The Never Ending Story

As usual, the trash on the north parkway continues to be a problem.

Why Mt. Carmel can't come up with a workable solution to this issue is beyond me.

It's kind of like knowing that it's going to snow every year yet not having a snow removal plan and salt at the ready.

So I composed and sent the following e-mail to the person in charge of "maintenance" at Mt. Carmel and cc'd my alderman and neighbors:


"It has been over two weeks since I've spoken to you about the trash on the north side of the 65th Street Parkway.

If Mt. Carmel has completed a clean up it was barely noticeable since I've been literally looking at the same bag of discarded trash for the past month. Now more trash has been added to the parkway.

I've been hearing for years how Mt. Carmel is committed to being a "good neighbor." If that's the case, why does there have to be constant reminders about picking up trash and shoveling and salting the parkway? This isn't the first discussion we've had about these topics and based on history, it won't be the last.

Even when the seasonal grounds crew cuts the grass, I've routinely seem them move trash on the parkway into the street and in some cases not pick up the trash at all.

It's difficult enough watching people use our neighborhood as their own personal trash can. My neighbors and I do the best we can to pick up on and around our property and to encourage the culture of not using the parkways, lawns and street as a garbage bag.

Why can't Mt. Carmel do their part without constant prodding? Is this how a "good neighbor" behaves?"

Since I'm confident that they are out for winter break we'll get to look at the crap across the street at least until the beginning of January.

If we're lucky.

Mowed

Are you ready for this?

The last building on the block with an overgrown yard has finally cut their grass.




Foolishness. Just plain foolishness.

While that is a big step in the aesthetic look of the neighborhood, the downside is that now the first floor windows and main entrance has been boarded up.

The grass looks better but the now plywood abounds.

Six of one, half dozen of the other.

Now the larger question is will the building be rehabbed? If so, will it be rental as well?

I will say, with everyone's grass cut, the block looks very nice and welcoming.

Developing...

Salting The Earth---The Pictures

Vacant lots that until recently had grass and weeds in abundance. Then a few weeks ago---nothing.




Now do you see what I'm talking about?

Salting The Earth

I noticed something the other day.

Nothing was growing on the numerous vacant lots in my neighborhood.

Not a weed, not a blade of grass---absolutely nothing was green.

And when I say nothing was green, the grass had been cut a few weeks ago and the remaining stubble was brown.

On its face and in the short term, that might be seen as a good thing. But natural things just don’t stop growing for no reason.

They definitely don’t all stop growing only on the vacant lots in Woodlawn at the same time.

Is it possible to save money on labor, gas and the wear and tear of equipment that the city may have literally salted the earth?

While I hate weeds and overgrown lots, the possibility that some type of chemical was applied to the ground makes me incredibly uneasy.

If this is what’s going on is this a new city policy? Is it safe for the ground and the water table? Hell, are we even by the water table?

What happens if a (reputable) developer someday builds on those vacant lots? If a chemical was applied will it retard any other vegetation growing?

Could you dig and put in a vegetable garden?

Note: Due to the high concentrations of lead paint in older buildings, it’s normally recommended to not use the grounds around the site of an older building or former building for vegetable planting.

I just find it extremely odd and the timing too close to be a coincidence.

Has anyone else noticed new “brown fields” popping up on city owned or vacant lots in their ‘hood?

Oh. My. God.

First we had to see this:




Then we had this:




And as of Friday, finally this:






Nice, eh? But based on past behavior, will they water the lawn so the turf takes to it's new home?

Now will the building be condos or rentals? Affordable? subsidized? market rate? If the building goes condo, will parking be factored into the equation? Who will market the property?

More importantly, who's the developer?

This story is moving forward (with a nice lawn might I add) but still developing.

Development Update?

The old fence has been removed from the front of the building and looking through the window, any passerby on the street can see a visible ceiling fan box.

This begs a couple of questions:

Is the building going condo or not?

Whatever it's fate, when will the construction be completed?

When, for the love of God, is the landscaping portion of the rennovation gonna happen? Overgrown grass and weeds are NOT attractive.

And last but not least...

They must have great security to leave a pricey looking ceiling fan box visible in the window. Normally that serves as a red flag to theives who prey on construction sites.

Developing...

Hey Astor Properties...

Cut the freaking grass already.

