Gang graffiti inside the wreck of Crispus Attucks Elementary school in Chicago as photographed on March 7, 2013 by a reporter from the Chicago Teachers Union. CTU officials are demanding to know how many vacant buildings Chicago Public Schools owns on the even of the attempt by the Chicago Board of Education, on orders from Mayor Rahm Emanuel, to close as many as 80 additional schools. Photo by Nate Goldbaum, Chicago Teachers Union.
CPS violates vacant buildings law, proves it can't close and secure any more 'underutilized' schools... 'If the building is deemed a public nuisance, the fines can reach $5,000 per day...' -- but who is holding top CPS officials 'accountable'?
13-12-140 Vacant or open buildings - Watchman required - Violation -Penalty
Any person who violates this section after having been notified in writing that a watchman has not been on duty on any premises as required by this section shall, if the building remains or subsequently becomes open and a forcible felony is then committed on those premises after such notice is given, be sentenced to a mandatory term of imprisonment of not less than 30 days. A separate and distinct offense shall be regarded as committed each day on which such person or persons shall violate the provisions of this section. For purposes of this section, “forcible felony” has the meaning ascribed to the term in Section 2-8 of the Criminal Code of 1961 (720 ILCS 5/2-8).
As part of an ongoing investigation of CPS properties, the Chicago Teachers Union has reported many of the CPS owned properties are vacant. But nowhere on any CPS website does the school district even have a complete listing of all the vacant properties and land it currently owns and controls. But as CTU researchers and communications specialists survey the actual properties that CPS has vacated during the past 13 years, it is clear that the Chicago Public Schools is in violation of Chicago, Municipal Code. 13-12-125 Vacant buildings . Owner required to act. Enforcement authority.
The violation became most dramatically clear as a result of work by CTU communications specialist and reporter Nate Goldbaum, whose work on March 7, 2013 showed the destruction of the former Crispus Attucks Elementary School at 38th and Dearborn because of neglect by the CPS administration.
"At present," Chicago Teachers Union stated in a March 7 press release, "the gymnasium of the former Crispus Attucks Elementary School, 3813 S. Dearborn, can't possibly contribute to a profitable sale for the Chicago Public Schools. The school was closed in 2008 and relocated elsewhere [the students were forced to go to Farren Elementary School at 51st and State St.]. For the past five years, the campus sits as a quasi-empty shell full of damaged desks, overturned tables and classrooms walls painted in gang graffiti. "Today, Attucks is a center of illegal drug transactions and vagrant activity. Instead of a vibrant, community learning center, CPS has created an eyesore and safety hazard in Bronzeville.; SECOND PHOTO: A hallway inside the closed Crispus Attucks Elementary School is covered in gang graffiti and littered with hazardous waste. (Photos taken March 7, 2013 by Nathan Goldbaum, Chicago Teachers Union)."
As owners, Chicago Public Schools now has substantial responsibility to follow the law in regards to vacant buildings it currently owns and manages. The Chicago Vacant Building Ordinance imposes a number of obligations upon owners of vacant buildings, including the duty to register the buildings with the City and pay a registration fee, enclose and secure the building, post a sign with the name of the owner and the owner's authorized agent, insure the building, maintain a surety bond posted with the City and, of course, maintain the building and ensure that it complies with the City Building Code. The law, which was developed over the years as a result of protests against "absentee landlords" who preyed on many city communities.
Since August 2012, Todd Babbitz (above right, at the Skyway 'Network' hearing on the school closings on February 22, 2013) has been the CPS "Chief Transformation Officer" at an annual salary of $195,000 per year. No one at CPS can explain who is responsible for the supervision and maintenance of vacant CPS school properties such as the Attucks school. Substance photo by David Vance.
In addition, the owner must post a watchman on duty between 4:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. everyday, unless the City believes the building is sufficiently secure that no watchman is required. If the City deems a vacant building unsafe or dangerous, the owner can be fined $200 - $1,000 per day until the building is repaired or demolished. If the building is deemed a public nuisance, the fines can reach $5,000 per day.
The amendment adds a bounty to encourage private citizens to report vacant buildings in their neighborhoods. Any citizen who reports a verifiable violation of the Vacant Building Ordinance is entitled to a finder's fee of 5 percent of the total fees and fines assessed upon the owner. It sounds as if the Chicago Teachers Union would be the one recovering the bounty for showing the abandoned and nuisance building that was once Attucks Elementary School.
The Full Ordnance is Below:
Chapter 13-12 of Chicago Municipal Code concerning owner and minimum requirements for vacant buildings.
While CPS searches for the executive who was supposedly responsible for securing the property at 38th and Dearborn, CPS had a "Chief Portfolio Officer" in the person of Oliver Sicat (above at the February 22, 2012 meeting of the Board of Education). Sicat was still being paid his $165,000 per year salary as March 2013 began and CTU researchers began documenting the dramatic neglect of the properties CPS has already closed, while CPS claims it can close additional schools and responsibly deal with their children. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.
Below is a Press Release by Chicago Alderman Ray Suarez July 28, 2011, about the passing of the ordnance with signature sheet of Chicago Aldermen approving the new law.
Vacant Buildings Ordinance