Forget the Olympics Daley look at the Chicago Ghetto

Chicago West Side Housing Slump.jpg Please read Fran Spielman’s take on Mayor Daley’s plan to fix the ghetto. (See Extended) Look Chicago, the west side of Chicago reminds me of the depression era. While I suggest one should never invest in $300,000.00 homes in Chicago’s West side, this is an ugly reminded of the dire situation in west side. Daley is worried about all his rich friends; this is a real Chicago emergency. We need Chicago Media in the West Side. Photo by Patrick McDonough]]>No more plywood on vacant homes?
FORECLOSURES | Daley wants steel or alarms if empty for 6 months
April 11, 2008
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter/fspielman@suntimes.com
Chicago building owners would be required to secure, maintain and light up their vacant buildings under a mayoral crackdown in the works to prevent the epidemic of home foreclosures from ruining entire neighborhoods.
The use of plywood to cover doors and windows would be prohibited on buildings vacant for at least six months, under an ordinance introduced by Mayor Daley at this week's City Council meeting.
A six-month vacancy also would trigger a requirement that buildings either be secured with steel panels or have all windows and doors installed, a functioning security system and an "active account" with a private security company. Dusk-to-dawn lighting would be required at all exits.
City Hall already maintains a registry of vacant buildings. But the mayor's ordinance would more than double the registration fee — from $100 for the first six months to $250. Building owners would be excused from the higher fee so long as their properties remain up to code.
Non-compliance would trigger a declaration that the property is a public nuisance. That could allow the city to compel absentee owners to sell or lose their properties.
"The more foreclosures happen, [the more] people are abandoning their homes. If you live on that block, all of the sudden, no one is gonna take care of it. No one has responsibility. It's gonna affect the value of your property, your assessment — the whole community. It's a crisis out there," Daley said.
Vacant buildings must be secured to prevent them from becoming fire hazards and magnets for crime, the mayor said.
"They just tear the plywood off the back and they go in the back or the basement window. We want those fully protected so we're not out there, police are not out there, the Fire Department is not out there, and the concerns of residents on every one of these blocks in the city of Chicago" are addressed, the mayor said.
The number of home foreclosures in Chicago shot up 46 percent last year –to 14,250, according to a study by the National Training and Information Center.

9 Replies to “Forget the Olympics Daley look at the Chicago Ghetto”

  1. The poor in Chicago get the table scraps from the Daley’s Downtown wealthy.

  2. what is the Mayor doing for folks now? nothing. displacing people is uncivilized.

  3. The 4200 W Grenshaw and 4200 W. Filmore The ally is a flooded, rat infested, alley, there has been a abandon building on the filmore block that’s a total dump site and rats live all up in there , over 1000 complaints in the last 4 years and the city won’t do anything, but they want you to vote for them and pay taxes on flooded, rat infested properties, due to unkept abandonded buildings, We need help in this area.

  4. And yet another type of land grab is invented by daMare.
    If a building is abandoned generally the owner doesn’t have the funds to take care of it let alone have a contract with a security firm to monitor the building. Daley is delusional and dangerous. A law must be passed to require a mayoral debate involving all candidates. Cause if Daley had been required to debate Bill Walls and Dorothy Brown , Daley would be history today! He is a dangerous loony tune!

  5. Vote for daley, he cares for the children.

    Vote for democrat party candidates, they care about black people.

    Carl Segvich
    11th Ward Republican Committeeman

    (Response) Remind me to wring your neck!

  6. Let’s analyze this a bit.

    What are the possible states of ownership of Real Property?

    1. Private citizen owns property, with or without mortgage debt.

    2. Private corporation, either for-profit or not-for-profit, owns property, with or without mortgage debt.

    3. Publicly held corporation, either for-profit or not-for-profit, owns property, with or without mortgage debt.

    4. Government, whether city, county, state or federal, owns property, whether via purchase, tax forfeiture, or other lawful seizure.

    5. Mortgage holder owns property, via foreclosure.

    So, of the total number of properties considered ‘vacant’, what percentage are owned by:

    1. individual, private citizens

    2. private corporations

    3. publicly held corporations

    4. governments

    5. mortgage holders

    In each of these categories, what is the percentage of properties owned that can be considered vacant and unsecured?

    Is this proposed ordnance aimed at compelling the securing of vacant properties by those owners who are primarily not private individuals?

    Or is it aimed at compelling those private individuals of limited means to sell their properties?

    Presumably to those of more substantial means waiting to purchase said properties at bargain prices?

    Along with the recent speculators raising the appraised value of real properties in certain areas, with the resulting increases in the property taxes assessed upon same, one might suspect that this is, at it’s heart, another means to economically encourage certain property owners to sell their properties to certain other interested buyers, said interested buyers who are always looking to buy property at less than it’s market value.

    All done in the name of helping the very people that these types of legal actions actually hurt.

  7. Mayor Daley is a f*ckin’ c*cksucker and we don’t need his help or to plea with him to do something when the only thing he can do is a s*ck a fat d*ck…what we need to do is start loc’in up!!!

    p.s I’m a five foot two Irish man with a rather large member

  8. I need more pictures of Chicago West Side. Could I contact Mr. Patrick McDonough to further report on this issue? Anyone have his contact info? Or is there any other resource where I can get pictures of the westside and its architectural crisis. I am an Architecture student at Portland State University, though I consider Chicago to be home and look to be a part of a solution here on the west side, one of my targeted areas for improving the lifestyle through acts of architecture for humanity. Tons of space, we just need to use it correctly. Not in building more, but renovate and sustain. Programs need be implemented! Let’s begin with some dialogue. Please contact me in this regard. Thank you.

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