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Beverly Tenants Fight To Stay In Apartments They've Called Home … – Block Club Chicago
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About 120 Beverly and Morgan Park residents, many low-income and older people, are facing lease terminations by Levav Properties.
BEVERLY — For 48 years, Elisabeth Kiss has lived in the same one-bedroom apartment on 106th Street in Beverly.
The building was new when she arrived by herself from Budapest in 1975, not speaking a single word of English. Over the years, she learned the language, became a dietitian’s assistant and made friends in the building and throughout the Southwest Side neighborhood.
Now 83 and retired, Kiss has settled into a quiet life in her community, where she takes walks and talks to the neighbors she knows. Sometimes she stops by the house next door to take tomatoes and green beans from a small box of vegetables her neighbor harvests from her backyard garden specifically for the older people in Kiss’s building.
Kiss planned to spend her last years in this building.
Then, on May 24, a note was slipped under her door notifying her that her lease would not be renewed and she had 120 days to vacate her apartment.
Nearly all of the approximately 80 tenants in her building, most of them older people, received similar non-renewal notices, giving them between 60 and 120 days to leave, according to the Metropolitan Tenants Organization and neighbors.
“I was really hurt and very upset. This was very, very unexpected. Nobody told [us] anything,” said Kiss. “I am packing and looking for places. I am on my own. I want to find a place that is safe.”
Non-renewal notices were sent to approximately 120 tenants in at least seven buildings in the Beverly and Morgan Park neighborhoods, all of them recently acquired by property management company Levav Properties in early May, according to the Metropolitan Tenants Organization. The notices gave tenants between 30 and 120 days to vacate depending on how long they lived in the building.
In response, the tenants — many of them low-income residents or older people on fixed incomes — organized as the group O’Shea Neighbors United (ONU) and began meeting at a local church every Wednesday.
On Wednesday, they held a protest in front of one of the recently purchased buildings, calling on Levav Properties to meet with them and asking for more relocation time, rent forgiveness, relocation assistance or a chance to negotiate a reasonable rent increase.
Several tenants and ONU have called and emailed, and a small contingent of the group eventually visited Levav’s offices in-person, but they had no success getting the company to negotiate with them. Attempts to reach Chicago-based Chief Operating Officer Chris Milliner have been unsuccessful.
In mid-June, more than a dozen tenants reached out to Ald. Matt O’Shea (19th) by email and phone, and some showed up to his offices at 10400 S. Western Avenue looking for help.
“It was alarming to me that my residents, most of whom are seniors, have received non-renewal notices,” O’Shea said. “They’ve lived in these buildings for 20, 30 years. These aren’t apartments; these are their homes.”
O’Shea said he began looking into legal aid but so far, Levav Properties has operated legally.
In Chicago, landlords can terminate a lease or file for eviction of a tenant without providing any reason.
The Chicago Landlord Tenant Ordinance that passed in July 2020 requires landlords to give tenants 60 days notice before raising rent or terminating their lease if they’ve been in their units for between six months and three years, or 120 days notice if they’ve been in their units for more than three years.
Before ultimately passing the ordinance extending the Landlord Tenant Ordinance, then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she would back measures requiring landlords to have “just cause” before evicting a tenant. About 20 U.S. cities and three states have just cause ordinances, some of which require landlords to pay relocation costs or offer rent assistance if they do not have a just reason for terminating a tenant’s lease.
Still, O’Shea said he doesn’t think the way Levav has gone about this is right. O’Shea said he has been in touch with Milliner at Levav and is in discussion with the company about a possible compromise that might help the buildings’ tenants.
“I’m confident that we can help these folks, that we can find some middle ground and then some of them can stay in their homes, and those who can’t we can help find alternative options in the neighborhood,” the alderman said.
In a letter to tenants posted on doors in at least one of the buildings Wednesday morning before the protest, Levav Properties said “there has been some confusion” about the notice to quit letters received by tenants and that “previous ownership did not provide all of the correct information to the new owners.”
