Wednesday, June 18, 2008
* Shots Fired @ Fargo
Multiple calls coming in for multiple shots fired on Fargo, near Ridge. Multiple people were running from a building near-by. A Toyota has been shot up according to the police arriving on the call. Another car has been shot too. It is unknown at this time what make or model it is. A blue colored Intrepid was seen fleeing the scene with multiple people inside. Police are checking with St. Francis Hospital in Evanston to see if anyone has been brought in needing bullets removed from their body. Basically, there's chaos going on in CAPS beat 2424.
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8 comments:
Not quite as dramatic as the shooting crime on Fargo, at 4:20 PM yesterday there was a stabbing crime in the 1500 block of west Pratt.
Craig, I own a condo on Fargo 1621 W. Fargo, and I keep reading more and more about the shootings moving further north away from Morse Ave. I currently rent the condo to a wonderful woman. It upsets me that this keeps happening and it keeps me wondering how she is doing with it all. I know she is a tough woman coming from the south side of Chicago, she told me the gang crime in Rogers Park was heaven compared to the slumlord she had to deal with in her old place. Keep up the hard work and reporting on the happenings in Rogers Park.
Robert Orstadius
Does this mean CRIME IS DOWN? in Rogers Park!
hey robert,
I used to rent an apt in your building, but it was sold for condos and residents were given 60 days to move out. Many of the families didn't speak English and had a really hard time with the short notice and finding comparable reasonable rent elsewhere. It would bring me great joy if crime reduced the value of each one of those units and karma bit that unscrupulous site.
Dear robert, I'm personally sorry for the crime on Fargo, which has been a bad street for a long, long time, and one I was very glad to move off of in 2001.
And I'm sorry for all the condo and house buyers who bought up here thinking that their aldercreature would make a good faith effort to help rid the ward of crime and blight. Moore is instead doing the opposite: as you can see from what's happening to buildings on Lunt owned by Moore contributor Gassman, Moore is giving encouragement to slumlords.
The north end of the ward has been the most troubled part of it as long as I've lived in this city, and I was hoping that would have changed in recent years, but as long as Howard St is as bad as it is, I doubt it.
To santiagoazul44, you should have been given at least 4 months' notice, as required by law. It's not the buyer's fault the developer was a schwag, but I can sympathize with your anger, having been displaced by a few condo conversions myself in my time. I never saw so many violations of tenant's rights in these conversions as what I saw in this late real estate rampage.
I only hope your DEVELOPER gets his ass handed to him. It's FUN AS HELL to watch so many developers who viciously mistreated tenants and delivered crappy,badly constructed, overpriced product to buyers end up bankrupt. The developer bankruptcies are really beginning to roll.
But please don't blame poor Bob. I feel very sorry for honest buyers who bought what they could afford, and settled for way less house than they should have been able to buy for the money, becuase all the snaky lending helped drive prices to such ludicrous levels. I only wish financial death on the ones who bought what they knew damn well they couldn't afford and now want to be bailed out of the results of their own stupidity.
I live in the building across the street from 1621 Fargo and I sometimes feel as if we’re in the Twilight Zone. You see, we're located between Ashland and Paulina and it's as if we are surrounded by some kind of force field; or should I say surrounded by angels. Crime happens all around us but so far, to my knowledge at least, there haven't been any violent crimes on our little block.
The only crimes committed here in recent years seem to be the ones committed by the developers. Two gutted buildings stand on the block in which work hasn’t been performed in months, leading me to believe funding may have run out. Anyone who is worried about their own rental buildings possibly going condo would do well to pay attention to the underhanded techniques used against tenants by landlords looking to empty their buildings in preparation for deliverance to developers.
At least one of the empty buildings here was fully rented and well maintained for years. Then, suddenly, repairs stopped, complaints were ignored and the building was allowed to deteriorate. When leases ran out they were not renewed and the tenants were living on month to month leases. Eventually those who could moved out. Those who stayed behind were elderly and/or disabled. They were given 60 day notices and told that because they were living on month to month leases the landlord was actually being generous because technically he only had to give them 30 days notice.
