A Chicago police officer and a resident of an Uptown apartment building were hospitalized Thursday from a fire in the building.
The fire occurred just before noon in a fifth floor
apartment at the Lawrence House, a high-rise apartment building at 1020
W. Lawrence Ave., according to Fire Media Affairs.
The small fire was quickly extinguished, but a
police officer and resident were taken to hospitals with smoke
inhalation, according to Fire Media. The police officer was taken to
Swedish Covenant Hospital, while the resident was taken to Weiss
Memorial Hospital.
The CTA’s No. 151 bus has been rerouted around the
scene of the fire, according to the CTA. The buses were being rerouted
in both directions via Sheridan, Foster, Marine Drive, Wilson, and
Sheridan, because of the fire department activity.
Uptown neighborhood Ald. James Cappleman (46th) who
was at the scene of the fire, Tweeted, “I’m very thankful today for our
great Fire Department!”
I've interviewed people who are still staying there, security is increased but the nonsense (that's the polite term I'll use today) is still pretty entrenched in there. We really need to disperse everybody in this joint to other housing and make it back into a classy senior living place or something even better.
ReplyDeleteThere are negligent people who work for social service agencies who would brag about their Masters degree and how highly trained they are, yet they put their clients in dumps like this and then these people fall victim to the culture in there, new drug addicts are created all the time because you would have to have a steel will to resist fitting in around there. Most of them will never admit an ounce of responsiblity for that sort of thing happening, either.
It's time to shut that place down and start over before a real tragedy occurs for one of the honest residents, staff, a public servant, or our community.
ReplyDeleteLH s an iminent threat to our community and progress, and its time to get serious about getting that building into good hands and pumping much needed capital into a redevelopment effort that has community support.
This is just another red flag to the community about this building. I hope it won't take something more serious to get officials to see that this place needs to be SHUT DOWN. We're tired of this crap!
ReplyDeleteLawrence House is ground zero for Uptown's problems, and it is practically flaunts it. All the various problems of the community are manifested within its walls and on the sidewalks surrounding it. I feel so angry that I cannot walk down Lawrence with my 3 year old in fear that a gang banger, crack head or belligerent jerk will kill someone, die or make a scene. Its not stop. Seriously, why do we have to put up with this? What value is being added to the community or to the people who live there's lives?
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the hottest gang/drug spots in our area. Vagrants are always lingering around selling/buying drugs. Lots of public drinking behind JJPeppers as well.
ReplyDeleteI thought this was being sold a month or so ago... does anyone have any updates on that?
ReplyDeleteRumor has been around for a few months that Lawrence House is under contract by the Flats developer.. I heard It will take a while to close the deal on the property due to the size and condition the building is in. I also heard that the plan is to renovate the building into market rate units, mostly studios and 1BR. Once again, this is only a rumor I've heard from a few people in the local real estate/financing industry.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit, LH under the ownership of the Flats crew is underwhelming...those guys had a great idea but have managed to make the wrong decisions at every turn. Could you imagine this tower painted flats gray?
ReplyDeleteI just hope when they sell the building the pharmacy will remain. That is a very good family run pharmacy. Much better than the big shots like Walgreens & CVS.
ReplyDeleteFlats guys would be fine...as kong as they dont half ass it or paint the exterior.
ReplyDeleteRemember, Ezra and O.N.E. don't really want this place changed (same tenants, etc), they just want it to be fixed to "barely fit for human life" again so the nonsense can continue on and on and on.
ReplyDeleteThey don't think anything is wrong with the kind of people who live here nor what they do.
How many fires will it take and how many dead people will it take to get this place vacated and rehabbed by responsible ownership?
ReplyDeleteI suppose I shouldn't be surprised, given the length of time it took to get the formerly noisome 1200 W. Pratt into housing court and sold to developers who rehabbed it into the beautiful rental it is now, along with 3 other similarly fetid properties under the same ownership. It takes a long time because the people who own these buildings tend to be wealthy and politically well-connected, and are making huge profits off these dumps.
But it can be done, especially if neighbors organize and take action. File a complaint at 311 online EVERY time you encounter a problem at this building. Time to get the current management into housing court and press for a court-ordered vacate, before we have a bad fire that kills a dozen or more people, or a really vicious crime is committed there.
Unfortunately, the City of Chicago's red tape prolongs the process way too long. You have to jump through hoops to get a problem building closed even though the city knows it. They need to streamline the process. This place needs to be shut down and turned it into something that is a positive for Uptown. ENOUGH ALREADY!
ReplyDeleteThere are people at several prominent local agencies who chose to fill this place to the brim with toxic criminals who preyed on the elderly at first, and then the agencies own clients.
ReplyDeleteThey need to apologize to us.
But they never do. They never will.
Their budgets get cut further and further and they take to the streets and get their clients to march with them, instead of actually not screwing up all the time and making the rest of the city suffer for their incompetence.