“This letter is to inform you that NO evictions have been started and new ownership is dedicated to working with ALL tenants,” Levav said in the letter. “Our goal over the next couple of weeks is to speak with all existing tenants and understand everyone’s circumstances and put a reasonable solution in place.”
Arieh Venick, a community organizer with the Metropolitan Tenants Organization who is working with tenants at six of the Levav buildings, said the letter “changes nothing.” O’Shea Neighbors United invited Levav to collective negotiations about three weeks ago, said Venick.
“What it shows is that Levav is scared. They were the ones who sent out these non-renewal notices,” Venick said. “This is an attempt from them to break the solidarity of O’Shea Neighbors United. Their offer was ‘we will work with you one on one…’
“Why wait until today to send this? Levav wants to cordon off the tenants into one-on-one negotiations where they’ll have less power.”
Although O’Shea said this is his first experience with mass evictions in his 12 years as alderman, other wards primarily on the South and West Sides of Chicago have seen staggering numbers of evictions and lease terminations over the past few decades.
The 5th Ward, which includes parts of Hyde Park, South Shore and Woodlawn, ranked first in Chicago for eviction filings between 2010 and 2019, averaging 1,156 eviction filings a year.
Between 2010 and 2019, O’Shea’s 19th Ward saw on average 167 eviction filings a year, ranking 33rd in Chicago for eviction filings, according to reports by the Law Center for Better Housing.
These reports only include data from formal eviction cases that were filed in court. Non-renewal notices or lease terminations like those given to tenants by Levav Properties are not included as they are not formal evictions.
Some current city council members, including Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th), chair of the Housing and Real Estate committee, are hopeful that new policies to further protect tenants can be passed under Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration.
Specifically, Sigcho-Lopez hopes Chicago will join the 20 U.S. cities that have just cause laws.
“Right now, just in Chicago, we have over 60,000 people who are waiting for shelter that are unhoused, we also have 11,000 new asylum seekers, right. People who, you know, in a sanctuary city, we also need housing,” said Sigcho-Lopez, who spoke at the protest Wednesday. “I think we’re going to be prioritizing legislation like just cause for eviction … so that we ensure that tenants or people who got eviction notices don’t go to the streets.”
Venick said he believes the landlord is trying to gentrify the area.
The Beverly and Morgan Park neighborhoods boast six Metra train stations, and the buildings acquired by Levav are in close proximity to the 103rd, 107th and 111th stations, making the area prime for development.
“This is a very, very, very clear and quintessential example of gentrification,” said Venick. “They’re telling everybody to be out of the buildings, they’re renovating the buildings and jacking up the rents.”
According to Venick, Levav told some tenants they could apply for new tenancy in their apartments after renovations if they are willing to pay rents that are nearly twice as much as they currently pay.
Most tenants in these buildings pay between $600-$800 per month, but Levav is currently listing two one-bedroom units at two of its properties for $1,400 per month.
“I mean, it’s a huge amenity, to have six train stations in our community,” said Mary Jo Viero, executive director of the Beverly Area Planning Association. “We certainly want the buildings surrounding that and representing that piece of our community to be good buildings and to be an opportunity for more people to move to our community and make it stronger.
“That being said, I don’t want our other residents to be forced out in any way. It’s very frustrating. I am really kind of baffled about the whole thing.”
This type of controversy isn’t new to the owners at Levav, two of whom formerly worked for Pangea Properties, one of the largest landlords in Chicago before selling its 400 Chicago properties to real-estate firm Emerald Empire in December 2022. Milliner, Levav’s COO, and Chief Financial Officer Danielle Murphy both worked for Pangea before co-founding Levav in February this year.
During Milliner’s tenure as regional manager at Pangea, tenants in Pangea-owned properties in Chicago sued the company in July 2022, accusing Pangea of neglecting maintenance issues, including rodent infestations and lack of heat and electricity.
From 2009 to 2019, Pangea filed more than 9,000 evictions at its properties, which were primarily on the South Side.
The O’Shea Neighbors United tenants hope their protest will prompt the Beverly and Morgan Park communities to rally behind them as they push for Levav Properties to negotiate.
