Why Mahalia Jackson - A positive imaging campaign

 Why Mahalia Jackson

A positive imaging campaign

Chatham neighborhood

Chicago, IL

   Recently a small group of us got together and decided that one of the Chatham community needs is a branding campaign.  Internally, we wanted to reach out to our community and changed how we looked at ourselves; externally, we had to understand how we can present Chatham better to the rest of the city and country.  

   The first goal of our campaign is to project positive role models to the community and especially the younger generation.  In many cases, this generation needs role models to guide them in the right direction. They need examples and interaction. 

   The second goal of the campaign is to project positive images to the rest of the city of successful African Americans. Chatham, these days, is judged by its weaker links and not by its sons and daughters that have launched into successful carriers locally, nationally and internationally.

   We decided to begin by commissioning a large portrait dedicated to the late, great gospel singer, Mahalia Jackson.  It was mounted on the south west side of the

8044 S. Ingleside building.  Ms. Jackson received six Grammy Awards including a Lifetime Achievement Award for her recordings.  She lived in the Chatham community for a period of time and her ties to the neighborhood are still a point of pride for many residents.  Mahalia Jackson's life is an inspiring one which you can read about on her Wikipedia page. You can follow some of our links at the bottom to hear her music.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahalia_Jackson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=as1rsZenwNc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJg5Op5W7yw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l49N8U3d0Bw

http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20150417/chatham/whose-face-is-that-on-building-on-81st-street-chatham 

Cook County Sheriff - Update 4/19/15

Cook County Sheriff

Update - 4/19/15

Chicago, IL - We received several inquires about eviction cancellations and what are the checks and balances to make sure that tenants can't take advantage of the situation. 

Here are the procedures for cancelling evictions:

• We allow cancellations of eviction via email in order to allow attorneys to handle these matters without having to send anyone into our office.
• They must include the Sheriff's number, the District # and a copy of the receipt. This is information the tenant does have access to.
• All the information must be on their official office letterhead or from a business email.
• This courtesy has only ever been offered to attorneys.
• All Pro Se plaintiffs must bring a copy of the order with the receipt and a photo ID, into the Daley Center or wait until they are called for scheduling and cancel at that time. As you know, we call the number provided on the Eviction Disclosure Form, so this number is reliable as it provided by the plaintiff.
• There have been no known incidents of tenants stalling evictions using this method.                                                                                                                              
  

 

Disclaimer - The information in the blog is not meant to be legal advice and any person and/or company planning on evicting a tenant should consult an eviction attorney before doing so. Using the information in the blog is done at the readers own risk.

Open Letter To Chatham Community

Open Letter
To
Chatham Community

     The  South Side Community Investors  Association (SSCIA) is the community organization for Property owners and management companies.  It's purpose is to promote and support the responsible ownership, management, development and expansion of residential and commercial real estate on the South side of Chicago, Illinois; and provide education, motivation, and networking directed at enhancing the overall value of our investments and  communities. 

We are organized around several core values: 

• Good property management
• Respectful treatment of tenants and employees 
• Improvement of Public Safety
• Participation in Community Events & Initiatives

     SSCIA members don't keep tenants that are bad for the building or for the neighborhood. Building owners are part of the community and you can't have a good neighborhood without good residents.

     SSCIA is more than good for the neighborhood, it is important. One of the biggest elements missing in Chatham and it's surrounding blocks is the flow of capital -- investment in buildings & businesses. No matter how hard the community has tried to draw big box and corporate retail the response has been unanimously NO with one or two exceptions. The truth is that corporate retail is always the last to open up shop in a revitalizing community. The strategy that prevailed in other revitalized Chicago neighborhoods is a collaboration between Residents/Resident groups, Community Leaders, Organizations, City/ County/ State governments and.......small building owners. These are the small operators who don't follow corporate statistics and are willing to invest their life savings in the hope that hard work and strong management will create a good investment property in an area that most Chicago residents think is untouchable. 

SSCIA members are the:

• Small building owners who spend time participating in community initiatives and making connections with the residents. 
• Building owners who spend more time in the community they invested in. than at their own homes. 
• Good building owners drawn into the community so that less properties are available for bad owners to purchase--less inventory is available for speculators and flippers. 

