DEANA STROISCH (deana.stroisch@sj-r.com)
A team of inspectors and city officials descended on the apartment complex with a search warrant a year ago and found about 200 violations. Inspectors have continued to examine additional units ever since.
In May, hearing officer Timothy Londrigan fined Green $13,065 for failing to fix 26 building code violations stemming from last year’s inspection. The company has appealed the ruling in circuit court. In his request for administrative review, attorney Don Craven called the fines “excessive.”
After the May hearing, Craven said, the city was given a schedule that called for one four-unit building to be brought up to code every two weeks. Craven said the complex is in much better shape than it was a year ago. “Some of the apartments were in admittedly bad shape,” he said. “Not necessarily because of repair and neglect, but because of criminal activity. And those have been addressed.”
Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin acknowledged there have been improvements at the complex in the last year. The appearance of the grounds and the outside of the buildings has improved and the owner has repaired nine buildings and demolished one other, he said.
“Crime has dropped,” McMenamin said, “However, there are still too many police calls. The city will need to consider using its newly strengthened chronic nuisance law to shut down and vacate buildings with frequent problems. “The deeper problems include the historical negative reputation of the apartments, the age of the units, the poor maintenance over many years, and management’s dismal track record allowing the apartments to decline for decades,” he said.
Joe McMenamin for Ward 7 