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Chicago Building Department railroaded Inspector Charles Walker

Inspector Charles Walker.jpg On January of 2007, lawyers from the City of Chicago railed against a Building Inspector for leaving jobsite a "Menace to the public". I was at the hearing of Charles Walker, the City of Chicago lawyers spoke with great passion about the horrible job by Charles Walker when he inspected the property at 937 West Belmont. They went to the site and condemned Charles Walker. Charles Walker was an easy hit because a child died after a prior inspection, a girl fell through a porch rail. I guess Charles Walker should have tested every rail on a building he inspected. This expectation is completely ridicules and unreasonable. If you want to prosecute Mr. Walker, than the Lawyers for the Chicago Corporation Counsel need to be terminated also. Mr. Inspector General, please fire Angela Thomas and Anna D'Ascenzo, the lawyers that insisted termination is the fair price. Under oath they went to the site on 937 West Belmont and made the case the building needed repairs immediately. They and others in the Building Department swore under oath Charles Walker put Chicago Citizens life on the line. Now that the smoke is settled and a year has passed by, why is this building, which is in worse condition than before, still not repaired? Why has the City of Chicago done nothing about the 311 complaints filed by the CTA employees next to this building? The view when Charles went to the site was blocked by tarps, now it wide open. I suggest Charles Walker's case was fixed, what do you think? Photo by Patrick McDonough on 2/23/2008

Comments

Who owns the property in question?

What is the current status of this property?

When did this property first come to the attention of the building department?

What were the building code violations cited at that time?

Was the property ever declared a hazard?

Is there a current building court case pending?

If so, has the property ever been transferred from building violations court to demolition court?

What, exactly, has the history of the property's ownership been?

Going back, say, 30 years or so?

What are the criteria for a property being declared a hazard?

Daley is a crook, well buffered. Like a mob boss.

"re ignore-ranter
February 25th - 2:44 a.m.

It's not that Tony Peraica is 'perfect', we don't need him to be 'perfect'.

It's that Alvarez will do nothing to investigate, indict and prosecute criminal corruption in our city and county governments.

'Nothing', concerning said corrupt activities, being what she, and her co-workers, including her boss Devine, have been doing for 20+ years now.

So, given the choice between more nothing being done, via Alvarez being elected, and something certainly being done, via Peraica gaining the authorities of the County State's Attorney's office, I'll take something over nothing every time.

The fact that Tony Peraica is verifiably not Alvarez, verifiably not Devine, or Milan, or anyone incestuously connected to the Crook County Democratic Corruption Machine, is more than enough for me to cast my vote for Peraica and to encourage every honest resident of this city and county to do the same.

That is, if you, the city or county resident actually want to have the chance to see substantially honest city and county governments, for the first time in several generations.

Yes, it sounds like fantasy, to most all of the residents of this city and county.

That's because of the pathetic, generational 'doing nothing' that our County State's Attorney's office has been for decades.

Why do you think little Richie made the move from the State Legislature to the comparative obscurity of the office of a County State's Attorney?

It wasn't only because he used it as a stepping stone to the mayor's office, albeit one that took a bit longer than he, and his cronies, had planned it would take, what with Jane Byrne throwing a monkey wrench in their plans, thus 'allowing' Harold Washington to win City Hall, twice.

It was primarily to have a major 'playa' in this office, there to protect the various and numerous activities of 'all the usual suspects'.

It's worked, so far.

Peraica is the best, most recently viable chance we have, of intterupting the flow of our hard-earned dollars down the drain of the gigantic black hole that is our city and county governments.

This is the moment, boys and girls, to get registered to vote and to vote in Peraica.

Anything less and we can say hello, once again, to 'business as usual'.

If you're one of those bloodsuckers feeding at the taxpayer financed trough, you'll, no doubt, be busting the balls you don't have, putting in boo coo hours of your paid, and unpaid, time, working to play every race card, ethnic bigotry, dirty trick and criminal vote fraud you've got to play, all to protect your incestuous and illegitimate system of picking the taxpayers' pockets.

Honest citizens would expect no more of your breed.

This contest, for the office of Cook County State's Attorney, is the most important contest the residents of this city and county will be voting on.

More important than any other this November.

The Democratic Corruption Machine of Crook County hopes to ride the tail of the Presidential Contest, and will be 'strongly encouraging' everyone to vote a straight democratic ticket.

Allow yourselves to be fooled by their persuasions and you'll be encouraging the continued rape and pillaging of your pocketbooks.

More Daley thievery, more Stroger hypocrisy, more Burke and Madigan chicanery, more of the same arrogant, aristocratic dictatorship government we've all come to know and despise.

Whatever your race, ethnicity, creed or culture, the one thing we all have in common is the unnecessarily bloated tax burdens being imposed upon us.

All the bullshit being fed to us as truth to the contrary.

When our 'illustrious leaders' cut to the bone their own bloated salaries, reduce their own obscene pensions and trim their own, selectively controlled patronage hirings, then they can honestly talk about reducing those services vital to the health and well-being of the citizens, who pay for everything.

Until such time, they will remain the liars, cheaters and thieves they've proven themselves to be."


Who were the previous building inspectors, starting with the first one to write violations?

What were those violations?

Who was the property owner at that time?

Has the ownership changed during the past 30 years?

When were the first violations written?

Are there still outstanding violations from that first violation notice?

Did the violation move from enforcement to building court?

When?

If there was a court case, what progress was made, did the case ever get resolved, by full compliance, substantial compliance, or is the case still pending?

Who were the inspectors handling the case?

What is the financial status of the property, as in, debt on the property, how much, history of loans and refinancing?

