Ironically, Corey Oliver, the manager of the 7500 S South Shore building gave us one of the clearest and most poignant perspectives on the problem of black hat property investors in South Shore. www.injusticewatch.org/project/tena...

And when they fail at one building there's little threat to their overall business. This is especially handy for bad-faith and even criminal operators whose only goal is to "milk" buildings for max rent (actors that the good landlords and their representatives always admit exist and are a problem)

As we described in the Tenant Trap, our building code enforcement system is essentially restorative justice for landlords. The courts are a place where property owners can get near infinite runways to "do better" with little threat of fines or property loss.

Meanwhile when a landlord gets in trouble for mismanaging one property it rarely leads to scrutiny of what else they own and how they're doing there. The owner of this building, for example, appears to own at least two other large apartment buildings in South Shore.

Yes people often get a bit of money for relocation but $1,500, for example, is not enough to find a new home and move on a few days' notice. Especially when the population that lives in these buildings is at an intersection of disadvantages: bad credit, not being white, having children, etc.

The cost of that court action against a landlord is disproportionately borne by the tenants. In many cases the shuttering of a building in the name of their safety effectively means an eviction experience with minimal warning and no due process protections.

Setting aside the evidence suggesting that the landlord and/or property manager may have used ICE as an eviction force, the harshest consequence our legal system has for property owners who fail to maintain buildings in safe and habitable condition is shutting down the building.

Beach has also appointed William Steward as interim superintendent of the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center. He often stood up to speak for the JTDC at public hearings in departed superintendent Dixon's absence. He's been in leadership at the time of many abuse allegations at the facility.

Beach has also dissolved the Traffic division of the court and moved it under 1st Municipal to mirror the suburban courthouses. And appointed some new supervisint judges.

More info on all the reshuffling here www.cookcountycourtil.gov/news/chief-j...

They've been replaced by Beach's allies: Michael Mullen in Chancery, Tom Sianis in 1st Muni, Mary C. Marubio in Skokie. Susana Ortiz replaces Marubio as presiding of the Pretrial Division.

Beach also created three "deputy chief" positions in his office, for criminal, civil, and pretrial.

Sophia Hall in Chancery (the longest serving judge in the county), Shelley Sutker-Dermer at the Skokie courthouse (who held the post for 22 years), and Ken Wright in 1st Muni (of questionable residency fame). All three were close allies and friends of Tim Evans www.injusticewatch.org/judges/judic...