Jerome Lottie looked at his daughter-in-law’s apartment building and wondered how it had fallen so far out of shape.
“It’s a nice building,” Lottie said. “But you got to pay your bills.”
Lottie and his son helped Debra Robinson move from 125-127 Callan St. on Monday morning, obeying orders from the city to vacate the building by noon. As Robinson and other residents dragged out garbage bags full of clothing and squeezed couches through door frames, contractors hired by the city boarded windows and secured padlocks.
“We found a lot of junk that we can just throw away,” Lottie said.
Robinson said she had not talked to her landlord but had heard from his lawyer.
Gas service to the building was shut off April 6 because the landlord, the Rev. Walter Armstrong, had not yet paid an $18,000 bill; the water was turned off Monday because of a $6,000 debt.
Only one tenant left after the gas was shut off. Some of those remaining began running their ovens to heat their apartments, so the city gave the residents until Monday before the building would be boarded up.
Jim Wolinski, chairman of Evanston’s planning and development committee, said the city was vacating the building for the safety of its 23 residents.
Last winter, when gas to the building was first shut off, the city put all the residents up in the Holiday Inn. This time, each apartment’s residents got $750 and a week’s notice to empty out.
City officials say most of the building’s problems stem from poor management by Armstrong. The city fined Armstrong $750 every day he failed to provide his tenants with essential services.
He could not be reached for comment.
On Friday, Armstrong failed to convince a judge that, because he was filing for bankruptcy, gas to the building had been turned off illegally. He is scheduled for another hearing today at 9:30 a.m.
Armstrong also has argued that the building did not belong to him. But city research showed his name among those on the title, said Paula Haynes, executive director of the Human Relations Commission.
Wolinski said it has been difficult to hold Armstrong responsible for the problems at 125-127 Callan St. and other buildings that he operates in Evanston because ownership often is also held in the name of his partner, Willie T. Battle, as well as the company B&D Real Estate Management.
“It’s what I call the ultimate shell game in property management,” Wolinski said.
Armstrong argued that the building vacated Monday also had been in his wife’s name.
Monday’s closing comes on the heels of a call by Ald. Ann Rainey (8th) to place stronger regulations on the rooms a landlord can rent out.
At the April 10 Evanston City Council meeting, Rainey urged the council to overlook the cries of some landlords in order to crack down on those causing problems. Ald. Gene Feldman (9th) strongly supported Rainey.
