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News :: Urban Development |
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Champaign City Council member was landlord of house where death occurred |
Current rating: 0 |
by rporter
Email: rporter (nospam) newtonbigelow.com (verified) |
05 Feb 2004
Modified: 09:21:21 PM |
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The News-Gazette has published a story describing the death of a Champaign man due to what looks like negligence on the part of his landlord, Champaign City Council member J.W. Pirtle. |
The property in question has long been known to be uninhabitable. Despite numerous warnings from the Champaign Neighborhood Services Department, Pirtle has apparently let the property deteriorate to the point where it has caused the death of one person, and the hospitalization of another.
The complete News-Gazette story can be found here:
http://www.news-gazette.com/story.cfm?Number=15386
It will be interesting to see what, if any, consequences Pirtle faces as a result of this tragedy |
This work is in the public domain |
Comments
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Anybody care? |
by rporter
rporter (nospam) newtonbigelow.com (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
06 Feb 2004
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To reiterate:
Man dies.
In our community.
Possibly the result of negligence on the part of an influential local official.
While it's too early to predict the end result, no one seems to be rushing to investigate this as a criminal case. The fact that the official in question is a political ally of the mayor of Champaign might conceivably have something to do with that.
Again : anybody care?
Or are we all too worried about who's got the best rhetorical chops, or whether the IMC is being run in the most ideologically pristine manner possible?
Sorry to rant and rave, but wrongful death makes me cranky. |
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Champaign Had It Coming, Sad That a Citizen Had to Take the Brunt of Bad Policy |
by Just a Citizen
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 1
06 Feb 2004
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Actually, I'm surprised that the News-Gazette has given this as much coverage as they have. Usually these sorts of political embarrassments of the entrenched power structure in Champaign are buried by the N-G.
In a sense, it may be too early to call this one, since the toxicology tests aren't back yet from the autopsy. There is one thing that is clear -- the News-Gazette has made absolutely no mention of the fact that people like Pirtle, but most of the rest too, on the city council in Champaign have fought tooth and nail against regular inspections of rental properties for exactly these sorts of conditions. Ya see, that would violate the rights of slumlords, no matter that people have died and will continue to die from Champaign's cozy accomodations with the forces of capitalism.
Urbana is better in that the law is at least on the books. But given the IMC's own experience with laxity, followed by harsh enforcement of code issues that they ignored for years with our building, it is little surprise that the city sems to prefer sprawl as a policy to making the effort to ensure that buildings in the older parts of town are safe and habitable. |
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Re: Champaign Had It Coming, Sad That a Citizen Had to Take the Brunt of Bad Policy |
by rporter
rporter (nospam) newtonbigelow.com (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
06 Feb 2004
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This is exactly the kind of ineffectual, hand-wringing response that makes the IMC such a maddening place to visit sometimes. "Oh, we wouldn't have this trouble if the world wasn't run by evil capitalists. If only we had more enlightened policymakers, these things wouldn't happen. Tsk tsk."
Please.
This story is about Otha Harmon, a real human being who died, from what the coroner is almost positive was carbon monoxide poisoning, in a house with an obviously malfunctioning furnace. The landlord, J.W. Pirtle, knew about the problem at least a week (probably much longer) before Otha Harmon's death, and did nothing. There were two other adults and one young child living in the house, all of whom could have been killed as well.
This is a little bit worse more than a "political embarassment". This is a completely unneccessary death, evidently caused by the arrogance and neglect of a powerful local official. There are laws in place which could be used to punish the responsible party, but whether those laws will be enforced remains an open question.
This is not a story about the evils of sprawl. If anyone tries to turn this into a story about Wal-Mart, I will personally vomit on them. |
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That's My Reading of It |
by Just a Citizen
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 3
06 Feb 2004
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I think there is a rather close connection to the refusal by the Champaign City Council to repeatedly not put into place effective inspections of rental units and the desire on the part of landlords to avoid anything that they feel would add to their costs and detract from their profits.
And now Mr. Harmon is dead.
The N-G article detailed an extensive list of repeated violations found on the property. Maybe in this particular case, they weren't followed up on because the landlord was one of the councilmembers that voted against such inspections. More likely, these sorts of violations are routinely ignored, no matter who the landlord is, because the city staff realizes there is not the political will to do effective enforcement action against landlords. And they would risk their jobs if the did agressive enforcement and/or worked to improve the housing that so many of the poor are forced to live in.
I would say that is a problem created by the pervasive influence of capitalism on the politics of Champaign. Of course, it could just be gross incompetence on the part of everyone concerned. But I would say that is exactly the spin that the N-G would wish to put on it, rather than to question and reform a corrupt and immoral system of governance by monied elites.
Same result, Mr. Harmon is dead. If you want to take the influence of profit out of the equation, that's your perogative, but I clearly see the connection myself.
Given that Champaign's policies are dominated by the pernicious influence of landlords and money and that Urbana seems to be drifting in the direction of the same polices with the recent decision to stand aside, roll over, and stealthily welcome WalMart to town, an extremely questionable decision in light of citizen opinion and the fact that it allows WalMart to basically write Urbana's Comprehensive Plan despite the efforts of many hundreds of its citizens over the last few years (a process that mysteriously ground to a halt about the time WalMart apparently began conniving in secrecy with Urbana's government) to put in place a plan that would prevent exactly what happened, a reasonable case could be made that Urbana's desire to be like Champaign, a major thrust of the mayor's policies from Day One, is similarly falling ill to the seductive siren song of profit ahead of public interest.
