Monday, September 26, 2016

Stewart School "Tent City" Dismantled, Property Fenced Off

The Stewart School lawn and campus in October 2015
According to readers and DNAinfo, the homeless encampment that appeared this spring on the front lawn of the former Stewart School (4525 North Kenmore) is in the process of being dismantled today. DFSS staff, police, and city workers were on site as the people who had been staying there were told to take down their tents and leave with their belongings.

DNAinfo says, "city workers were sent Monday morning to fence off the property with the aid of police."

From a reader, who says, "This was the view @ 8:00 AM this morning, I counted 14 tents in total. Normally there were usually about 7 - 9 tents, and I thought 14 was an "unusual" number." (click all photos to enlarge)
"A Univision crew is filming, their truck is at right edge of photo...this is as of noon on Monday, 9/27"
As of 12:10pm, "contrast this with the first picture above, you can see the tents are now cleared."

According to DNAinfo, "A spokesman for the Department of Family and Support Services said residents were warned months in advance and again on Friday. Anything left behind at the school will be thrown in the trash, the spokesman said."

According to the Bryant Agreement, which specifies the rights of the homeless to their possessions kept on public land, only "portable items" may be maintained. The Agreement, which was made between Chicago Coalition for the Homeless and the City, and signed by both, specifies that Lower Wacker Drive and the Wilson Viaduct are the only public lands on which the homeless may congregate. It also spells out the kinds of items that are allowed and prohibited, the cleaning schedule for those areas, and what kind of notice must be given prior to cleaning.

After being closed in 2013, the former Stewart School was sold in January to Morningside USA for redevelopment.

The lawn on which the tents were erected was formerly Kenmore Avenue until it was filled in to create a campus park in 2008.

12 comments:

  1. I hope they find a better place but after seeing 2 of them walking around without pants last week I wont be too sad to see them go.

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  2. So there are now fences erected and no trespassing signs posted and it's impossible to traverse down Winthrop from Wilson to Sunnyside. I tried to ride my bike through today and got caught by the fence. It had me perplexed...

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  3. There's an "agreement" with the homeless? I Guess it's the work of the ACLU again.

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    1. Lianna, are you a real person? Because you're acting like a troll. In case you're real, here's an answer:

      (1) If you clicked on the link to get more information (I know, that's a hard concept), you would see that it is a legal agreement between the City and the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, in response to a lawsuit brought on behalf of homeless people who claimed their belongings were tossed by the City.

      (2) "agreement" makes it sound like it's not a real agreement. It is. Signed by lawyers and everything!

      (3) Homeless people get to make agreements and have lawyers and file grievances. Just like people who have homes!

      (4) The ACLU has nothing to do with this agreement, which is (I repeat) between the lawyers for the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless and the City of Chicago.

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  4. Whatever happened to equal enforcement of the law, i.e. the concept that laws and and administrative rules are invalid if not enforced equally among all governed parties? If the City agreed to allow homeless to live under Lower Wacker Drive and the Wilson viaduct, then why not in all viaducts in all wards? I think the homeless should also live in the 44th Ward's Belmont viaduct, which is closest to the offices of State Senator John Cullerton. He and Madigan are the most powerful Dems who control the state budget that funds the homeless programs, which is what the Tent City activists are protesting. Why not let the Tent City protesters set up their homeless tent city there, i.e. where Cullerton can see it on a daily basis? Ditto for the Foster underpass, nearest the office of Heather Steans, who chairs the state's appropriation committee. There aren't any state reps who can influence the funding of homeless services in the 46th Ward where the Wilson underpass is located

    Dick Durbin is our Congressman, who controls the flow of federal money to Illinois homeless service programs. Why not allow the homeless to camp under the "El tracks" down on Jackson Blvd in the Loop? That way he could see the plight of the homeless and their funding needs on a daily basis. Why single out Uptown residents as the only community to bear the costs of Streets and San and police services related to housing homeless encampments? If us, why not everyone?

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    1. The homeless are already camped at Foster and Lawrence, in addition to the Wilson overpass.
      The only reason they haven't taken Montrose yet is because the sidewalks are too narrow to fit the tents they use.
      Oddly enough, they haven't tried camping in the tunnels that cross under LSD between major streets. I would think that would be much less exposed to the elements.

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    2. I noticed last night Foster was clear of homeless, so at least there's that.

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  5. Isn't their a Chicago ordinance that prohibits "camping." The Wilson underpass became out of control. I witnesses them cooking on a grill on a Monday afternoon. And drinking since 7AM on a daily basis.

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    1. I'm continually amazed when I see full sized couches and other furniture down there - which is usually every week. Does someone drop it off? Or do they venture down to Lakeview, find it by a dumpster, and walk it all the way back to Wilson.
      I'm genuinely curious about this.

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    2. The activists, who relocated the homeless into this area, bring the really big stuff to tent city. They also come with a truck on cleaning day to load and store the stuff long enough for the Streets & San cleaning crew to finish and then they bring it all back to the viaduct. The activists are trying to push the boundaries of the law and make a legal point about how much and what kind of stuff the homeless can collect and keep on the public way.

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  6. girlthinks, lots of furniture is dumped on the North Side due to bed bugs.

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