     SSCIA has been able to establish itself as a place that good building owners and aspiring property investors meet, talk about what is going on in the community, the apartment building industry and how can we as owners can continuously improve our selves. SSCIA has been able to build a bridge between residents of the community and property owners to collaborate on revitalization initiatives.

We are now in a "Window of Opportunity".We can finally say that the Real Estate recession is over for the south side apartment building market. The economy is once again showing signs of life with Jobs coming back. 

   Final Thoughts:

     Ironically, that while the cost of living and price of housing in many Chicago communities is putting pressure on many families'  budgets; the same families are refusing to consider neighborhoods such as South Shore, Chatham, Grand Crossing and Auburn Gresham due to bad publicity and inadequate amenities The greater Chatham area has an opportunity with the right strategy and community partners to attract the much needed investment and residents to the community. We can set the area on course, to once again be a leading African American community, a badge of honor for the City of Chicago. No one group can do this alone.  SSCIA must do its share.

Evictions - Help is on the way

Cook County Sheriff Meeting

4/1/15

Written by: Eiran Feldman

Contributed : Arlecta Beard

                      Marty Max

                      Allen Smith

      NBOA had an opportunity to sit down with staff members from Cook County Sheriff  department and discuss the issues at hand. Members from the sheriff department included reps from the legal department and Civil department.
      NBOA has been meeting with the sheriff department for the last 4 years and have been able to make some headway on the main issues.  We will start with the biggest topic everyone is asking about and cover process server and what owners can do to help reduce the back log in the second part. 

      First and for most the Sheriff department internal numbers show they are running 7-8 weeks from the time the order of possession is given to the day the Sheriff department removes the tenant from the building. Sheriff department has assigned additional staff to catch up on the back log of evictions and is making arrangements to add even more until eviction times are trimmed down to 3-4 weeks. In the last three years similar efforts were put in place with great successes in reducing eviction times during Spring, Summer and Fall. Currently about 80-100 eviction are being done in Cook County per day. 

       Moving forward the Sheriff department is looking into ways to prevent such a drastic increase in eviction times during the winter months. Bare in mind that the stop on evictions for the Holidays in December is ordered by the head Judge and not by the Sheriff department. 

       

       Process Server - NBOA has been working with the Sheriff department on ways to streamline and improve the success ratio of tenants being served. To help increase the chances owners should check with their attorneys that the following details are included in eviction filings:

1. Include phone numbers for Janitors/building manager which will help the deputy gain accesses to the building. 

2. Include best hours to serve tenant.

3. Include in paper work whether tenant is elderly, disabled or has dog/s. (Becomes very important when eviction crew comes out).

       Sheriff department is working on tracking success ratio at serving tenants. 

      Going back to the day of the eviction and how owners can help stream line the process for themselves and all owners in general. 

1. Inform the Sheriff department if a tenant has moved out - Every day roughly 15%-25% of scheduled evictions are not needed due to early move out. Once the Sheriff department sets the schedule for the fallowing day their is NO way to add more evictions to the list on the fly. Owners can gain about a day a week just by calling/emailing the Sheriff department that the tenant has moved out. 

email - CCSO.Evictions@cookcountyil.gov

2. Make sure the Sheriff department is aware whether the tenant is elderly, disabled and/or has dogs. contrary to common belief the Sheriff department does not slow down the eviction process because of this information. The details are delegated to an in house Cook County social worker who engages the tenant. The social worker goal is to help make arrangements for the tenant/s to move out to a place that can accommodate the tenants needs. Evictions stall when the deputies are not informed about tenant disabilities and have to spend time figuring out the situation. The actual eviction could end up being stalled by a week or two. If the tenant refuses help the eviction continues to take it's course.

3. Have a person waiting and ready to engage the deputies upon arrival to the property with keys.

We are working on getting representatives from the Sheriff department to come and speak at our Builder groups in the next couple of months.

This information is not meant to be legal advice and any property owner planning on evicting a tenant should consult an eviction attorney before doing so. Using the information in the blog is done at the risk of the building owner/property manager.

04/08/2015 - 1:00pm - Getting updates on current Eviction times from some owners. From the day of the filing to the day the tenant was removed from the apartment - 11 weeks.