[Peace-discuss] Bruno, Foster Against Any Ordinance re: Gateway Issues

[Neil Parthun]

After Bruno and Foster used their garbage analogies about snow plowing and
Foster saying that the residents were in a better place because they no
longer had to live in Gateway and the City gave them temporary housing
assistance, I find it morally reprehensible that they would be opposed to
any greater assistance from the City to the poorest of the poor.


Champaign reviewing lessons from Gateway Studios By Mike
Monson<http://www.news-gazette.com/news/reporter/mmonson/> Thursday
May 14, 2009

John Dixon

City of Champaign property maintenance inspector Michael Novotny posts
'condemned' notices on an entrance to the Gateway Studios motel property
Wednesday on North Neil Street in Champaign. The facility was condemned
after AmerenIP shut off its electricity and residents were moved out.

CHAMPAIGN – Gateway Studios was officially condemned by the city Wednesday.
No-trespassing signs and "condemned" stickers are now posted all over the
sprawling former motel building at 1505 N. Neil St.

With the immediate crisis over, city officials are assessing what lessons
they can take from the abrupt closure of Gateway.

The residential complex, which rented rooms by the day, week and month, was
forced to close its doors after the owners could not pay more than $44,000
in overdue gas and electricity bills.

City Neighborhood Service officials, in concert with local social services
agencies and a Gateway property manager, scrambled over a five-day period to
find emergency shelter for about 30 residents. Officials said they had
relocated everybody by Tuesday evening.

Neighborhood Services Director Kevin Jackson said city staff spent part of
Wednesday morning "debriefing" and sharing ideas about how such a crisis can
be averted, or at least better managed, in the future.

"We're definitely going to be looking at what we can do," he said. "We
realize something like this could happen again."

Among the ideas raised:

– Whether the city can, by ordinance, require more advance notice when there
is going to be a shutoff of utilities to a multifamily building.

– Putting a plan in place for a response to such emergencies, from both the
city and local social service agencies.

"This effort was great – everybody jumped in – but there was no specific
plan in place," Jackson said.

– Whether the city should create a fund to respond to future situations.

"There is no commitment to that yet," Jackson said.

Local affordable-housing advocates say they intend to be a part of the
debate. A group of about 45 people attended Tuesday's Champaign City Council
meeting to advocate on behalf of Gateway residents, but they were not
allowed to speak at the study session, where the city typically does not
take public input except for agenda items.

Former Urbana Alderwoman Danielle Chynoweth said she will be attending both
Monday's Urbana City Council meeting and Tuesday's Champaign council meeting
to suggest that the cities should enact ordinances providing up to $2,000 in
relocation assistance per household, or three times the monthly rent,
whichever is greater, whenever the city condemns a rental unit.

Under the proposal, based on proposed state legislation, the relocation
assistance would be the responsibility of the landlord first, but if he or
she doesn't provide it within seven days after being notified by the city,
the city would step in.

The city could then go after the landlord and assess a civil penalty and
file a lien against the property to recover its costs.

"This is a communitywide problem," Chynoweth said. "We want a local
ordinance to provide relocation assistance in these kinds of cases. People
are paying rent in good faith and being left out in the cold."

Esther Patt, coordinator of the University of Illinois Tenant Union and a
former Urbana alderwoman, complimented Champaign officials for their work.
But she said the housing crisis for Gateway residents isn't over, just less
visible.

"With a situation like this, for the public, out of sight is out of mind,"
Patt said. "We'll have no idea how many people who lived at Gateway will be
homeless in a week from now, or a month from now."

Meanwhile, two Champaign City Council members, Tom Bruno and Karen Foster,
indicated they wouldn't support creating a relocation fund.

"In my opinion, it's not the role of government to do that," Foster said.

"There are some folks who believe, for every problem in the world, there
ought to be some ordinance passed that can solve it," Bruno said.
------------------------------
Find this article at:
http://www.news-gazette.com/news/2009/05/14/champaign_reviewing_lessons_from_gateway_studios
Comments
Solidarity,
   -N.

Neil Parthun
    Sports Journaliist, Public i  || http://publici.ucimc.org

There are many victories worse than a defeat. - George Eliot
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