As Santiagoazu144 pointed out, the unscrupulous conduct of the developer at 1621 was just as horrific. One woman’s story in particular stands out for me. One afternoon someone knocked on her door. She opened it to a couple who had come to "see the condo we purchased." It was the first she knew of the fact that the building was going condo. There's some real horror stories connected to what happened to that building's previous tenants. Many of them were Section 8 so trying to find comparable living arrangements was nearly, if not completely, impossible.
That said I don't hold anything against my new neighbors. I prefer to believe they were unaware of the circumstances and bought their homes in good faith.
Tenants in conversion buildings have rights (limited though they may be) under the Illinois Condominium Property Act and local ordinances, such as the Chicago Condominium Ordinance. I found a website that clearly stipulates tenants’ rights in these circumstances:
http://dominionpatio1a.com/docs/articles/A%20look%20at%20tenants%20rights.pdf
One point in particular got my attention:
Tenants whose leases expire before 120 days from the date they receive the notice, may extend the tenancy for the full 120-day period by written notice to the developer. If you are over 65 or handicapped and live in the City of Chicago, you are entitled to this extension for 180 days.
I hope this is information was helpful.
- PEACE -
When I purchased that condo, I did as much research as I could. As anyone will know, digging into records in Cook county can be a nightmare. Finding honest records is even harder. What I found were limited records of sales and ownership for the building. The sale from the owner to a developer was all I could find. Tax records were messed up as it was because not soon after I bought and moved in, I was the one to receive the new tax bill for the entire building, in my name, and I was amazed at how much it actually was going to cost the new owners, myself included. It took 6 months for the tax numbers to be corrected and another 3 months before the lenders started getting the tax numbers for individual units in order to start paying from escrow our tax bills.
What bothers me most is I am an honest and hard working person. Santiagoazul44 is also a hard working and honest person who was taken advantage of by the developer. I never found any records in cook county showing that property was renting for section 8, yet I am sure the previous owner was more then willing to take government section 8 funding to put good people into crap apartments. In my search for apartments before I bought in Rogers Park I was amazed at just how many places were overpriced, and were down right crap holes. People need a place to live, and I will never knock anyone's home no matter how bad it may be, but honestly, how can people allow landlords to take clear advantage of renters?
I watched as Rogers Park started to twist in on itself, as more landlords cut deals to developers to get out, and left tenants hanging dry. Then watched as developers cut corners, built crappy condos, and sold units for such high prices.
I know currently that the developer in our building still has 1 or 2 units he can not sell. Since the market crashed, he was left with two units that were nice, but over priced, and over accessed by Cook County tax professionals.
I lived there for a year and watched as crime moved around the area, but just like fargo woman states not much actually happened on Fargo. Toughy Park had its issues, and a few Jarvis El type crimes took place, but for the most part it was quiet.
In the end I am not a landlord and I rent my single unit to a wonderful woman. My family has been in construction for years, and i did my homework before I bought and tore the condo apart on the developers to make sure it was done right, and the inspector was a private inspector. We cut holes in drywall, tore apart the floor and ceiling, and ripped electrical wires open, and the developer was not happy. But I put in my contract that unless i was able to inspect the unit 100% to my liking I would not buy.
I had to get a lawyer to write it up, and the developer originally did not want to take my offer, but I offered list, and the developer was hurting to push sales so they agree, as long as I shared half the repair costs to repair the damage I did to the unit.
The construction was solid as a whole, but I am sure there were cuts made in other areas such as common areas which are shared costs by the association.
Basically I knew what i was buying, but only after I bought did I start to realize just what was happening in Rogers Park. I am not out to sell or get out, I love the area, the grit, and I will keep that condo for a long time. Never know when Chicago will call me back.
I do feel for those that were abused and displaced. It is not right, and we both were lied and taken advantage of in the end.
Wow! Thank you Robert, Fargo Woman, North Coast, and santiagoazul44. In just a few posts you have offered some of the most genuine, personally honest, and insightful series of blog comments that I've ever read between our neighbors discussing housing in Rogers Park. I hope it continues.
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