Democratic Party - 49th Ward

Follow Up Meeting with Lunt Building Owners

Tonight the Follow up meeting for 1237 and 1345 W. Lunt was held at the regularly scheduled Beat 2431 CAPS meeting. Kevin O’Neil, (of www.ctatattler.com fame), chaired the meeting.  A host of officers working 2431, their Sergeant and 2 officers from Community Relations were present.  Both Joe Moore and staff assistant Alicia Lopez were present as well.  The meeting covered a host of topics related to the beat.

When the agenda arrived at the Lunt properties Mr. Midena had left the meeting because of a family emergency that required his attention. Mr. Block was present for the entire meeting. Alderman Moore review the previous history for residents who were not present at the last meeting regarding the buildings in question.  It was reported that both of these owners meet with the 24^th District housing Officer, background information was review and in Mr. Block’s property 2 residents are now facing eviction, one for non-payment issues and one for criminal activity.

Mr. Block, being the only landlord present was asked to present his progress in meeting the previous requests. Mr. Block responded by indicating that he is going to:

1.) Install a camera to monitor the front of the Lunt property.

2.) Install a camera to monitor the front of the Morse property.

3.) Install a camera to monitor the Morse lobby.

4.) Will keep each tape for six days.

Police commented and resident questioned the fence on the Morse side. After a brief discussion regarding the various police officials positions it was decided that the property and the community would benefit from either the removal of the fence or an increase in height of the fence. Block agreed to one of the two.

A conversation focused on the ability of the police and fire personnel to gain access to the building followed. The Morse side does not allow officers or anyone else access to the buzzers which severely restricts access for safety personnel. Mr. Block indicated that at some point this week the intercom would be pulled to the street for access improvement reasons. Mr. Block agreed to offer the police the access code for the intercom system that will allow police better access.

Finally, a conversation regarding the identities of the owners of the 1345 W. Lunt/1340 W. Morse property was held with some residents wanting the name. Mr. Block agreed to provide the information to Alderman Moore. The police found this satisfactory while the opinion of the neighbors was divided.

The presentation for the second property, 1237 – 43 W. Lunt, suffered a bit from the absent owner, but nevertheless, it was reported that this property would make significant improvements by:

1.) Getting the security guards promised at the last meeting.

2.) Putting in an intercom system at the front side walk.

3.) Working with a problem tenant to either improve or be evicted.

4.) Issuing keys that cannot be copied for the property to the tenants.

5.) Posted “No Trespassing” signs.

6.) Issuing a letter to all residents regarding acceptable and unacceptable conduct.

A follow up report will be held on Monday, September 19, 2005 at the 2431 CAPS meeting.

Please feel free to add additions, amendments, or corrections and other comments in the comment section.

 

 

Where Is the Line?

So how interesting is it that Judge Anderson, the federal judge responsible for oversight on the Shakman decree, selected 2 of his friends and former employees to be 66.6% of the team to develop and monitor city hiring? I was thinking about the many ways people get jobs both in and out of government and there are many. Is the G going to crack down on frat brothers and sorority sisters, or family members like aunts, uncles, cousins, parents, sisters and brothers,  or text book authors that tell you to ask everyone you know if they can recommend you for a job?

I agree with the Shakman decree banning hiring and firing.  I think it is patently wrong to fix tests, take money, and in any other way cheat.  That should be prosecuted without question, but just where is the line when it comes to making recommendations?

Where do you think it is? I’d love to hear from you. And if Mr. Fitzgerald is reading this, I know about 50 Alderman who would love to know where you think it is.

Good News on Crime Reported In the Lerner

Citing various reasons, including citizen involvement, improved technology, working smarter and gentrification crime is down on the North side and specifically in the 24^th District. Both violent and property crime are down. According to the Chicago Police Department stats for our 24^th District show that we have seen a 20% drop in violent crimes and a 7.2% drop in property crime. Most significant was the drop in auto thefts.

When compared to our closest neighbor, the nearby 20^th District, we showed major improvement with significantly greater gains against crime. In the 20^th  violent crime was downonly  0.6% and burglaries and thefts wereactually  up 8.6%. Across all of the North side we are in the middle with three districts doing better and five doing worse in percentage change of violent crime.   In raw numbers, we were even better with 2 districts doing better and six doing worse.

A spokesman for our district made the point that over the last generation we have much more highly organized street gangs.  I am sure this is something that can be said about gangs not only across Chicago, but across the nation.

It would be great if we were all able to say that crime is gone from our neighborhood, but we all know better. These statistics represent improvement, but those of us on Lunt, and in other places as well, know that the gang activity is not only more organized and dangerous than in the distant past, but also that they are still out there.  Work remains to be done.

Those who have contributed to the recent success are to be congratulated and encouraged. Those who have stood on the sidelines should take notice: getting involved helps. Those of you who have been on Morse more often trying to make use of our local businesses are a group I am particularly proud of.  Even those of you who feel the only way to make it to the Morse CTA stop is to run as fast as possible and pray with every single step, thank you for not giving up and moving away.  By sticking around you make a difference as well.  And last, but not least, the police department deserves credit since we all know they will catch it all if the numbers turn the other way over the next six months.  Congratulations all.

But as I said, we still have a ways to go.  I am sure a couple of our neighbors have already formulated arguments why Rogers Park isn’t any safer at all.  Somehow the police and the North side Alderman are cooking up the numbers so they all look good.  They are welcome to their opinion.  I choose to believe that things are slightly better for now, whether that makes me a Pollyanna, a mere optimist or right.