By C.V. Beck

Ongoing events at Lincoln Place continue to be that of aggressive dog-walking trespassers and more delays in our very complex legal process. 

A neighbor attended an open house on Lake Street where the realtor said, why don’t they just pay them off and get them out of there so they can redevelop thereby indicating that she does not read the newspapers. Neighbor replied, have you ever been over there?, it’s like a paradise! 

One Sunday morning, prior to 8 am, I heard a noise in my hallway. I went outside to investigate and found at the foot of the back steps a pug, off-leash and alone. 

My cats had disappeared. A moment later, a very large man with another pug, also off-leash appeared. I told him he was trespassing and he said that I was, that I was supposed to be gone from here now. I told him he was wrong. 

A woman appeared with a third pug, this one on a leash. They were still in the backyard area behind my legally-occupied apartment. I told them again they were trespassing and they needed to put their dogs on a leash and leave. We had words. The man, easily 6’5”, bodybuilder, dyed black hair and the woman, average everything with dyed red hair, continued walking towards Elkgrove Avenue, telling me he was going to call the police and have me arrested for verbal abuse. 

There were no sanitary products visible and no attempt was made to put the dogs on a leash. The security guards, normally visible every time I look out the window, were, oddly enough, nowhere in evidence.

On Penmar, one of our legal residents encountered a group of dog walkers well within the perimeter of the property, walking their dogs and making no attempt to clean up after them.

Another incident occurred when two women walking by with strollers were told by a security guard in a car that “no one lives here” and that they could not walk on the sidewalk. They said they were visiting and came to see me. I was outside in the “quad,” enjoying what we have here. 

I gave them some Beachheads to read and they were very disturbed that the security guard had violated their civil rights as they were walking along a public street, on a public sidewalk.

In court, the legal delays continue while people seek a return to normalcy after lifelong disruptions. For some, it has been 22 years of this. For me, it’s only been 16 years, which is quite enough, thank you. (See box for details.)