Tax history, liens, judgments, etc.?

What. exactly, is going on with the property, it's structural integrity, etc.?

What incomes and uses is the property being put to?

By the current owners?

By the previous owners, if any?

Zoning.

Is the property being used in compliance with it's zoning?

Has the property's zoning been the same for the past 30 years?

With the names of all owners of the past 30 years, have said owners ever contributed to any political parties or candidates, and, if so, who, when and how much?

I am very sorry, Walker is black,if he was a white guy from the 11th ward, nothing would have happened to him.

Regarding:


"I am very sorry, Walker is black,if he was a white guy from the 11th ward, nothing would have happened to him.

Posted by: That is not fair "

Hi, my name is Carl Segvich. Please, to all, consider posting your names to everything you write; that would show true conviction.
If you knew you were going to sign your name at the end, you probably wouldn't write dumb things such as "white guys from 11th ward". I am an 11th ward white guy and I'm despised by the corrupt insiders more than anyone.
Look, we share the same enemy---the corrupt liberal democrat party machine in Illinois----you know the despicable crew pushing a socialist for OUR White House.
We're on the same side so I don't want to pick on you, but lay off the idiotic white race statements----these corrupt families will sell anyone down the drain who don't kiss their toesPERIOD.

ANYONE-- it's not about race; It's about being a political whore while selling out our United States Of America.

I pull no punches as you can see; I think anyone who votes for the Democratic Party has an extreme problem

P.S. I started a book today which I highly recommend to you and to all liberals and conservatives: Stupid Black Men : How To Play The Race Card -- And Lose by Larry Elder.

My name is Carl Segvich

What someone may consider doing in the case of the the two city attorneys you mentioned is seek redress from the ARDC. Have them take action against them or even seek to suspend the law licenses. The advantage of doing that is that the burden of proof to seek some action is less than a criminal proceeding, and it is not totally controlled by the Mayor and his cronies.

From PUBLIC POLICY CAUCUS

The Cook County Board will vote this afternoon on President Todd Stroger’s sales tax increase. This is the latest in an unending effort to fund the waste, cronyism, nepotism and corruption in the county government. The unmitigated gall of Stroger is well established. You should need no long list of “talking points” to know just how wrong and destructive this tax increase is. These are the types of irresponsible policies that destroyed the economic base of Detroit and at one time put New York in to bankruptcy.

Here are the commissioners who will either bend to Stroger’s schemes, or stand up for the people of Cook County. Please take a moment to make a quick tall to each of them, and register your opposition.

William Beavers (312-603-2067)
Jerry Butler (312-603-6391)
Earlean Collins (312-603-4566)
John Daley (312-603-4400)
Joseph Mario Moreno (312-603-5443)
Joan Patricia Murphy (312-603-4216)
Deborah Sims (312-603-6381)
Robert Steele (312-603-3019)

Porch inspections taper off
5 YEARS LATER | City not so diligent as it was in wake of collapse that killed 13

April 28, 2008Recommend (7)

BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter fspielman@suntimes.com
The days of warm weather in Chicago triggering a blitzkrieg of porch inspections are over.

City Hall has quietly scaled back policing efforts launched five years ago after the Lincoln Park porch collapse that killed 13 young partygoers,

The task force of inspectors created to crisscross the city in search of shaky porches after the tragedy has been "folded back" into the Buildings Department's Conservation Bureau. The unit's 39 inspectors are charged with maintaining the integrity of existing buildings.

No longer are inspectors assigned to specific "territories" run by project managers armed with "Web-enabled phones" that allow them to access up-to-date information on whether permits were issued for a specific address.

Porch inspections now take place in only three instances: when they're newly constructed or rebuilt, in response to 311 complaints, or during the course of annual inspections for residential properties with four units or more.

Five annual inspections did not flag the allegedly unpermitted, oversize, improperly supported, three-story porch that pancaked to the ground June 29, 2003, at 713 W. Wrightwood.

Buildings Department spokesman Bill McCaffrey denied that the change -- quietly made in 2005 -- amounted to the city playing Russian roulette with porch safety.

"The cause for that task force was well-known. There were concerns. After there had been a certain level of compliance, and we spent enough time inspecting porches, we saw that building owners were taking steps to remedy code violations. They knew we were gonna continue to be diligent. So, we felt comfortable bringing that team of inspectors back into the normal Conservation Bureau," McCaffrey said.

"In 2007, we inspected 1,305 new construction and 1,948 existing porches -- in addition to approximately 5,000 porches as part of annual inspections," he said. "We are out there inspecting porches. And residents know if there's a problem with a porch, they can call 311 and we'll send an inspector."

Ald. Bernard Stone (50th), chairman of the City Council's Buildings Committee, has hounded Mayor Daley for years -- without success -- to hire more building inspectors to supplement the city's inundated army of roughly 200.

Instead, Daley plans to move forward with a plan he promised five years ago, but never fully implemented: to allow owners of buildings with no history of enforcement action to "self-certify" their own inspection documents to free up inspectors to concentrate on Chicago neighborhoods.

Informed that porch inspections have been scaled back, Stone said, "Considering the fact they did a concentrated effort at catch-up at the time of the Lincoln Park episode, doing annuals now keeps them on top of it. It isn't the whole universe [of porches], but we don't have the forces necessary to do the whole universe."

Within days of the tragedy on Wrightwood, the Daley administration filed a lawsuit accusing Restoration Specialists LLC, the general contractor hired by building owner Philip Pappas, of building a porch that collapsed because it was too big, too far away from the wall, improperly supported and illegally constructed without the required permits.