All Photos by John Hoff, except secondfrom top by Jeff Skrenes
Every now and then, our neighborhood housing director, Jeff Skrenes, just walks around and checks progress in the Eco Village, which is the major cluster project of the Hawthorne Neighborhood.
Even though things in that area have improved by leaps and bounds--including a recent month with NO CRIME RECORDED--it's good to walk around with a friend, particularly when a backhoe is knocking down a house and some of the remnant holdout crackheads are skulking about next door, looking VERY UNHAPPY, realizing at some level this is the END OF AN ERA and refuge for crackheads isn't really something included in NRP Phase II.
So, anyway, I was Jeff's backup during this "walking audit" of the Eco Village...
Here's a little tour in photos. In the first photo, Jeff emerges from 3011 6th St. N., which is owned by PPL and will be "bid out" in April as a MURL project. This is a fine house with great potential, and anybody would be proud to live in a house like that, once it's all rehabbed.
The second photo was a "trippy image" produced by Jeff trying to take a picture through the front window of the interior features at 3011, including a mirror on the buffet.
In the third photo, Jeff is talking on the phone to PPL, letting them know another one of their houses has graffiti all over the retaining wall. In cases where we know the owner--in this case, PPL--both Jeff and myself refrain from calling 311 and, instead, call the owner of the property to take care of the issue.
Next, some kind soul keeps leaving out cat food for the strays at 3020 4th St. N. The following photo of Jeff scowling is because he's calling in about the sign on the tree. You're not supposed to nail signs to trees. Jeff called 311, then he called the number on the sign. After pumping out as much info as he could about the vacant lot, Jeff informed the person who answered the phone about the need to remove the sign. It was, however, some kind of answering service.
I was all, like, "Jeff, look the other way for a second and I'll take care of the sign." Jeff said, "I don't want to do things that way."
Next, the "stick photo" is at 422 30th Ave. N., an old brick house with a wrecked interior which appears to have a hot date scheduled with the Backhoe Of Doom. Somebody had pushed a stick down to the basement window, which could be manipulated into an open position. Both me and Jeff were momentarily mystified. What was the point of opening the window when nobody could get past the little cement wall?
I speculated that somebody on the exterior could open the window to yell to somebody inside or pass small objects through the window. This house has been raided before as a place where gangs stash drugs. Jeff said, "Let's pull that stick out of the window." So we did, for whatever temporary good THAT will do.
If this house gets demolished, I certainly hope some of the bricks will be salvaged.
In the next photo, Jeff sees some geeky mortgage technicality on some paperwork affixed to the exterior. That delighted expression is the look Jeff gets when talking about mortgage technicalities.
In the next photo, Jeff photographs the Backhoe of Doom (not seen in the picture) from right in front of the crack house at 3020 6th St. N., which is in its last days before final eviction of renters after the end of foreclosure and redemption. How many HUNDREDS of crackheads have we watched go through that door?
In the next two photos, things you bring to a demolition: a chainsaw in the truck bed, which is full of cans to be recycled. A water hose to keep down the dust...though nothing ever REALLY keeps down the dust. The fire hose is there to pay homage and respect to the DESIRE to keep down the dust, rather like speeding cars pay homage and respect to stop signs but do not come to a full and complete stop.
In the next photo, "the Polish lady" gave me and Jeff freshly made Polish sausage, knowing we get so involved in neighborhood revitalization sometimes we simply FORGET TO EAT. Every time a building gets demolished in the Eco Village, Jeff and I get Polish sausage.
Next, Jeff greets "Miko," the Polish lady's Husky. Beneath that, Jeff poses with the demolition dude, who seemed interested to learn a Level 3 Sex Offender recently lived in 3024 6th St. N. Somehow, I figured that piece of information would give him an additional sense of satisfaction and "job well done" as the building was smashed to toothpicks.
The lawn sign photo was taken at 3101 6th St. N., the old "Apartment Complex of Anarchy." While "3024" was demolished, rich black dirt was spread at 3101, then planted with grass seed.
Recently, I heard that one year, more than 900 phone calls to 911 were made from the Eco Village area. In contrast, the tough part of 6th St. where folks like Michael Klick and Brian Cheese are holding down the fort has never racked up more than approximately 600 phone calls a year to 911.
The last photo says it all. Here is where the crime, the slummy decay, the social problems that once haunted the Eco Village are heading.
To the dump.
Every now and then, our neighborhood housing director, Jeff Skrenes, just walks around and checks progress in the Eco Village, which is the major cluster project of the Hawthorne Neighborhood.
Even though things in that area have improved by leaps and bounds--including a recent month with NO CRIME RECORDED--it's good to walk around with a friend, particularly when a backhoe is knocking down a house and some of the remnant holdout crackheads are skulking about next door, looking VERY UNHAPPY, realizing at some level this is the END OF AN ERA and refuge for crackheads isn't really something included in NRP Phase II.
So, anyway, I was Jeff's backup during this "walking audit" of the Eco Village...
