* Block Building At All Time Worst

It's been a little over a year since a few neighbors got Alderman Moore's office involved in the slum-like problems at the Block building. In that time period, the conditions have slowly gotten worse. You read the horror stories. Some of you may have even been a victim. Like Dan Sullivan who supports Alderman Moore and Don Gordon. He owns the property accross the street. He alleged the gangs hanging out front of the Block building broke two of his windows.

Now, after nearly a half dozen meetings, it's clear the Alderman has NO power to get a slumlord like Block to fix his building. Forget running the gangs off the property that don't belong there. Little things like planting some flowers and removing three month old dead bushes (pictured above) just can't get done. These things make the neighborhood better. Mr. Block and Alderman Moore can't seem to get this done.

The Alderman has ZERO power to getting CTA or city services to do maintainence, like trimming trees along Glenwood. This would help light the street.

The Alderman has no power asking the Chicago Police Department to follow through on stake-outs the police promised the community a year ago. This would catch the drug dealing by the Block building. That's if they really want to catch them?

What does the Alderman have the power to do? Run retail out of the city. Now look, beside Wal-Mart and Target, now Lowe's Home Improvement is thinking of not building stores. If Alderman Moore keeps running retail out of the city, by the time someone does get around to some building improvements at the Block building, they will have to shop in the suburbs to get their supplies, losing the city of valuable sales tax.

Blognotes: After looking at the ugly dead bushes (pictured above) for three months, I removed them myself yesterday. If the trees along Glenwood don't get trimmed soon, I'll get a 12 foot ladder and chainsaw, then I'll do that job myself too.