South Side residents protest new development at former South Works steel site

Residents on Chicago's South Side called on Mayor Brandon Johnson on Saturday to speak out against a controversial development they say is a new data center.

However, the mayor stopped short of publicly opposing the project.

Residents packed a town hall event to protest the new Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park being built on the former South Works steel site. Residents say they're concerned about the negative impacts a data center might have on the community and environment.

The CEO of the development has described the project as a research and development campus and not a data center.

Johnson told the crowd he's gotten some assurances from the developer.

"I did receive a letter from the developers of the campus saying they will not proceed with a data center on this particular campus.  If they were to do that, they would be strictly bound by to the executive order that I put forth to provide stronger regulations," he said.

This week, Johnson called for a temporary moratorium on new data centers and signed an executive order creating stricter data center regulations and oversight.