Sunday, November 13th at 6pm
1543 West Morse Avenue
Here is your chance to meet with tenants rights attorney, Paul Bernstein, Fran Tobin from the Rogers Park Tenants Association and hopefully members from the aldermans office to discuss our rights as tenants for fair treatment and safe housing.
This meeting is a consultation only.
It is an opportunity for you to meet Mr. Bernstein and have your questions and concerns addressed. We can then decide if we are interested in hiring Paul to legally represent us as a tenants group.
Mr. Bernstein, in addition to being a tenants rights lawyer, is also on the board of the Metropolitan Tenants Organization. This group has been successful in aiding other tenants forced to move because of Condo Conversion. Through their representation, other tenants groups have been successful in recovering full security deposit, relocation assistance, reduced rent and in many cases 2 plus months of free rent. Those benefits were awarded in buildings that did not have any code violations. I think it is reasonable to expect that we could get significant rent reductions for our porches from New City Builders and a rent refund from QHC for the months of August through October. Those benefits are available to everyone, regardless of when you plan to move. Paul has offered us a flat rate for representation of all the tenants interested of $1000. This would break down to roughly $30 a unit, possibly a little more depending on the number of vacant units in the building. This fee will cover everything except court costs, which would occur if there were eviction proceedings on any of the tenants in the building.
I would encourage everyone to attend for several reasons.
1. Regardless if you move in a month or stay out your lease, it is ridiculous to pay full rent for a building in violation of city code. They got a reduced purchase price on the property because of the violation. Why are they expecting full rent?
2. Moving is stressful and expensive and you are being forced to move against your will so a developer can make a profit. I think it is time that renters take a stand on this. If more buildings unite, the developments will be less profitable and may slow the conversion craze. As it stands, I would guess you have a 50% chance of moving into another building slated for conversion.
3. We need to make sure the property is maintained, sidewalks shoveled and salted, lawns mowed, unit problems addressed in a timely manner.
If you cannot make the meeting but are interested in joining the ten tenants who have already committed to this action, please call Margot at (773) 780-4997.
Any tenant interested in pursueing legal recourse, please have the following information ready.
1. Copy of all documents pertaining to you lease, if you have one.
2. Written statement of current rent, security deposit, pet deposit, any other potential building code violations that you are aware of as well as any significant maintenance issues in your unit. If you cannot make the meeting, you can call me and I will be happy to bring that info to the meeting.
Feel free to call me if you have any further questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Margot Hackett
1441 Greenleaf
24 comments:
The odds on Alderman Moore or anyone from the 49th ward service office showing up is as good as the Alderman inviting me over for tea.
Margot,
Can you fill me in on what is happening with your building? Is this a meeting for everyone or just those in your building?
Thanks
Why isn't this property on the homepage of rogerspark.com as Condo's of the Month already?
Not a condo yet? How about your condo Craig? I'd be happy to have your Advertising dollars!
;-)
Thanks for clarifying Margot. You seemed pretty well organized. Good luck with your meeting.
The squabble is cover. Moore staffers don't make trouble for campaign contributors.
New City Builders
6906 N Lakewood #12
Chicago, IL 60626
$500.00 1/13/2005 to Citizens for Joe Moore
Hugh said: The squabble is cover.
Prove it.
Don't bother with it, Charlie. He'll just keep referring to the same document over and over again much like he did with the tax documents that meant nothing. Besides, as he has stated before, if he posts something that isn't true, he relies on us to correct him which is bunk since I have yet to see him reverse or correct himself no matter what his neighbors have to say.
Thanks to Margot and Fran and Mr. Bernstein for working on this!
Margot,
When Mr. Cosgrove was explaining to you why he could not get involved, did he happen to mention anything about the campaign contribution from the developer to his boss?
Thanks again.
Hugh
He refused to be at the meeting citing differences with Fran Tobin being an issue.
per Margot's post.
Michael K said.....>" the tax documents that meant nothing."
Not filing proper tax returns is more than nothing. It's against the federal law. Where is Gateway Plaza on any tax documents?
Why do they hide the 5% ownership from the IRS?
Ask them Michael K, they won't answer my requests.
Be a good neighbor Michael K, do something good for the community, ask Ms. Bares how much 5% of the Gateway Plaza is worth and why they haven't reported this to the IRS?
Ask her how much she made from her consulting business last year from the Roscoe Village Chamber of Commerce as a bonus question.
As I have mentioned to Hugh I will extend my offer to you as well. Get an indictment (not even a conviction) and I'll take you to dinner.
The last post was too soft.
Michael K. said ....> "Get an indictment (not even a conviction) and I'll take you to dinner.
So, you aren't going to call Ms. Bares and ask how much 5% of Gateway Plaza is worth? Not a good neighbor Michael K. All that bravado you write and you give a bull shit Kevin O'Neil/David Fagus/DevCorp North style answer like that.
Then like a hypocrite, you hold Harrington's ass on the fire for the Rodde Foundation. Something you most likely know zero about. But then, I may be wrong and you've been living your life in the closet and know all about Frank Rodde and how he got murdered?
So get an indictment on Harrington. Then I'll donate the dinner money you offered to a real charity. As for the thought of having dinner with you would make me puke.
First of all, do your homework. I never brought up the Rodde incident I believe that was Thomas Westgard.
Secondly, I don't need to call her to find out because Hugh already posted how much the property is worth about a dozen times.
