By Jason Crane
More than 70 supporters of the A-Town Boxing Club gathered Monday evening outside the locked facility at 551 Fourth Avenue on Aurora’s near East Side to participate in a rally seeking an update to the future of the Club and work out again.
According to a press release from the officials of the Club, they were told by the Aurora Housing Authority to stay closed due to COVID-19 since June 2020.
Leaders of the Club insist safety is their number one priority and take no issue with being closed if it were for that reason, but they feel this restriction is personal and unfair because other organizations are currently open.
The Club claims when it was mentioned to the Aurora Housing Authority, it received unsatisfactory reasoning and responses.
“We felt the request for us to remain closed was unreasonable, considering other housing authority sites are open for kids during this time,” release stated.
The press release claims after a representative of the Club spoke at a March 23 Aurora City Council meeting, the Housing Authority changed the locks to the doors, ostensibly as retaliation for publicly speaking out about the unjust situation..
The press release further states, “We feel we have exhausted all other options and seek a third party mediator to arbitrate the matter.
“Our requests are simple:
• (1) We are asking for new keys to the building; (2) to be able to open up unobstructed and unrestricted; and (3) to be able to use our entire space.
“We aim to discuss the matter in more detail and answer any questions regarding the issue further.”
Note: A-Town Boxing Club is an independent club.
Here is the response sent to The Voice by E-mail from Ralph Jordan, the executive director of the Aurora Housing Authority:
“The Emmanuel School which is located at 551 4th Avenue in Aurora is owned by Northern Lights Development Corporation (NLDC).
“NLDC is an instrumentality of the Aurora Housing Authority. The president of NLDC is Ralph Jordan, who is also the executive director of the Aurora Housing Authority.
“This property has been used to provide community services to the community before the COVD-19 pandemic hit our country in March of 2020.
“NLDC closed the property and stopped all activities that were occurring at the site in March 2020.
“Some examples of activities that were taking place at the Emmanuel School were dance groups, Zumba classes, and A-Town Boxing Club.
“The original boxing club that had a lease agreement with NLDC was the Aurora Boxing Club. That Club left the site and closed its program in June 2019.
“During the pandemic, the A-Town Boxing Club decided to begin to use the facility in June 2020 which was totally against all State and local COVID -19 requirements.
“NLDC came to the site in August and found out that the A-Town Boxing Club was still having activities which violated the local and State law regarding the COVID-19. They were told not to utilize the site, because of the pandemic and also the gym floor was being re-done. The Boxing Club continued to be present at the property and contacted Mr. Jordan every other month to try and re-open. They were not allowed to re-open due to the pandemic and mandates provided by governor (JB) Pritzker. Those mandates were against gatherings for sports activities and social gatherings.
“The A-Town Boxing Club reached out to Mr. Jordan in the first week of March 2021 and were told that a meeting would be held at the end of March to discuss the plan for re-opening the site.
“NLDC has not heard from the A-Town Boxing Club since the first week of March.
“The A-Town Boxing Club does not have a lease agreement with NLDC, therefore will not be allowed to utilize the site at this time.
“NLDC is in the process of doing a complete modernization of the site to create a community center. The company is having discussions with different agencies to partner with to create this community center.
“The A-Town Boxing needs to give me a call so that we can discuss the future of this site.”