Statement of Alderman Ashanti Hamilton
I will be camping out near a string of city-owned homes near 26th and Atkinson until the mountain of debris and trash is removed from the neighborhood. I am angry and at my wits’ end with this problem, and my patience is gone.
The homes are for sale and are to be maintained by the Department of City Development (DCD), but someone there has been asleep at the wheel and simply unresponsive (for some six weeks!) to the citizen complaints and the requests I have made to have the illegally dumped material removed. The DCD blames the contractor and the contractor blames DCD – all while the problem just continues to grow.
How bad is it?
Recently a homicide victim was discovered under the trash. Yes – a dead body was found and removed – yet the trash remained after the body was pulled out!
An area attracts good or bad depending on how it looks. Well, the Garden Homes block I am standing in is currently attracting open drug dealing, loitering, drug use and prostitution. That’s about as bad as it gets, and a situation that makes people want to leave the city.
I will be staying here until the materials are removed and the properties are made to look like attractive places for new residents to call home.
I expect DCD to act with expediency to address the UNACCEPTABLE conditions here.
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