And while you're at it, pick up the trash in the yard. If you don't, 5th Ward Streets & San will do it for you and charge you for their time.

Can you believe I have to look at this shit everyday?

Now do you gentle readers understand why I'm not a fan of non resident owners?

Take the wheel Jesus.

They Kept Their Word

Mt. Carmel finally finished their turf installation for the annual Brown and White intra squad game last Saturday.

The pictures on the Mt. Carmel's website are much better than what I can take with my cell phone from my balcony.

The nice wrought iron fence is (mostly) erected and everything looks sparkly and new.

Don't even get me started about that fabulous new sidewalk.

Moreover, the tall grasses and weeds have been cleared out. They also put down the grass seed as promised.

How that grass seed is going to grown on dry dusty ground that doesn't get any water is beyond me. Then of course, I had my doubts about the spray on grass that was put down last year with the other sidewalk installation.

What do I know?

The point is they kept up their end of the deal.

My question is will Mt. Carmel continue to do so when they don't have a lawn service picking up the trash on the parkway?

I'm keeping my fingers crossed but my eyes peeled.

Wait A Minute

As I was schlepping down the street this morning, I noticed that the crappy sidewalk running from Blackstone to Dorchester had been broken up as a part of Mt. Carmel's turf installation.

What the hell?

It would stand to reason that if the crappy, uneven sidewalk is no more that it will soon be replaced with a brand spanking new smooth and even sidewalk.

Right? It does stand to reason----correct?

Is it possible that our little hood will have a passable sidewalk for walkers, runners, seniors, dog walkers, stroller pushers and our neighbors in wheelchairs on the north side of the street?

That is so money.

Now the older wheelchair bound man who shamelessly flirts with all of the women in neighborhood will be able to give a more spirited continuous chase for two blocks.

Damn.

I'll keep an eye on the progress and post what happens.

Now if Mt. Carmel could only spring for some Turf Builder our shit might just be the hotness.

Well Damn

The grass across the street on the new parkway is growing in nicely.

Nonetheless weeds are everywhere amongst the new blades. And when I say weeds, I mean that there are just as many (or more) weeds than grass.

Don't get me started on the seeds that the trees are dropping.

Mt. Carmel's landscape crew cuts the parkway every week so it doesn't look like we live in a third world country.

With the presence of the weeds it doesn't exactly look like we live in a leafy suburb either.

But I find it somewhat ironic that Mt. Carmel is replacing the sod on their football practice field with permanent turf and those of us who live on the "other" side of the fence can't even get a bag of Scot's turf builder put down to prevent the weeds.

The parkways in front of the school on 64th Street are absolutely beautiful. They look like a lush living green carpet. Not a weed in sight.

'Cause being a good neighbor means that you're proactive.

Not treating your neighbors like they're an afterthought.

Well I'll Be Damned

The unimaginable is happening.

The suspect grass seed and foam that was put down last fall when the new sidewalk was completed is actually sprouting.

No bullshit.

If you remember correctly, I wasn't overly optimistic that anything was going to grow.

I woke up the other day and noticed that there was a greenish tint to the ground across the street. When I arrived downstairs for a closer look, I saw tender blades of new grass had popped up.

Yes Ladies and Gentlemen that's what it's come down to---I'm literally watching grass grow.

Damn, I may get my "player card" revoked for that.

Grass may not be as exciting as dishing on my developer or talking about condo drama but with spring and renewal unfolding in front of our eyes, our new grass is kind of a rebirth for this little patch of Woodlawn.

Pictures soon to follow as soon as I figure out how to download them from my Blackberry.

Institutionalized

What’s the story with our non-profit neighbors?

If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time you know my many tales of the school across the street.

But they’re not the only institution that calls our little patch of Woodlawn home.

The former Christ Apostolic Church was located across the street from our association until they moved into their new home in 2002.

The congregation is now called Metropolitan Apostolic Community Church.

Nonetheless the old building remains—frankly I’m not sure if it belongs to the church or if it’s somehow associated with Rev. Finney’s historic T.W.O. group.

And while it’s a beautiful old building, there has been a marked decline in the curb appeal since the congregation moved.

The words minimum upkeep spring to mind.

Christmas lights from several seasons ago are still in the trees, when a storm blew through here a couple of summers ago the branches and debris weren’t cleared until months later.

