* Dealing With A Slumlord

For those who think we don't try to get something done with the Block building through the Alderman's office, you'd be very, very wrong. We do. We've forced the Alderman to break away from the Foie Gras issue long enough to hold three after hours meetings at his office this summer. Not that these meetings did any good - but we tried. At the last meeting in August, the Alderman disrespected the group so much, he didn't show up at his own office.

Since our last meeting on August 8th, the Block building has gotten so bad, it's turned into a full blown, 24/7 - drug house on the 1345 West Lunt side! Why just Saturday afternoon, about 12:25 p.m., 911 was called because a lady was openly smoking crack in the lobby. This gives a new meaning to the saying "high noon."

These are the meeting notes just sent to me. Here are the questions and, shall I say, lame results. Could it be dealing with the Alderman only makes matters worse? You be the judge. Here we go.

Ideas and suggestions from June 21 problem solving meeting on 1340 W. Morse/1345 W. Lunt:

8/8/2006 update:

Current situation:

Police calls for service: Police report 174 and 138 calls for service to these addresses (respectively), for an average of almost one call every two days. By comparison the nearby address of 1257 W. Lunt (55 units) had just 13 calls in one year’s time. Of those calls, 11/2 (respectively) were related to “Domestic Disturbance,” and another 80/50 were about a disturbance, narcotics, theft, batteries and assaults in progress (though perhaps related to domestics), or suspicious person. A meeting was held July 12 at Alderman Joe Moore’s office to review proposed solutions with Harris Block, property manager, and Chris Hill. Attending were Don Gordon, Alicia Lopez, Kevin O’Neil, Tom Westgard, Francis Scudellari, Craig Gernhardt, James Ginderske, Dan Sullivan.

UPDATE meeting was held 8/8/06 at the alderman’s office. Present were Kevin Cosgrove, representing the alderman, Kevin O’Neil via speaker phone, Tom Westgard, Francis Scudellari, Craig Gernhardt, and Dan Sullivan. Harris Block did not attend; Kevin Cosgrove thought this was another meeting where Block’s attendance was not required. Kevin C. did talk to Block on Aug. 7 to get updates from him. Notes from this 8/8 meeting are included after the bold “Update:”.

Proposed solutions

1.) Mr. Block must use credit and criminal background checks on potential renters, month-to-month renters, and renters on a lease that is up for renewal.

Response: Block said he already does credit and criminal background checks on potential renters. In addition, he promised to do criminal checks on renewals.

Update: Block is using Data General to do criminal and credit checks. Kevin C. will verify this. Kevin will verify procedures for checks on month-to-month tenants.

2.) Mr. Block should require security deposits for his buildings.

Response: Block promised to begin requiring security deposits immediately. He said he would change his Sun-Times ad immediately and change his Web site by July 21.

Update: Block says he is now requiring security deposits. A check of the Realty and Mortgage Co. Web site (http://www.realtymort.com/listings/othercity.htm) shows that the mention of no security deposit is gone from the Morse/Lunt buildings, though it is there on some South Side buildings. Incidentally, the site lists Chris’ phone number as 773-560-8704.

3.) Mr. Block should make certain all exterior lights are always in good working order. Some have been reported to be out. It was suggested that he get better lights. Replace the ballasts. Remove timers and replace with light sensors.
Response: Chris first said all the lights were working, but meeting attendees said two of three Lunt Avenue lights were out. Block and Chris promised all lights would be replaced by July 14, and that Block would install light sensors by July 21.

Update: FX Construction replaced ballasts and light fixtures. Dan S. says lights have been better. Craig reports lights on east side of each building are blinking and need to be fixed. Block did replace the lights on streetside of Lunt.

4.) Actively invite tenants to beat meeting. Mary Jane Haggerty and Alicia Lopez will help do this. We’ll need Mr. Block’s and Chris’ help on this.

Response: Mary Jane and Alicia were scheduled to go door-to-door with beat meeting flyers at both buildings on July 13. Chris promised to meet them and escort them through the buildings.

Update: MJ and Alicia did this for July. We’ll ask them to do it for August beat meeting.

5.) Check to make sure tenant signs are still posted in the buildings.

Response: Alicia promised she would check on these signs July 13. She would work on Spanish translations also.
Update: These are still posted. Will check again in August.

6.) Mr. Block should immediately schedule an interior inspection for the Building Dept. Exterior building violations have already been noted in April. Interior inspection has been requested.

Response: Meg Gillman reported via email before the meeting that tenants in the Morse building had call 311 to complain about bugs and other issues in the building. Block said he would call Meg July 14 to work with her on getting an interior inspection scheduled.

