In a strong show of support and solidarity 30 of the
neighbors on and surrounding the 1200 and 1300 block of Lunt showed up to meet
with problem building landlords Alex Medena of 1237-43 W. Lunt and Harris Block
of 1345 W. Lunt. The meeting was
scheduled to have representatives from the Chicago Police Department, but due
to unanticipated events in Londonthat
lead to extensive commitments related to mass transit safety and a bomb call
hoax for the Morse stop of the Red line they were not able to provide the
experts. Alderman Moore has made sure
they will be included in the next meeting by scheduling a follow up meeting
with the owners at the Beat 2431 CAPS meeting for August.
1237 to 1243 W. Lunt
The meeting first addressed the building owned by Alex
Medena, 1237 to 1243 W. Lunt. A host of
complaints were made that centered around several key points; drug dealing in a
highly organized fashion, loitering, public drinking, extraordinary noise into
all hours of the night sometimes lasting until morning and double parking on
some nights repeatedly and for long periods of time. There were eyewitness accounts of what are
believe to be drug transactions.
Mr. Medena has owned the 22 unit building for 5 years, is the
on-site manager of the property, and indicated that he spends 12 hours a day on
the property, a claim not believed by some who live near by. 19 of his units are rented at market rate to
various tenants and currently he has 3 units occupied by Section 8 or social
service clients.
He does screen his tenants, although his screening company
is suspect, all tenants are on 1 year leases that come due at various times
through out the year. He has a working
relationship with the local police, although he has not shared his complete
tenants roll with them for background checks.
Suggestions for 1237 to 1243 W. Lunt, made by the neighbors
and the Alderman are:
- get a new background screening company with a better
reputation
- want him to hire security for the evening and early
morning hours
- want him to have the police in the 24th District
run a check on every resident
- needs to get a list of all calls to 911 regarding his
addresses to see if level is high
- install a security gate at the sidewalk
- will consider installing more lights after the new
street lights are assessed
- will meet with a local building manager from the
immediate area to discuss tenants and strategies for turning around the
building.
- will request and sign criminal trespass complaints with
support from the neighbors and the Alderman’s office for court and other shows
of strength.
- Provided his cell phone number, (773) 317-0270, for
calls 24/7 for neighbors with complaints about the building.
Mr. Medena expressed a willingness to abide by and work
towards meeting and fulfilling each and every one of these suggestions.
1345 W. Lunt
Conversation then moved to the 1345 W. Lunt building after
about 90 minutes. Mr. Block of Realty
and Mortgage is part of a large company the has 132 units at 1345 Lunt and 1340
Morse. Through out the Chicago area they manage 5,000 to 6,000 units. These two buildings are the only properties in Rogers Park. All tenants sign a one year lease to start
and most sign additional leases. Currently he estimates that approximately 12 tenants are on
month-to-month leases as a result of not signing a new lease. He uses TRW for credit and criminal
background checks.
Complaints and problems were more succinct do in part the
ever growing length of the meeting. About a third of those present left after completion of the previous
building.. Nevertheless most neighbors
remained and many if not all of the complaints regarding this building are the
same as the problems that exist at the other building down the street. Unique problems included missing/burnt out
lights on the front of his building, abandoned autos in the parking lot,
garbage being strewn around cans rather than in them and the gate for the
parking lot always is open.
Mr. Block responded favorably to working with Mr. Medena to
hire private security on a temporary basis, indicated he will replace the
lights in front tomorrow, has tried to have several cars removed and has
encountered resistance from the towing company, but will follow up with higher
management of the company, indicated that the building has garbage pick up 6
times a week, has all ready begun working to evict a tenant that is a problem,
will meet with the Alderman and the Police to discuss the fence on the Morse
side after he has some pricing options for a different fence. He is also very willing to share his tenant list
with the police and committed to working to evict any problem tenant that is
identified.
Mr. Block provided three numbers to contact him through is
staff and his office. They are: Office
(773) 989-8000, backline for the office (773)989-1914 and the number for his
on-site building manager and maintenance man Chris Hill at (773) 334-8931.
The next meeting will be a follow up meeting to review
progress and provide an update. As mentioned
initially, the next meeting will include the police because it is being held in
conjunction with the 2431 Beat Meting on Monday, August 15 at 7:00 PM at the
Rogers Park Community Council Office located at 1530 W. Morse.
Alderman Moore ran a tight meeting and even still it went on
for 2.5 hours. The notes reflect that
more time was spent on the 1237 building, but the impact was not lost on Mr.
Block. He is actually in a position that
has the neighbors more upset than Mr. Medena, but they are both problems in
serious need of action and commitment. This was a good starting point. We will have to see on August 15th what we have accomplished. Clearly Mr. Block and Mr. Medena now have the
notion in their head that these are serious problem that the neighborhood is not
taking lightly. As Lunt neighbors we
should all be very proud of the effort tonight.
One important request made over and over was to get descriptions of person, vehicles and other identifying factors. This will help the Landlords and the police to do their work.
Finally, a new building was added into the mix, 1321 and 1323 W. Lunt. The building is vacant as the owner is preparing to convert the units to condos. It is not secured well and is serving as a satellite office of 1345 W. Lunt. The owner of this property was not revealed and what to do was not addressed. This is an oversight. I will point this out to the Alderman's Office and expect they will look further into the problems and ownership of this property.
The comment section is open for corrections to this report as needed and to allow additional comments and coverage. Please feel free to respond.
David Fagus
