July 22, 2004

BY MARY MITCHELL SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST

About two weeks ago, the City of Chicago shut off the water at a 50-unit apartment complex on the South Side for nonpayment of a humongous water bill.

Since then, tenants like Amber Bias have been living like country folk.

She gets up early and walks the mile to her parents' house to take a bath. Throughout the day, she fills three large water containers at a public fountain in the park across the street. She uses that water to wash dishes and flush the toilet. If she wants to freshen up or take a bath before going to bed in the muggy apartment, she goes back to her parents' house.

Bias has lived in the building less than a year, and this is the second time the water has been shut off. With only four months left on her lease, she is trying to hold out until she can find another apartment. Among the tenants affected by the shut-off are elderly people in poor health, including a 68-year-old man with diabetes.

"The first time the water was cut off, I had just moved here and had only been in the apartment for three days," Bias said. "We stopped paying rent after the second incident. The landlord hasn't answered his phone since this whole situation started. No one has paid rent since the water got cut off."

According to tenants, the landlord, identified as David Kolheim on the water account, allegedly owes about $53,000 to the City of Chicago for water at buildings at 7301-7315 S. East End. Citing privacy concerns, city officials would not verify the exact amount of the outstanding bill.

"The bill was mounting and had exceeded the threshold significantly for shut-off," said Tom LaPorte, a spokesman for the Water Management Department. "We notified the tenants that they had the right to take over the water bill and send the rent money to us to cover the water bill. They did not elect to do that."

Bias acknowledged that tenants were told they could "get together" and pay off the water bill in installments. The group would have to pay $4,000 to get the water turned on, she said.

"Nobody was willing to do it," Bias said.

Gas service also lacking

Under the Landlord Tenant Act, 50 percent of the tenants would have had to agree to the plan in order for the city to turn on the water. But LaPorte said the city went one step further, and officials said they were willing to accept 25 percent participation.

"That is when we tried to talk to someone to find out about our rights," Bias said. "We requested that a building inspector come out.''

City's inspectors found some of the buildings also lacked gas service.

"The city has ordinances that say a residential building like this must have working utilities, including water and gas," said Jack Beary, a spokesman for the city's Department of Buildings. "There hasn't been an effort to force anyone out of the building or anything, but the city is going to ask that the owner be required to comply."

Because temperatures soared to 90 degrees Wednesday, the city sent over bottles of water and scrambled to get an emergency motion heard today that would permit a receiver to be appointed.

"The receiver would come in and basically take over the management of the building and would be collecting the rent to pay the utilities," said Jennifer Hoyle, a spokeswoman for the Law Department.

"That would allow us to get the water and gas back on," she said.

Not everyone's a Trump

This is an age-old problem. In 2002, the Chicago Sun-Times ran a series of articles highlighting the dangerous problem of slum landlords. These land barons charge market-rate rents but do not take care of their properties. I don't know whether this landlord fits into that category, but he clearly is in over his head.

Although infomercials would have us think otherwise, not everyone can be the next Donald Trump.

Of the 50 units at the East End properties, only 21 were occupied. That means this landlord probably wasn't collecting enough rent to pay the mortgage, let alone utilities. And Bias acknowledged that she was "late" on her rent at the time the water was shut off. If any other tenants were late or behind on their rent, well, you can see where this was heading.

Quite often in these struggling communities, the landlord/tenant relationship is fragile. If things don't go right for either party, the result is disastrous for everyone.

Larita Booker, a tenant at the East End property, was downstairs helping with the distribution of bottled water Wednesday afternoon. She said most of the tenants are fed up.

"You have more vacancies than you have tenants," she said. "The city is asking us to pay $4,000, but I don't have it to give. The bottom line is I have been here eight months, and there have been nothing but problems."

I understand Booker's frustration, and I probably wouldn't want to pay, either.

But unless the tenants like the rustic life, they will have to do their part and use their rents to bail out this sinking ship.