drive. We are also still waiting to hear if they will have translation headsets available. This update also comes with news that Amtrak will ban signs and banners in the venue.
If the goal of this event is for Amtrak and other stakeholders to hear from the impacted members of our community, it sure feels like they’re doing everything they can to avoid that result. Holding this meeting outside of the ward is ridiculous, unacceptable and highly disrespectful of our community. We will be encouraging Amtrak to fix this error, but in the meantime, we still encourage you to plan to do all that you can to show up and make your voice heard.
-Alderwoman Nicole Lee & Commissioner John P. Daley