Mountains of trash overflowed out of the dumpster until recently.

While all of those things can drive your neighbors to distraction, in my estimation we had bigger fish to fry with impassible sidewalks and piles of garbage across the street.

One thing at a time, yo.

I figured as soon as Mt. Carmel was on track, I’d find out whom to drop a line to so the curb appeal quotient could ratchet up a few notches.

Unfortunately about a month ago that all changed.

I notice things in our little two-block stretch of paradise. Especially since I’m located on the third floor.

So it wasn’t too difficult too notice when every last available street parking space was taken up in the late afternoon on a Saturday night.

It also wasn’t too difficult to notice when about a dozen cars were parked in the vacant lot behind our home.

But it really wasn’t difficult to notice the excessive noise and bullshit taking place on our quiet street as afternoon stretched into evening and evening stretched into the next day.

While I took note of all of this, it was my neighbor Caustic who actually got the 411 on the situation.

Not only did she get the 411 but also dialed 911.

Squad cars and paddy wagon arrived not long thereafter.

It seems that the space is now being rented out for events. Which on it’s face is great, but if you don’t have a special use permit for the space that’s not so good.

Furthermore, if the people you’re renting the space to are either knuckleheads or disrespectful of our neighborhood---that’s a problem.

There are so many “what if’s.”

What if a promoted event exceeds capacity?

What if an emergency happens inside of the building? Do people know how to safely exit?

Those are just the first two questions in the front of my mind. Of course just by asking those questions others such as private security, rental guidelines and community standards pop into my head.

It appears that, at least on the surface, that the rental guidelines may need some tightening.

Now I loves me a good party. Hell I’ve been known to throw a few.

But I maybe have three or four a year---that was before I got laid off ---I always notified my downstairs neighbor in enough time so if they didn’t want 40-50 people walking over their heads they could make other plans.

Plus if you’re a guest in my house, you know you better act like you got some sense or a beat down will be coming your way.

I have to take too much shit outside of my home to put up with any foolishness inside my walls.

From what’s been seen so far, we’re not optimistic about the quality of events that may be held in the future.

So as a service to the decision maker(s) who green light the event rentals, you may want to use the few examples below as a guide:

Drop it like it’s hot rump shaker contest---No.

Eastern Star Five Point Tea---Yes.

Traveling male strip troupe featuring “Chocolate Thunder”---No.

State convention of the Missionary Society---Yes.

Any event that’s promoted with the phase, “Dress code strictly enforced, no hats or gym shoes.”---No
Community Meetings---Yes

With all of the foolishness that’s been going on lately, who wants to rattle the Tiger’s cage?

Let’s keep the warm weather months as drama free as possible.

Is The Grass Greener?

Once they put the new sidewalk in, the city finally laid down grass seed AND neon green foamy stuff that's supposed to sprout grass in the spring.

I don't know about that.

The color of the neon green seed has diminished and everyone and their mother has been walking through the parkway so it will be interesting to see what comes up in a few months.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

I don’t know about your own private Idaho but around here the neighbors always keep it interesting.


The Good
My new downstairs neighbor had her music up a tad too loud during the evening hours on Tuesday night. I knocked on her door and asked if she could turn it down and she promptly complied---end of story, right?

Nope.

The next day when I open my front door to leave and a brief note of apology with a loaf of zucchini bread were on my doorstep. What type of love is that? I knew this kid would be okey doke.


The Bad
Not only do I have new neighbors across the way in the building next door---which now forces me to close my dining room blinds---but someone who lives in my building threw out what appears to be some type of mortgage application in the common trash bin in our hallway.

Now anyone who has half a brain in their head wouldn’t throw out an application that has a name, address, social security number AND (wait for it…) a complete bureau copy of their credit record along with FICO score.

Holy crap, the lady on the application has better credit than 99.9% of most Americans. If I were her and found out about this breech of security, I’d hand someone their ass so they could were it as a hat.

God I’d be pissed.

Now anyone could of thrown that documentation in the trash but I have a sneaking suspicion who it may be. Remind me to thoroughly question the sensitive information disposal tatics of any realtors or mortgage people I might patronize in the future.

And just in case you’re wondering, yes I’ll go ahead and tear up the application is tiny little pieces before I throw it away.


The Ugly
If you think on a larger scale, you could say that the entity of the City of Chicago is all of our neighbors.

