An apartment building in the North of Howard neighborhood that was the scene of a deadly fire last summer was back in housing court on April 24.
Attorneys for Jay Johnson, president of Cornerstone Residential Group LLC, appeared before Cook County Circuit Court Judge Daniel J. Lynch. Johnson, who was not present at the hearing, owns several low-income properties in Rogers Park, including 7700-06 N. Marshfield, where six children died last Labor Day weekend. Building owners are not required to attend housing court hearings unless specified by a judge.
City inspectors discovered 46 building code violations during an inspection of the Marshfield apartment building two days after the deadly Sept. 3, 2006 fire.
Chicago Department of Buildings inspectors cited the multi-unit residential building for violations ranging from a pigeon infestation, holes in the building's interior walls and ceilings, and failure to repair open mortar joints in a chimney. Other violations were related to smoke and water damage caused by the fire.
Johnson's attorneys, Mark Nora and Stewart Weiss, submitted copies of building permits showing that work is being done to correct the two remaining violations that include fixing a defective porch system and electrical equipment.
The families of the Ramirez children and their 3-year-old friend, Scarlett Ramos, have since sued Johnson and the building's other owners, claiming the owners did not maintain adequate smoke detectors in the third-floor unit. Chicago Fire Department investigators attributed the cause of the blaze to candles that the Ramirez family had been using for light after electrical power to the apartment had been shut off when the family fell behind paying the utility bill.
A final city inspection of the building has been set for May 24, to be followed by another housing court hearing on May 29. At that time, the judge is expected to lift case management of the building, provided that all of the violations have been lifted, according to city attorney Judy Frydland.
"It appears that (Johnson) has resolved most of the issues. I'm not surprised that he would be complying because there is no reason not to," Frydland told community residents after the hearing.
Frydland mentioned the possibility of fines being imposed on Johnson and the other building owners after the building has been brought up to code.
"It takes time, but our goal right now is to get the building up to code. Safety is first," she said.
"We'll try to do a settlement conference with (the building owners) and offer a settlement or penalty. If (the building owners) don't agree or we can't come to an agreement, then we would have to go to trial," Frydland added.
Frydland said at the very least, the city would try to recover some of the costs it has incurred from inspections and court time.
"The costs shouldn't have to be covered by the tax payers. The general policy is to at least recover some of the city's costs. If (the building owners) don't comply, we'll have to go to a hearing to force them to comply," Frydland explained.
"I don't anticipate that (happening) here, but anything is possible," Frydland added.
Also attending the housing court hearing was John Perconti, whose law firm, Levin and Perconti, is representing the Ramirez and Ramos families in their civil lawsuit against Johnson the other building owners. Perconti described the hearing as "pretty routine."
Eva McCann, a North of Howard resident and beat facilitator for CAPS Beat 2422, said she has been chasing Johnson's Rogers Park properties in housing court for the past six years as a court advocate.
"The most frustrating thing to me is that (Johnson) is continuously allowed more and more time to correct all of the problems. It seems to take longer and longer each time and nothing gets accomplished," McCann said.
2 comments:
Some people in the inner circle say Kevin Cosgrove didn't resign, but he was fired by Joe Moore.
Did this comment put a nail in his coffin?
I heard that Kevin was trying to get Joe to focus more on the Ward and Joe didn't want to hear that. I heard more, but out of respect for Kevin I do not want to post about it.
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