Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced the creation of a 13-member advisory committee on Thursday that will recommend ways to reuse the city's 50 shuttered neighborhood school buildings in order to turn them into community assets. 

“The city of Chicago has an opportunity to use these facilities to revitalize our economy in key areas and expand opportunity for Chicagoans in our neighborhoods,” the mayor said in a statement regarding the new committee. “I look forward to reviewing the recommendations after the committee’s extensive community input process and careful consideration of what is best for our future.”

Throughout the school-closing process, a large number of community members said they were worried that charter schools would set up shop in the empty buildings or that the shuttered schools would be left vacant and attract crime.

Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett has said multiple times that charters would not take over the buildings. And the chair of the new committee, Wilbur Milhouse with Milhouse Engineering & Construction, Inc., said the buildings would not be left empty once the committee recommends what to do with them.

"There's a lot that needs to be done first before we can recommend what to do with these buildings," Milhouse told DNAinfo Chicago. "But whatever uses are decided on, it must be a revenue-generating development that could be sustainable for years to come."

The committee is set to have its first meeting after the Labor Day holiday.

Those on the committee include:

Wilbur Milhouse (Chair), Milhouse Engineering & Construction, Inc. 
Andy Mooney, Department of Housing and Economic Development 
Shirley Calahan, Calahan Family Foundation 
Ricardo Estrada, Metropolitan Family Services 
Jim Capraro, former Director of Greater Southwest Development Corp. 
Linda Goodman, Goodman Williams Group 
Tom Tyrell, Chicago Public Schools 
Raul Raymundo, Resurrection Project 
Susana Vasquez, Local Initiatives Support Corporation 
Julia Stasch, MacArthur Foundation 
Bernita Johnson, Quad Community Development Corp 
Alds. Latasha Thomas (17th) and Rey Colon (35th)