“When someone comes in to try to destroy the community, which Levav is doing, and they’re doing it in a very blatant way, you can either shrug and move on, you accept what’s happening and do nothing, or you band together and say we matter,” said tenant Gordon Dymowski.
Dymowski has lived in his building on 103rd Street for six years, taking over the lease after his mother died last year.
“Levav is treating everyone in these buildings, regardless of race, ability, age, as expendable, and we’re uniting. We’re neighbors who are uniting and saying ‘What you’re doing is wrong,’” Dymowski said.
Although O’Shea said he feels confident that Levav can find a workable solution for the tenants, Elisabeth Kiss is already packing up 48 years’ worth of her belongings and looking for apartments.
Since she has no family here, she has recruited her 70-year-old neighbor and her granddaughter from across the hall to help when it comes time to move.
“Everybody forgets that you will be old one day,” said Kiss. “I never [thought] this would happen. I like this apartment. I like this area. I was thinking I could die here.”
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By Boxing Bob Newman at ringside
In a highly skilled and very tactical fight, Junior Lightweights Abraham “Super” Nova and Adam “Blu Nose” Lopez lived up to the predictions that they might deliver the fight of the night. After three tactical rounds, things heated up in the fourth with a nice toe to toe exchange late in the round. In the fifth, a beautiful right-left-right combination deposited Lopez hard on his back. As Nova tried to cut off the ring and follow up on his advantage, he could be heard saying, “It’s my birthday…I got to get this win,” to a retreating Lopez. (It is in fact Nova’s 29th birthday). Nova was credited with another knockdown in the sixth, as Lopez tried to hold on after being raked along the ropes and stumbled to the canvas when he couldn’t keep his grip on a backpedaling Nova. Lopez managed to gather himself in the seventh and actually appeared to take the eighth, snapping Nova’s head with some beautiful combinations at the end of the round.
Nova was able to hop on his bicycle in the ninth and hold off a charging Lopez with his jab. The tenth and final round was something out of the movies. Both men teed off on each other seemingly non-Stop for easily two out of the three minutes that the round lasted. It was amazing that nobody went down, but Nova capped the round and the fight off by staggering Lopez with the final blows of the fight. Even though 2023 is only 14 days old, it will take some doing to pass this is the round of the year! The final scores were 97-91 and 98-90 twice, all for Nova who comes back with a hard fought win after his loss to Robeisy Ramirez last year, raising his record to 22-1 15 KOs. The hard luck Lopez falls to 16-4, KOs.
Photos: Bob Newman
_
Other Results…
Jr. Lightweight prospect Haven Brady, Jr. had a tougher than expected task in Colombian Ruben Cervera. While Brady looked to pick his shots, Cervera was landing a few of his own, bloodying Brady’s lower lip by the end of the second. It became a game of single shots where Brady would vocalize with each blow he threw. Seconds before the end of the fifth, Cervera nailed Brady with an overhand right that stunned him. Cervera tries to follow up and one of his blows did land after the bell, prompting a warning from referee Benjy Esteves, Jr. It appeared that Brady was a bit busier each in each round and really capped it off in the eighth and final round by controlling the ring and dictating the action to the final bell. The final tally read: 78-74, 79-73 and 80-72, all for Brady, Jr. who moves to 9-0, 4 KOs. Cervera slides to 13-4, 11 KOs.
* * *
Local darling Bryce Mills, fighting in front of hometown fans for the first time in his young career put on a solid, workman like performance over tough Margarito Hernandez. Mills displayed excellent skills, footwork and angles in systematically controlling Hernandez over the six rounds. At the end of the second, referee Charlie Fitch called in the doctor to check for bleeding from the left ear of Hernandez, which turned out to be a cut just inside the ear and not internal bleeding from the eardrum. Try as he might Mills could not stop or even drop Hernandez and he did take a few shots from the gritty Washingtonian. In the end, all three judges saw it 60-54 for Mills 11-1, 4KOs. Hernandez slips under .500 at 3-4-1.