That being said, the city finally completed the parkway project and finally put down the neon green spray on grass on Wednesday. Picture the relish on a traditional Chicago hot dog and that’s the color of the spray on goop.

It’s not pretty but I hope that with a great deal of prayer and people not trampling it, the seed will take and we’ll have grass next year. Naturally that’s easier said than done.

Mere hours after the grass was laid I saw a woman tromp through the dirt and goop in her finery, then worry aloud if the green was going to permanently stair her shoes and pants.

Now the city worked really hard to put in a nice new sidewalk complete with ADA compliant corners. It would of taken two extra seconds for her to walk on the sidewalk instead of walking through the parkway and the newly laid seed.

I hope the cuffs of her pants are ruined. Serves her right.

Good Vibrations

I still haven’t got this sidewalk thing figured out yet.

Our new sidewalk across the street was poured over a month ago but another crew came out and put in the corners.

While I know the corners have to be ADA compliant, why couldn’t the same crew do the corners at the same time?

Considering the south side usually gets the shaft, I guess I should be overjoyed that we got a new sidewalk to begin with.

I guess the old adage is right, never look a gift sidewalk in the mouth.

Nonetheless there is a crew outside right now breaking up concrete and setting up the molds to pour yet another set of corners.

Personally speaking, that jackhammer vibration---if applied in the proper situations---could be a good thing.

Speaking of a separation of duties, yesterday while I was setting up my Christmas tree on the balcony I saw a crew spreading grass seed just on the corner across the street from my place.

Yes, I have a lit Christmas tree on my outside balcony. That’s how I roll.

I don’t think my neighbors like the pine needles I’ve left in the hallway but I’ll deal with that tonight before Charlie Brown Christmas comes on at 7:00.

Anyhoo, I ran downstairs to check the view of the tree from the street and asked the nice seed spreaders if the seed needed to be watered.

They told me that the seed was the winter variety and it should be fine throughout the cold months.

Okey dokey.

What struck me as strange was that they told me that another crew would be out seeding the rest of the parkway with for all intensive purposes is “spray on grass.”

Now why would the city send two different crews to apply two different types of seed to the same parkway?

As I said earlier---we’re getting our due, perhaps I should shut my yap and say “Thank You.”

Acceptance

You kind folks may have noticed that I haven’t been posting as much lately.

Well quite frankly when I resigned from the condo board, most pipelines of information dried up rather quickly.

Then of course I do have my sanity back.

Unfortunately our grass is paying the price for not having someone else helping to look after it on a regular basis but a woman’s gotta do what a woman’s gotta do.

Seriously though---the weed choked lawn is really chapping my hide.

Nonetheless, a certain form of acceptance is settling over me with regards to my bootleg developer.

I still hate him and I still would love to see him nailed to the wall legally but reality has reared its ugly head despite all of my efforts.

We just don’t have to money to pursue that bastard legally.

Brother (or sister) can you spare a dime?

A Trashy Follow Up

The humidity is doing quite a number on my hair today.

Ladies and gentlemen I literally have an afro. A friggin' Angela Davis afro is sitting on my head as you read these soothing words.

All I need is a black power pick, large hoop earning and a darshiki to complete the look

Note: This is NOT a good look for me (or anyone).

But the humidity and the rain does encourage all things green to grown and flourish. For those of us who like that type of thing, this is great.

You know what else is great?

The fact that the school across the street is not only picking up the trash on the parkway every week but their lawn crew also mows down the grass/weeds on a weekly basis as well.

Who says a little effort won't go a long way? The block looks super.

Grubby

Our grass has an STD.

The bane of suburbia has reared its ugly head on the south side. Ladies and Gentlemen, we have grubs.

I’m sure they emigrated over from someone else’s crappy lawn and now our little patch of heaven looks like a bag of ass.

It’s kind of like finding out that the neighborhood mut defiled your beautiful pure breed bitch.

The irony is that well tended and watered lawns are at a higher risk for grubs than one that isn’t watered as fastidiously.

Ain’t that a bitch?

The lawn has been raked out and we have some grub control granules but it’s not looking good. I’m hoping we can catch this in enough time so we don’t have to resod.

So for the record, it wasn’t the unfortunate fertilizer incident last fall that made the grass turn brown.