And finally, Craig, personal attacks only prove that you can't put your money where your mouth is. You may as well stick your fingers in your ears and and say, "Nah! Nah! I can't hear you!"
Talk about being a bad neighbor. You repeatedly make accusations that you can' back up and call yourself a journalist. You scare your neighbors with erroneous reports and innuendo. What service does that do for the community? Can't answer Craig? I'll do it for you. NONE!
Your agenda is clear: Defame all current leadership so that you and your cronies can grab the reigns in the next election. You don't care about what's right and what's wrong. Tell me, will MJH make you his thug if he takes office? Will he make you his Chief of Staff or is that job reserved for Hugh?
A few people in this neighborhood want to take you task for posting nonsense. Don't expect us to go away either. You created this "Hellhole" and now you have to live in it.
Michael K said.....>"A few people in this neighborhood want to take you task for posting nonsense. Don't expect us to go away either.'
I count Michael K. and Michael C. Michael C. went away.
Oh.... and Nico's mom, new on morse and Rebecca. But she only counts as one because she uses all those names and is the same person.
WoW.... what is it about Friday's around here?
Charlie posted...
>He refused to be at the meeting citing differences with Fran Tobin being an issue.
You're cool with that?
According to Moore's web site, Mr. Cosgrove is the Alderman's Chief of Staff, and responsible for tenant-landlord issues. He is an employee of the taxpayers of the City of Chicago.
Ms. Hackett is a taxpayer, a resident of Chicago, and a constituent of Moore.
I didn't know you could do that, pick and choose who you deal with like that. I would have thought part of the territory of being a civil servant was having to deal with difficult personalities all the time. Particularly in Rogers Park, right? No doubt being the Alderman's Chief of Staff means you come into contact with obnoxious, caustic, load-mouth jerks every damn day!
A policy of letting our civil servants selectively deny service might help attract more quality people to careers in public service.
The canard about rental housing being tough to find in RP is getting tiresome. In walking around the 'hood I see all kinds of "for rent" signs. If you look in the Trib or on the Trib website there are also a fair number of rental properties listed in a broad price range from $500-$1000+, many with move in specials. Just for kicks I did a search on 60626 and clicked "large dogs" and found 8 listings, all fairly reasonably priced.
Perhaps there has been an excess of rental housing in RP and now we are seeing a rebalancing. I am firmly on the side of building owners treating tenants with respect and consideration when converting from rental to condo. However, it seems that we don't exactly have a condo conversion crisis yet if apt. building owners are still offering "move in specials" to people with large dogs.
>"Oh.... and Nico's mom, new on morse and Rebecca. But she only counts as one because she uses all those names and is the same person."
For God's sake Craig. You make it sound like I do this on purpose. I always post as Nico's mom, unless a. the interface decides to use an earlier name that never intended to use and that I deleted ages ago, and b. one, repeat one, time when I posted under my real name to discuss the panel that I was on.
This is the sort of thing that is really unnecessary on your part. I am not your enemy. I'll say it again, I admire your energy and I think this blog is a good thing because it gets people taking to each other, even though I sometimes think your research is sloppy. As I've also said, I don't really think that is such a big deal, since people can post rebuttles to your post instantly if they wish, and as far as I know you always post them, which is much to your credit.
I'm amazed that a big tough guy like you is pissed off by taking a little ribbing from me...
Pamela - I agree with you about the rental availablity issue. I too think this is a red herring.
What the real issue is as far as I can see is not rental availability, but lack of respect for existing leases during condo conversions, and also the vulnerability of those on month to month leases. These are very serious issues for which remedies must be found.
As for Mike's comment about his apartment being like a member of his family, I know that for many people the prospect of moving when you don't want to is emotionally wrenching. I don't think it will ever be possible to prevent a building owner from taking a building off the rental market
(although it is possible to imagine incentives which might persuade a landlord to keep a building on the rental market, but whether this is good policy is another issue). I think it will be most useful for tenants to try to get proper notice and a payout and/or the right to live out their leases - the fact that this isn't happening now is very wrong.
This discussion got me to thinking about what I understood about leases when I was renting in Chicago, which is that landlords have the right to refuse to renew leases for any reason whatsoever, even if the tenant is in good standing. I always had a big problem with that - I thought that if my lease was in good standing, and I agreed to the rent increase I should have the right to renew if the unit was going to remain on the rental market (this is now it is in many cities I have lived in). It is easy to imagine that in a down market a landlord might rent to, say, a black family, and when the market gets better, the landlord might decide to refuse to renew their leases in order to get the black tenants out. You might argue that a landlord would never try to get a good existing tenant out regardless of race, but I'm not so sure. I wonder, given the racism in America, whether this adds even more to the anxiety of people of color who are having to move when they don't want to, as I doubt the days of good tenants looking for a new place being refused due to ethnicity are behind us. Does anyone know the history of this law? I was stunned when I found out about it.
Pamela and Nico's Mom,
I feel the same way- I see conversions but I also still see alot of apartments. I just wish that some buildings would be fixed up for rental.
We have been doing comparison shopping for apartments in RP and found quite a few bargains and nice 2BR apartments.
> ... we live in American A Capitalism society that you allow to make money on your investments. WHAT DO YOU DO? And what do your elected officials have to do with it. Its a private matter to sell your company.
We also live in a City. Living together in a City means compromising your freedoms in many ways.
Would your little old lady be free to open a goose farm on her property if she thought that was her best investment?
Would she be permitted to open a Wal-Mart?
Did you clear this free-market blather with Moore before you posted?
Post a Comment