I happened to have contact accidently with someone who lives in the First Ward while out and about this morning. Together we looked across the street from her residence at the home I have pictured. It has been a problem for many years and now it has been abandoned with no one living there for the past year. Broken windows, cockroaches, tall grass, open garage and very little done to remedy this situation. The nearby residents have tried to get some help from one of the first ward alderpersons but have not received any help. The house next door is also empty but the landlord fixed up the exterior and no one has lived there for 2 or 3 years except the ground squirrels who go in and out through the stone foundation.
The Broken Window theory refers to places like this that are left to deteriorate starting with one unrepaired broken window. Now there are 2 unoccupied homes side by side and the neighbors would like this attended to as they do try to maintain their property. Yes there are problems and good people are hoping the city will contact them and let them know what can be done.
14 comments:
I drove by this home yesterday and was shocked at it's condition. It's deplorable. I have been aware of this house for a long time as I would pass it when I would pick up Lois for meetings. I had mentioned it to our PSM when children were living in it. Shortly after the home was vacated and I didn't pay too much attention to it. Lois has been telling me how bad it looked so I took a ride to see for myself. The pictures don't even come close to revealing the horrible sight the neighbors have to witness on a daily basis. How can we let things like this happen in our town? If indeed this home has been brought to the attention of someone in our government has any action been taken or going to be taken and soon? I was shocked at it's condition.
That looks like the Taj Mahal compared to the one on the 2100 block of 13th St.
Sorry 11:00 but while I'll agree that the house on 13th is in desparate need of a paint job, the house and yard and weeds on 6th street has it beat by a mile.
I'd be careful before asking the government to do anything about this. Any action that government takes generally costs three times what it is worth, takes three time longer than it should, and has unintended consequences effecting three time more people than it should. That being said, there are many famous names in the Illinois Valley that have been suckling off the breast of government projects for their entire life and the lives previous generations of their family. Maybe these real-estate people, construction people, hardware people, newspaper people, and all the other grand movers and shakers of the valley buy up some of these properties and demolish them?
Unfortunately, aesthetics of a small property here or there really don't bring down the neighborhood property values overall. But, an old abandoned property that is tore down or has a nice "quality" overhaul might increase the property tax a bit from that parcel. As long as we don't get another slumlord in the area to slap a piece of plastic siding on and rent it out to 5 families under the same roof. Yes, I really would like the city to clean up their tolerance of the rental properties in this town. Some of the old grandfather clauses have got to be done by now.
The only people that worry about property values increasing are transient homeowners. IF you are in it for the long haul, it would be desirable for the value to decrease over time. That way you pay less "rent" to the government.
We need to change the way government funds itself. Taxing property should be done away with. Maybe a tax on the actual transfer of ownership - but not a year after year payment. I would suggest we change to a system that taxes people - not the property they own.
For example. Every person over the age of 18 should be required to send $100 per month to the county and the County would distribute that like they do property taxes. No exemptions, no assessments, just one flat payment for everyone.
9:57 agree with your theory on the property tax conversation but not sure if the flat tax to everyone is always the best either. I like to see higher use and sales taxes. I would eliminate the 1% sales tax on everything except RX medicine. Maybe not the full 8% but I would definitely review the categories of junk vs healthy NEED foods and charge a higher tax. Most states have a flat tax of 1% of your closing price for property tax. very simple. period. No "mismanagement" of valuations and no more "friendly" reductions to acquaintances. This state makes it complicated for a reason.
I see that an attempt has been made to make the property a little more presentable. Some of the weeds have been cut down and now lay there looking just as ugly and unkept. The residents who take care of their homes and yards should not have to put up with these conditions in their neighborhood. Some procedure needs to be established so that things do not get so out of hand.
An article about the code enforcement officer, that was hired this year, was written up in the paper this week. What I don't understand is how this yard was allowed to get so out of control? With weeds and grass four and five feet high it's quite obvious this property was neglected all summer long. How did it go unnoticed by our newly hired code enforcement officer? Once Lois posted pictures on this blog, attempts to improve the sight were being taken. To me, this only goes to show that citizen involvement in our government would only help Peru and those in charge. However, at times problems reported are sometimes not received courteously.
I live in the first ward directly across the street from this property and it's usually the first thing that I see when I walk out my front door.
If you drive by this property recently- do not let the shorter grass fool you about the property condition. The lawn was mowed this week by a resident of the neighborhood and not by the landlord OR by the City of Peru.
Personally, I have made several calls and emails to our alderman and the city building inspector department to no avail. The property has been abandoned for over a year now. The inside must be terrible because only this Spring were there windows put in this house. Most of last winter- anything could crawl in there and I am sure something did.
My husband and I along with other members of the neighborhood had to drop thousands of dollars on pest extermination from this house. It got so bad that we contemplated selling the house to run away from the problem. We reached out to the city and the landlord on this and we were told there was NOTHING they could do.
The city and the landlord HAS to be held accountable for the condition of this property. It never should have gotten to this point or this condition.
Who is the landlord?
The city has one name and the tax records have a different name. I am sure the city has been aware of the problems with this home for many years. The one next to it is a disguised problem as the landlord removed a porch and sided it about 4 or 5 years ago but there have been NO renters because I believe the interior has issues. Both were built in the mid to late 1800's.
I remember a conversation with John Micheli when he was the zoning and code violation person under Baker and the early Harl years and there were issues then.
I don"t understand how it did get this bad what with a code enforcement officer and aldermen apparently being notified. I have heard that the code enforcement officer has been seen in the neighborhood. If there is nothing the city can do then why are we paying for a code officer?
there are a lot of rich people in Peru that should be able to pay to renovate these old houses. Mayor Harl needs to get that money from them and put it to work.
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