Thursday, February 25, 2010

Demolition of 2222 4th St. N. Is On Again, Off Again...

Photo and blog post by John Hoff

Mike Klick, a very active and helpful member of the Hawthorne Neighborhood Council Housing Committee, (on which I also serve) has been keeping track of the fate of 2222 4th St. N.

The house is owned by notorious slumlord Mahmood Khan, and is well known as the address where murder victim Annshalike Hamilton was found in the garage, her body frozen.

Recently, it looked like 2222 4th St. N. was about to meet its fate from The Backhoe Of Doom, since there were "spray paint marks" designating the utilities. For a house about to be demolished, this is like the moment when the executioner shaves the condemned man's head for the electric chair, and asks what he'd like for his last meal. So Mike sent an email to Cheyenne Erickson, a policy aid for...

...Third Ward City Council Member Diane Hofstede. Cheyenne replied in a timely manner (it's a City Hall miracle) and said as follows:
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Hello Mike,

This property is about to go out for bid – a process which will take approximately 3 weeks. From there the contractor will have 30 days to complete the demolition.
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However, shortly after that, Mike was at a 3rd Ware Care Meeting, and found out that Mahmood Khan "filed a district court claim against the city to stop them from demolishing the property."

And so 2222 4th St. N. is still in limbo.

Oh, and as for the murder of Annshalike Hamilton, it's still unsolved but the mother and friends of the family have made no secret of who they think did it, click here.

1 comment:

Jeff Skrenes said...

I kinda respect Khan for fighting this hard to keep his property from demolition. I just wish he'd put the same kind of devotion into actually maintaining the ones he's got.