The city cited the Juneteenth holiday for closing all but one cooling center for vulnerable residents Wednesday even as temperatures are expected to exceed 90 degrees for the fourth straight day.
“It’s extremely alarming that we are shrinking our cooling centers in the middle of a heat wave,” said state Rep. Lindsey LaPointe, who represents Chicago’s Northwest Side and advocates for the homeless and other vulnerable populations.
This week, the city established six cooling centers for those who need to escape the dangerous temperatures because they don’t have air conditioning and are susceptible to heat-induced illness.
On Wednesday, only one of those centers, the Garfield Community Service Center at 10 S. Kedzie Ave., will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. despite another forecast for an extremely hot day.
City officials have also advised people to seek shelter at Chicago’s more than 80 public libraries this week, but all those locations will be closed for the day as well.
Some Chicago Park District buildings will have limited hours during the day as well as some park pools, which just opened for the season Monday.
The Chicago Cultural Center at 78 E. Washington will provide a cooling area from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., the city said.
A city spokeswoman said the National Weather Service had not issued an excessive heat warning as of early evening Tuesday that would set in motion an emergency response to the heat.
Should the National Weather Service issue an extreme heat warning, the city’s emergency response plan is activated, said Mary May, a spokeswoman for the Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications.
Jake Petr, a meteorologist for the weather service, confirmed that such a warning had not been issued. However, the heat index has been hovering very close to numbers that would prompt a pronouncement.
The heat index measures a combination of heat and humidity that rises above 100 degrees for three straight days. Since Sunday that daily index has been 98, 98 and 97, Petr said.
“It doesn’t take ‘extreme heat’ to negatively impact many vulnerable populations,” said Monica Dillon, a registered nurse and member of the Northwest Side Homeless Outreach Volunteers, citing older residents, those with medical conditions, pregnant women and others. “These populations are less able to regulate body temperatures and are more susceptible to heat stress, illness and even death.”
