City of Harvey, property owners trade blame after homes boarded up, residents say, with them inside

HARVEY, Ill. (WLS) -- Frustrations filled the Harvey City Council chamber on Monday night while tenants, who say they were boarded up inside their apartments, remain in limbo.

"Even though I didn't make the call, I didn't make the decisions, even though I wasn't aware, I'm still an alderman, and that makes me just as responsible, too," said 4th Ward Alderman Tracy Key.

A seemingly divided and heated Harvey City Council meeting got underway on Monday.

"One could assume that the City of Harvey at-large had some piece in this," said 2nd Ward Alderwoman Colby Chapman.

"This building that was uninhabitable on 144th and Halsted was deemed uninhabitable by professional, certified, code enforcement officers," said 6th Ward Alderman Tyrone Rogers.

As the city council was addressing the concerns at the apartment complex, tensions flared between Mayor Christopher Clark and two alderpeople.

"I didn't interrupt you, and don't interrupt me," Rogers said.

"You're about to escorted out in a minute," said Mayor Christopher Clark.

It ended with both alderpeople being escorted out of the chambers.

This comes as tenants back at the apartment complex received food and portable heaters from Andrew Holmes and other community leaders on Monday while still living in despair.

"Angry, upset, furious. Like, who does this to human beings?" said one-year resident Mark Montgomery.

Montgomery said he doesn't know where he'll be living in the coming days or weeks.

Harvey city officials claim the property owners began boarding up these apartments on Friday due to what the city calls unsafe and dangerous living conditions.

Some tenants said they were still inside their homes at the time of the board-up.

"I start hearing the boards going up on my windows and everything, and I opened the door, like, 'What are you doing?' And, like they told me, 'We're just doing what we're told,'" Montgomery said.

"I felt lost, lonely, depressed, scared," said four-year resident Genevieve Tyler.

On Monday night, it seemed to be a blame game about who called for the property to be boarded up.

Clark said it was the property owners, but the owners, over the phone and through a written statement, claim it was the city's call.

"Then, they will have to have a conversation with me on that, because I haven't heard that from them. Once again, it's private property. What we did was send them a letter letting them know there were deficiencies, letting them know the consequences of those deficiencies and they decided to take action on their own," Clark said.

Clark ended the meeting, calling on the council's future support to change existing ordinances so this hopefully doesn't happen again. There's still no word when or if the tenants will have to move.