Amundsen Park fieldhouse reopens Monday, programs resume

CHICAGO (CBS)-- Amundsen Park reopened its doors for programs Monday after the city officially abandoned plans to house hundreds of asylum seekers in the fieldhouse.

The fieldhouse has been closed since October.

Community leaders and neighbors held a news conference Monday morning to talk about the reopening.

"When Austin speaks, that means the city will listen," A community leader said. "We are here today to let people know that the activities here in our community represent basketball, football, senior activities and community meetings." 

The city had announced in early October that it planned to use the Amundsen Park fieldhouse to provide temporary housing for asylum seekers, but within days of that announcement put those plans on hold while Mayor Brandon Johnson's office considered an alternative site nearby – a vacant building in the 1990 block of North Austin Boulevard.

For more than a month, the park has been operating with only one staffer, and the Chicago Park District had moved after-school events and other programs from Amundsen Park to Riis Park while preparing for possibly using Amundsen's fieldhouse as a shelter.

Last month, neighbors took their concerns to court, asking a judge to issue a temporary restraining order to prevent the city from turning the fieldhouse into a migrant shelter, but the judge denied their request since the city hadn't made a final decision on the plan.