* * *
Rising welterweight knockout artist Brian Norman, Jr. tried to blitz Rodrigo Coria in the opening round and almost pulled off the trick. Coria appeared out on his feet seconds into the about, the bottom strand of rope in the neutral corner holding him up, but referee Mark Nelson let matters continue when Coria fought back. Norman Jr. appeared to tire and then paced himself for the rest of the round, letting Coria off the hook. The pace slowed markedly the second, then Norman picked things up a little bit more in the third, but Coria did back Norman to the ropes with some good body work. Coria controlled the fourth with good jabs and body work again along the ropes.
The fifth round saw both men doing good work, each taking a turn controlling pieces of the action. In the seventh, Coria landed some telling headshots in rapid succession, buckling Norman’s knees and having him groggy along the ropes. Norman was able to escape and survive the round but the crowd was now revved up! Seconds into the eighth and final round, Norman had Coria in a neutral corner when he himself was clipped and buckled again. He quickly recovered encountered cleanly, dropping Coria to his knees and bringing the crowd to its feet. It wasn’t over though as Coria fought back and stunned Norman again along the ropes. There would be no knockout. The scores were 79-72 and 77-74 twice, all for Norman, Jr. who moves to 23-0, 19 KOs, while the gallant Coria falls to 10-5, 2 KOs.
* * *
In the second fight of the night, featherweight prospect Bruce “Shu Shu” Carrington controlled Juan Antonio Lopez over 6 pedestrian rounds for a 60-54 sweep on all three judges’ scorecards. Lopez talked almost as much as he threw punches, trying to psych out the highly touted prospect Carrington. Neither fighter was hurt along the way. “Shu Shu” moves to 6-0, 3 KOs, while Lopez falls to 17-13-1, 7 KOs.
* * *
In a rare battle of novice unbeatens, Dante Benjamin, Jr. took on Emmanueal Austin in a scheduled six round light heavyweight opener. After a half round of feeling each other out, Benjamin shook Austin with a combination, finally dropping him near his own corner. A follow-up barrage had Austin reeling, forcing referee Mark Nelson to stop matters at 2:50 of the opening stanza. Benjamin Jr is now 5-0, 3KOs, while Austin loses his first at 6-1, 6KO.
That’s a great win for Nova coming off a blowout loss.
I absolutely HATE when they put another sport on right before the fight because you know it’s going to run over. It’s worst when it’s baseball, but with all those timeouts at the end of close basketball games, those things can run on and on and on.
Let’s see him step it up now
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Visarg Acharya
Reviewed by: Sayantan Choudhary
The Marvel Cinematic Universe keeps its movies PG-13 for a reason. Kids as well as adults enjoy these superhero movies but the MCU has broken the rule several times. Edward Norton portrayed the character of Hulk in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk quite more brutally than Mark Ruffalo.
Talking about the movie that wasn’t much of a success, fans were reminded of what the early MCU used to look like. In a brutal scene in the movie, people around the world were quit shocked when Edward Norton’s Hulk kicks Tim Roth’s Abomination into a tree with a little blood splattering on-screen!
Admittedly, the MCU hadn’t fully established itself as a cinematic universe when The Incredible Hulk was released back in 2008 the Hulk was still a part of the Marvel comics. Edward Norton, from the Fight Club fame, decided to join in for the ride by portraying the role of Bruce Banner in the movie.
Also read: “This ain’t gonna work”: Matt Damon Made a Life Changing Decision With Ben Affleck After Edward Norton Schooled Him in an Audition For an Oscar Worthy Role
Although the movie did not meet people’s expectations, the film had its fair share of iconic scenes and clips. One of the notable scenes was the Hulk fighting against Tim Roth’s Emil Blonsky. Being a fearless soldier tasked with killing Bruce Banner, Tim Roth had an exceptional fight scene with the Hulk.
After the fight is over, Blonsky walks up to Norton in his Hulk form and asks “Is that it? Is that all you got?”. This results in the Hulk getting angrier and kicking Blonsky so hard that he flies a few feet away. The scene depicts Blonsky hitting the ground and rolling towards a tree stump. With a hard thud, the character lands face-first into the tree stump and his body sinks to the ground.
