[PeoplesPotluck] Now Autumn Glen Again....

[pengdust at aol.com]

How long will we just let the bureaucrats manage and reshuffle the misery? Again: "A kid steals a measly $20 from a rich man, and he gets jail time.... But a rich man steals tens of thousands from the poor and it's just 'Business As Usual'"

What would the French do?

Ya Basta!

Autumn Glen residents in Rantoul making plans to move out

By Dave Hinton 

Thursday, May 7, 2009 11:04 AM CDT

RANTOUL – Many residents of Autumn Glen apartments in Rantoul have started looking for a new place to live.

They believe the closing of the apartment complex is inevitable.



Signs have been posted at the complex saying Nicor would shut off service to the complex for nonpayment of bills effective May 5. As of Wednesday, however, natural gas service had not been terminated.



Village Administrator Bruce Sandahl said once the natural gas has been shut off, the village would deem the apartments uninhabitable, and two weeks later water will be shut off.



"By village ordinance, without utilities for hot water and for cooking, the units are uninhabitable, and that's up to the discretion of the village inspector as to the timing," Sandahl said.


"If the management or owners of Autumn Glen don't pay the gas utility and the gas is shut off, we do have to post it as being uninhabitable. We are going to be allowing 14 days."



Autumn Glen Property Manager Terry Flick said he didn't know how far Autumn Glen owner Evergreen Property Management is behind in payments to Nicor. He
 said Evergreen officials are not good at communicating with him.



Autumn Glen officials were not available to comment. [No fucking surprise there!]



The bank that holds the mortgage on the complex foreclosed on the loan in March, Flick said.



Tenants' natural gas payments ($75 a month) are included in their rent payment, but Flick said some tenants are behind in their payments. That could be a factor in why Evergreen is behind in paying Nicor, he said.



"In the last month, I've had 21 people who are one or more months behind in their rent," he said.

All payments are deposited in Evergreen's account in a Champaign bank.



When Flick and his wife, Sharon, who is office manager, began managing Autumn Glen about 45 days ago, there were about 80 tenants at the 128-unit facility. That number had dropped to about 70 as of Wednesday.



"I've been getting calls from other complexes like Abbott Acres, Falcon Way and Golfview," Flick said.



Autumn Glen charges about the same rent as those other complexes do – from $350 to $625 a month – so finding another place to live won't be much problem for many tenants. Other tenants, however, might have a problem if they have a questionable history, financially or otherwise, and if landlords check background.



"Each apartment complex has different criteria of what they'll accept as far as tenant background," said Sharon Flick. "Those are the tenants who might have trouble getting a place to rent."



She said=2
0the Flicks hate to see people leaving, noting that Autumn Glen has many good tenants. "And many of these people don't want to leave," she said.



One of those is Cheryl Milligan, who lives there with her son Toby and has been at Autumn Glen for 23 years.

The 62-year-old Milligan said she would be upset if she has to move.



"I love it," she said. "It's close to town. It's close to the country. My son plays softball Monday nights in the summer" just down the street.



Milligan said she is good friends with her neighbor across the hall, Ora Boykins, and would miss living close to her.



"I don't know what I'm going to do. I'll probably try Abbott Acres out here. I just never thought I'd have to move. We've always paid our rent on time, our bills on time."



Having paid their bills on time is what has upset many residents. They question who is to blame for utility bills not being paid.



Sandahl, though, said the problem didn't happen overnight. "This has been going on for many, many months," the village administrator said. "It's not new. It reached the point to where we cannot have the other utility companies or village residents pay a bill for a private company."



Autumn Glen made news in March when the village, which owns and operates Rantoul's electrical utility, cut power to a number of units due to nonpayment of bills.
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