THE LOOP — A judge ruled Tuesday that City Council candidate Stephanie Coleman and her father have 120 days to fix a vacant property they own in Englewood before the building is demolished.
Attorney Paul Fine agreed to the 120-day stay of demolition after Judge Mark Ballard rejected his attempt to delay a trial on the matter Tuesday in Cook County Circuit Court at the Daley Center.
Coleman, the daughter of former Ald. Shirley Coleman, faces Ald. Toni Foulkes (15th) in a runoff election next Tuesday.
Without mentioning the political ramifications, Fine said the city's case against the Colemans "stinks," calling it a "tempest in a teapot," but added, "We're gonna get this done."
Fine called the property at 913 W. 59th St. in Englewood "a relatively well-maintained house," adding, "It doesn't look all that bad."
"This is not a horrifyingly bad situation," he said, adding the house is "fixable" and "I think this is something that will be fixed."
Yet Fine took issue with the "speed and ferocity" of the city's prosecution on the matter. A suit the city filed against the property in 2013, naming Stephanie Coleman and her father, David Coleman, as defendants, cited the house as "dangerous and unsafe."
On Tuesday, Ballard didn't want to hear about the "speed" of the proceedings, pointing out "this case has been going on since 2013" as he denied Fine's request to delay the trial for two weeks.
Ballard was unsympathetic when Fine said he just had been hired by David Coleman and needed time to get up to speed on the case.
"That's your client's problem," Ballard said.
Fine then reached agreement with city attorneys on the demolition of the home, but with a 120-day delay to allow the Colemans to potentially bring the building up to code. He acknowledged, "Either do the work or it gets torn down."
Ballard pounded that message home, saying, "If that work's not done on July 28, you have a problem."
Desmon Yancy, deputy political director of United Working Families, a group backing Foulkes that publicized the case earlier this month called the Colemans' stewardship of the building "irresponsible," saying, "It's unfortunate that this situation won't be resolved before Election Day" next Tuesday.
"She's had several years to deal with this," Yancy said. "She knows it's a problem."
Yancy suggested it showed Coleman is out of touch with 16th Ward residents, saying, "Englewood has a big problem with vacant properties," as they serve as "a haven for criminality."
United Working Families is an umbrella group of community organizations like Action Now and unions like the Chicago Teachers Union.
David Coleman declined to comment outside the courtroom, but Jerry Thomas, spokesman for the Coleman campaign, said his daughter is co-owner "in name only." Thomas said Stephanie Coleman is determined to make sure her 80-year-old father "gets the support he needs to get that house up to specifications," just as she's committed to spurring the development that would refill many of Englewood's vacant homes.
Foulkes is trying to switch wards after her 15th Ward was dramatically redrawn in the latest city remap. The race was thrown wide open after the death of incumbent Ald. JoAnn Thompson (16th) shortly before the Feb. 24 election. Foulkes beat Coleman in that vote, but did not gain a majority, finishing with 43.1 percent of votes cast to 35.1 percent for Coleman, sending them into a runoff.
United Working Families previously charged Coleman with being a "slumlord," but she responded, "To be a slumlord, you have to have tenants."
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