Here's a little tour in photos. In the first photo, Jeff emerges from 3011 6th St. N., which is owned by PPL and will be "bid out" in April as a MURL project. This is a fine house with great potential, and anybody would be proud to live in a house like that, once it's all rehabbed.
The second photo was a "trippy image" produced by Jeff trying to take a picture through the front window of the interior features at 3011, including a mirror on the buffet.
In the third photo, Jeff is talking on the phone to PPL, letting them know another one of their houses has graffiti all over the retaining wall. In cases where we know the owner--in this case, PPL--both Jeff and myself refrain from calling 311 and, instead, call the owner of the property to take care of the issue.
Next, some kind soul keeps leaving out cat food for the strays at 3020 4th St. N. The following photo of Jeff scowling is because he's calling in about the sign on the tree. You're not supposed to nail signs to trees. Jeff called 311, then he called the number on the sign. After pumping out as much info as he could about the vacant lot, Jeff informed the person who answered the phone about the need to remove the sign. It was, however, some kind of answering service.
I was all, like, "Jeff, look the other way for a second and I'll take care of the sign." Jeff said, "I don't want to do things that way."
Next, the "stick photo" is at 422 30th Ave. N., an old brick house with a wrecked interior which appears to have a hot date scheduled with the Backhoe Of Doom. Somebody had pushed a stick down to the basement window, which could be manipulated into an open position. Both me and Jeff were momentarily mystified. What was the point of opening the window when nobody could get past the little cement wall?
I speculated that somebody on the exterior could open the window to yell to somebody inside or pass small objects through the window. This house has been raided before as a place where gangs stash drugs. Jeff said, "Let's pull that stick out of the window." So we did, for whatever temporary good THAT will do.
If this house gets demolished, I certainly hope some of the bricks will be salvaged.
In the next photo, Jeff sees some geeky mortgage technicality on some paperwork affixed to the exterior. That delighted expression is the look Jeff gets when talking about mortgage technicalities.
In the next photo, Jeff photographs the Backhoe of Doom (not seen in the picture) from right in front of the crack house at 3020 6th St. N., which is in its last days before final eviction of renters after the end of foreclosure and redemption. How many HUNDREDS of crackheads have we watched go through that door?
In the next two photos, things you bring to a demolition: a chainsaw in the truck bed, which is full of cans to be recycled. A water hose to keep down the dust...though nothing ever REALLY keeps down the dust. The fire hose is there to pay homage and respect to the DESIRE to keep down the dust, rather like speeding cars pay homage and respect to stop signs but do not come to a full and complete stop.
In the next photo, "the Polish lady" gave me and Jeff freshly made Polish sausage, knowing we get so involved in neighborhood revitalization sometimes we simply FORGET TO EAT. Every time a building gets demolished in the Eco Village, Jeff and I get Polish sausage.
Next, Jeff greets "Miko," the Polish lady's Husky. Beneath that, Jeff poses with the demolition dude, who seemed interested to learn a Level 3 Sex Offender recently lived in 3024 6th St. N. Somehow, I figured that piece of information would give him an additional sense of satisfaction and "job well done" as the building was smashed to toothpicks.
The lawn sign photo was taken at 3101 6th St. N., the old "Apartment Complex of Anarchy." While "3024" was demolished, rich black dirt was spread at 3101, then planted with grass seed.
Recently, I heard that one year, more than 900 phone calls to 911 were made from the Eco Village area. In contrast, the tough part of 6th St. where folks like Michael Klick and Brian Cheese are holding down the fort has never racked up more than approximately 600 phone calls a year to 911.
The last photo says it all. Here is where the crime, the slummy decay, the social problems that once haunted the Eco Village are heading.
To the dump.
Of course I must explain the technical mortgage oddity that had me so fascinated, just in case SOMEWHERE OUT THERE exists a JNS reader who shares my nerdiness (cue "When you wish upon a star" music now).
ReplyDeleteOn the foreclosure proceedings documents that were posted at this property, there is a hand-written section that says "pursuant to any name changes and mergers."
What I found odd here is that on a formal, legal document, one had to write this in by hand. Almost as if the company foreclosing (National City Bank) was so close to implosion that nobody knew if it would even exist by the time the foreclosure was done - perhaps the folding of the company was so imminent there wasn't even time enough to draw up new documents.
Let's see if National City Bank is shut down soon.
Two other things, John:
ReplyDeleteThe EcoVillage recently went a MONTH with no crimes reported, not a week.
And the reason I didn't want you to tear down the sign was because if the city does it before the owners get to it, then that's yet another assessment they get to collect from a deadbeat absentee owner.
I'll correct the text accordingly, but there was no fact error: if it went a month, it also went a week.
ReplyDeleteAs for the other thing...you do indeed know which side your bread is buttered upon.
I, on the other hand, rank the suffering of the tree more highly than any other factor, because I'm a tree-hugger like that; but you have authority from the neighborhood association, so I instinctively defer to that authority in such matters when told directly: do this and not THAT.