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This Newstip edited by Curtis Black
Contact:
312-369-7783
| fax 312-369-6404
| curtis@newstips.org
Lakeview SRO Bars Inspectors
Newstip Date: 11-11-2008
A Lakeview SRO could be vacated if the landlord continues to bar fire inspectors, according to Lakeview Action Coalition.
LAC members, including local clergy and social service providers, will gather tomorrow morning outside the Diplomat Hotel, 3208 N. Sheffield, when fire inspectors will attempt to conduct an inspection, said Jennifer Gonzalez. A media briefing is scheduled for 9:45 a.m. (Wednesday, November 12).
Building management barred inspectors who sought access on November 5, she said. Landlord Jack Gore was found in civil contempt and ordered to allow weekly fire inspections at housing court hearing on October 28.
LAC is calling on Gore to give inspectors access, and members will be on hand to assist tenants in the event that inspectors are again barred and order the building vacated.
In housing court, inspectors testified that the building's alarm system shorts out when it rains, leading building management to turn it off, Gonzalez said.
"As much as vacating the building would be a disaster, a fire would be worse," she said.
The Diplomat was recently on the market and attracted several bids, including offers that would preserve it as an affordable SRO, she said, adding that it's not clear whether the building is still for sale.
Gore "has been on and off trying to sell the building for an exorbitant amount of money for 15 years," she said.
LAC won support from Ald. Tom Tunney (44th Ward) -- who would have to approve zoning changes for any redevelopment -- for maintaining the building as an affordable SRO, and the city has said it favors affordable preservation of the building. Hawthorne Neighbors, the local residents organization, also backs preservation, Gonzalez said.
Gore "needs to let the inspectors in and keep the building open, and in the long term he needs to fix the building or sell it to someone who will save it," she said. She said the preservation purchase offer is still available -- "the other offers have probably dried up in this market."
In housing court, Gore has been cited for several code violations, and a limited receiver has been appointed to further investigate the extent of violations, according to LAC.
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