Yes, it's much worse than a political embarrassment. It's evil and immoral. But at its root, it's about money, power, and influence. I was just bringing the bad news, not supporting such policies.
YMMV |
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Re: Champaign City Council member was landlord of house where death occurred |
by jw
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 3
07 Feb 2004
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I agree with citizen. The three most important things to many landlord are: profit, profit, and profit. Unfortunatly form my experience landlords like Pirtle are more the rule than exception.
I'm sure Pirtle did not know that the furnace was in such a state of disrepair as to be life-threatenig to the tenants, however it doesn't appear that he was too concerned about finding out. This is not a peak time of the year for the furnace industry. There is no doubt that with just a call or two he could have had someone there the same day to look at it. But I guess he just couldn't be bothered to do that, and that makes him morally bankrupt in my book.
It is just a shame that someone had to die for this ongoing problem to get the attention it deserves. I hope they nail him to the wall. |
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Re: Champaign City Council member was landlord of house where death occurred |
by futrelle
futrelle (nospam) shout.net (verified) |
Current rating: 3
07 Feb 2004
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rporter, you're engaging in exactly the kind of behavior you claim to oppose.
For instance, you're not actually going to vomit on anyone, that's just one of your "rhetorical chops".
Many of us do, indeed, care, as well as having other, related opinions. What do you suggest we do, other than posting a response you approve of? |
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Re: Champaign City Council member was landlord of house where death occurred |
by rporter
rporter (nospam) newtonbigelow.com (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
07 Feb 2004
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futrelle, you're mostly correct that my threat to vomit is rhetorical (I wouldn't rule it out altogether, though, given the right set of circumstances). My nausea, however, is absolutely real. The point was to bring home the reality of Mr. Harmon's death in a visceral way.
I have no expectation that people will worry too much about my approval before posting in response to this story. I do think it would be a shame if people start veering wildly off-topic in attempts to out-clever each other. I also feel that using this incident as a springboard for a critique of developers and landlords is somewhat disrepectful to Mr. Harmon and his family. In my view, efforts to place this particular story in a "broader context" will serve to dilute the very specific tragedy which has taken place here.
What else to do? Letters to the News-Gazette, the Champaign Neighborhood Services Department, or Councilman Pirtle himself would be a start (see contact info below). It's important to let city officials know that the community is paying attention to their response to this situation. Beyond that, I'd like to hear what others might suggest.
The New-Gazette:
http://www.news-gazette.com/nnews/editorial/
Neighborhood Services Department
102 N. Neil St.
Champaign, IL 61820
217/403-7070
NeighborhoodServices (at) ci.champaign.il.us
J.W. Pirtle
Deputy Mayor–District 1
1205 Carver Dr.
Champaign, IL 61820
H: 217/356-5500
E: JWPirtle (at) ci.champaign.il.us
If anyone has more information about the specifics of this story, I'd strongly encourage them to post it here. |
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Re: Champaign City Council member was landlord of house where death occurred |
by futrelle
futrelle (nospam) shout.net (verified) |
Current rating: 0
07 Feb 2004
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> I do think it would be a shame if people start veering wildly off-topic in attempts to out-clever each other.
And how is that comment on-topic?
> I also feel that using this incident as a springboard for a critique of developers and landlords is somewhat disrepectful to Mr. Harmon and his family.
But using it as a springboard to caricature IMC posters as self-important people who want to "out-clever" each other isn't? WTF?
The line you draw between "broad" and "specific" issues is a false dilemma. We can, and will, concern ourselves with broad *and* specific issues, and it disrespects no one if our goals remain increasing accountability and preventing more tragedies. |
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Re: Champaign City Council member was landlord of house where death occurred |
by rporter
rporter (nospam) newtonbigelow.com (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
07 Feb 2004
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ugh. This is exactly the kind of endless back-and-forth I was hoping to avoid. Maybe I started it. If so, I apologize. Let's move on.
Here's my proposal: let's reserve this thread for comments/informattion on the Harmon story. If somebody wants to start a thread called "Why rporter is hypocritical and unfair", go for it. |
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Re: Champaign City Council member was landlord of house where death occurred |
by Joe Futrelle
futrelle (nospam) shout.net (verified) |
Current rating: 3
10 Feb 2004
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A point of clarification. rporter, in your first response you say that no one is investigating this as a criminal case.
That's not true; the original NG article says that the Champaign City PD referred the case to the Champaign County Sheriff's department (to avoid a conflict of interest), and Sheriff Dan Walsh is quoted describing an ongoing "criminal investigation" which they expect to wrap up in the next week or so.
The Sheriff's department is unlikely to comment on this until they conclude their investigation, at which point we should make sure it's getting covered, either by urging the NG & other local news outlets to cover it, or by covering it ourselves. |
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Good point, Joe |
by rporter
rporter (nospam) newtonbigelow.com (verified) |
Current rating: 0
10 Feb 2004
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Quite right. My mad cow disease must be acting up again. |
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