Although the focus is on General Ross during that scene, the out-of-focus face of Blonsky shows quite a significant amount of bleeding. The scene is intense and terrifying at the same time which showcased the fact that Edward Norton’s Hulk was indeed more devastating and chaotic compared to Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk in the MCU.
Suggested: ‘The Godfather’ Director Chose Matt Damon Over Marvel Star Edward Norton Because of Damon’s $100 Million War Movie With Denzel Washington
Related: “I didn’t feel that it was honored”: Breaking Bad Star Bryan Cranston Revealed He Would Never Work With Director Who Clashed With Edward Norton During Their $20M Movie
It could have been a very likely possibility that the scene mentioned above was written by Edward Norton himself. According to film trivia, Tim Roth (who got kicked in the face) stated that Norton used to re-write his scenes every day while on the sets of The Incredible Hulk.
The Fight Club actor and Liv Tyler also used to sit down every day and talk for hours before filming would start. As per the trivia, the duo would discuss their character’s lives especially before Bruce Banner became the Hulk which helped with the bonding between them. The Incredible Hulk received a rating of 6.6/10 on IMDB and 67% on Rotten Tomatoes and wasn’t much of a success. The 2008 film is available to stream on Disney+.
Source: ScreenRant, IMDB
Visarg Acharya joined FandomWire in 2022 as a Content Writer. Along with a penchant for writing, Visarg claims that words are the only true language made for him. Currently pursuing his B.Sc in Physics, the combination of Physics and Marvel make up for an interesting talk. Visarg Acharya has authored over 500 articles and reads books in his spare time along with an occasional series to accompany him.
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My son has started coding. He’s only five and I reckon we may have to expand the definition of coding a little, but he has joined something called Coding Club at his school. It involves him and his classmates sitting at computers and, well, I’m not sure what happens after that, since he observes a Fight Club-style omertà when it comes to anything he does at school.
He is familiar with computers and often joins me in my office – his baby sister’s bedroom – while I work on these very articles. It would be charming if I could say he’s helped much in their writing, perhaps offered a paragraph or two you’ve enjoyed – but this has not been the case. He mostly enjoys opening a new document and using the keyboard to write the longest, rudest words he can spell (‘poo-trampoline’ being a favourite) and I am left to do the grunt work myself.
I read that Coding Club uses a game-based platform that enables students to ‘code sprites to move around in different environments’ in which they make ‘rockets, trucks, spiders and even Cinderella!’ It sounds impressive, so I look online to find the module and try it myself. I am presented with a cheery little penguin suspended in the void. As I move said bird, a readout displays his grid coordinates. There are dozens of toolbars and dropdown tabs which, I presume, allow you to do magnificent things with this penguin, but after about four minutes I realise I have no idea what I’m doing and return to my oppressive deadlines.
My own instruction in computing was mostly at home. I was lucky in that my dad was an early adopter, who first caught the tech bug in the 90s. As a civil engineer, his job had little to do with computers, but his fondness for anything square, beige and bleeping meant he was drafted as an ad-hoc IT department for his office and our garage soon became an angular graveyard of discarded CPUs, printers, scanners and servers, with which he would mess, fiddle and, occasionally, perform resurrections. It was here that my little brother and I spent a large part of our childhood, setting up battered servers and mounting local area networks to play Doom on salvaged PCs. We repaid our dad by telling him, ‘You’re doing it wrong’ the second our skills overpassed his own.
The instruction I received in school was paltry in comparison. I did my GCSE in ICT in 2002, a year before the curriculum was updated, working from decade-old textbooks that referred exclusively to ‘electronic mail’ and mentioned the internet only briefly by saying ‘as many as 4 million people may soon be on the world wide web’. An accurate number for 2002 would have been 560m, it’s now almost 6bn, my son among them.
I won’t have him falling behind. When he comes in from school, I show him I have the module right here at home and wiggle the little penguin around for his edification. ‘Daddy,’ he says, ‘you’re doing it wrong,’ and something inside me dies.
Did Ye Hear Mammy Died? by Séamas O’Reilly is out now (Little, Brown, £16.99). Buy a copy from guardianbookshop at £14.78
Follow Séamas on Twitter @shockproofbeats
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