General Iron misleading - RK Bulk Scrap Buyers
General Iron misleading - RK Bulk Scrap Buyers
It is disappointing that a Tribune editorial relied on cherry-picked and conflated information to criticize the operations and intentions of General Iron Industries, a metal recycling business on the city’s North Side. Instead of acknowledging the tangible steps that this 110-year-old Chicago company is taking to transition to a less densely populated location, the Tribune insinuates nefarious motives and conniving tactics to the routine and impartial process of issuing city permits.
The facts are straightforward: A new company that will divest the Labkon family of its four-generation control of General Iron properly obtained new permits for the standard three-year term established by the city. http://bulkscrapbuyerschennai.in/ The new company did not request an extension and is not considering operating on the North Side beyond 2020. The Tribune apparently would have preferred that the Chicago Department of Public Health deny those permits without cause? Moreover, the Tribune ignores the vital benefits of a metal recycling facility that processes more than 700,000 tons of junked autos and discarded metal annually while conserving energy and natural resources in forging new iron and metal products.
There is evidence that Ald. Brian Hopkins, 2nd, lacks credibility in claiming that he only recently learned of the Emanuel administration’s granting of the new permits. RK Scrap City officials conveyed that they did notify Hopkins during the permit process. While Hopkins has repeatedly demonized the company, the Tribune fails to question the real motives behind his four-year crusade to shut down an indigenous company that provides more than 100 well-paying jobs in his ward.
In its news and editorial coverage, the Tribune is fond of continuously reminding its readers that the Labkon family is engaged in internal legal conflict, while also conflating individual family members’ campaign contributions as having a common purpose.
Contrary to Ald. Hopkins’ self-serving narrative, General Iron’s majority members remain steadfast in their goal to cease operations on the North Side by the end of 2020, while a new first-class recycling facility is built on a well-buffered industrial site along the Calumet River. Zoning permits issued for that location after a public process and listing the North Side properties for sale manifestly demonstrate their true intention.
― Patrick Collins, Chicago, and Randall Samborn, Glenview, representatives of General Iron
Scrap yard a threat to city’s health
A July 6 editorial slams Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s last-minute decision before stepping down to grant General Iron Industries, a scrap metal company on a federal watchlist of chronic polluters, a three-year extension of its operating permit before it relocates to the Southeast Side of the city. I applaud the 47,500 Lincoln Park residents for finally (eventually) ridding themselves of this company; however, how in the world does this clearly culpable company get a chance to pull up stakes and begin polluting the Southeast Side? This entire situation constitutes a serious issue of environmental justice. Relocation of any kind for this company places the health and well-being of Chicagoans living in its path in jeopardy.
— Deborah Harrington, Chicago
More proof of North/South bias
The Tribune Editorial Board rightly called out the raw deal Chicago got with General Iron Industries’ continued operations in a highly populated area. However, it missed the mark, perpetuating the city’s North/South divide, when it declared, “Relief had been in sight ... (with plans to) move operations to the Southeast Side.” In one breath, it denounces this lung-damaging, regulation-violating company, and yet it is a “relief” to pass the problem onto a part of our citizenry that has been fighting the industrial waste heaped upon it. Where is the environmental justice, editorial board, and will you not champion it?
— Lorraine Brochu, Chicago
Let millennials take the helm
Fellow baby boomers: I think it is time for us to stop complaining about how millennials are different from us. They are — in many wonderful ways! Let’s start trusting that we did a good job raising and educating them. Let’s give them a chance to take charge in our workplaces and our government. I’m not saying we have nothing left to contribute. I’m saying we’ve taken our turn captaining the ship. Let’s give our children and grandchildren a chance to fix some of the messes we’ve made. We’ve let (primarily) old, rich white guys run the world for long enough.
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