Update: We think Block did get in touch with the Building Dept. He got name and number of guy to talk to at Building Dept. from Meg Gillman. Kevin C. will confirm that Building Dept. was contacted, and what the results of inspections were. Need to determine what the violations were and when administrative hearing might be, if it is scheduled. Kevin C. will tell us when the hearing is. Kevin will let us know by Aug. 11 what he finds out.

7.) CTA needs to clean the viaduct. Tree, weed and trash trimming on viaduct. Alicia to handle request.

Response: Alicia promised to call the CTA about this on July 13.

Update: Need to confirm with Alicia, who is on vacation. Kevin C. will check with Alicia’s contacts and determine status of request. Kevin will let us know by Aug. 11 what he finds out.

8.) Someone from this group should review the videotapes every week, but we’ll look at time/dates where specific complaints have been made. We should rotate the job. Mr. Block should change tape length date to 8 days.

Response: Block promised to ask his video provider about changing the tape length to 8 days. Group members then promised they would check tapes if they saw disturbances.

Update: Block changed rotation date to 10-day cycle. He already gave copies of tape to neighbor who had broken car window. Dan Sullivan and Jim Ginderske will request recent tape of last Sunday, of broken windows on 1344 W. Lunt. Craig mentioned a convenience store break-in might be on the tape (date to come), and an attempted assault on Craig (date to come). We need to push Block to deliver these tapes on a timely basis. Kevin C. will emphasize his in call to Block.

9.) Mr. Block and Chris should work with police to aggressively combat trespassing by non-residents. Signs should be posted if they are not already.

Response: We explained to Chris the importance of signing police complaints about loitering. He promised to sign some complaints by the Aug. 21 beat meeting. Chris told us and his uncle had been walking the hallways and exteriors on Friday and Saturday nights from 1 am till 5 am.

Update: Signs are up. There was a break-in at Unit 501. Chris called it in. Arrest was made, Chris signed complaint. He will go to court. We don’t know of any trespassing complaints that Chris signed. This is crucial. He must sign complaints to keep knuckleheads who don’t live there off the property.

10.) Mr. Block should attend landlord workshop held at police stations around the city on a regular basis.

Response: Block said he had previously attended these seminars, and didn’t find them very useful. Nonetheless, Tom Westgard said he would give Block a pamphlet with seminar dates.

Update: Block said he would go to the next one when he gets the list of times, date.

11.) Continue to work with police on addressing problem tenants, and evict them.

Response: Block said there were a total of 9 evictions in process – 2-3 for illegal activities such as loitering, the others for non-payment of rent. He said he would call the alderman’s office for assistance with speedy evictions when the court writs come through.

Update: Block said on Aug. 16 he has an eviction on Morse Unit 410; Unit 406 already evicted from Morse. Lunt: 207 and 512 are out. 409 and 513 are pending. Kevin C. will help with expediting sheriff requests when they come through. We should confirm these evictions. Dan wants names of tenants evicted so they don’t go into other nearby buildings. We need to set up a better mechanism for making sure those evicted from nearby buildings don’t end up in these bad buildings. What is mechanism, how to put in place and who is responsible? To be determined.

12.) Attend Beat 2431 meetings for the duration of the problem-solving process.

Response: Block said he would attend beat meeting through the rest of the year, though he would not be able to on July 17. Chris would attend July 17. Block also promised to plant flowers and make other beautification efforts, particularly on the Lunt side.

Update: Block said he will be at beat meeting on Aug. 21. He got a bid of $3,200 for landscaping, and needs another bid. He promises to have it done by end of September. Craig said he has already put down grass seed that was eaten by pigeons. He still needs to remove dead bushes on Lunt.

13.) NEW: Craig says biggest new issue is non-tenants loitering in front of the vestibule. They are 15-20 years old, they hang at all hours of day, some on bikes. We need to get Chris to press charges on trespassing by non-residents. There’s lots of frustration about this loitering, and Chris not signing complaints about this. This summer is the worst by far. Dan has had seven windows broken in the last four months. Check on whether gang dispersal is in effect at Lunt and Glenwood.

14.) Dan wants to get police to take him up on his offer to give them surveillance space in his building across the street at 1344 W. Lunt. Kevin O. gave Dan the number for beat team leader Sgt. Lori Cooper. Dan will call her.

We will get monthly call-for-service stats from police as one gauge of progress on building improvements. Meeting adjourned on 8/8 at 7:10 pm.

Blognotes: Summary - Oct. 14th, 2006

Current situation: Very, very bad.

Proposed solutions: Are not working.