Where were Schiller Park inspectors?
Anyone who rents or manages a multi-dwelling apartment building in Schiller Park knows about the Village’s rigorous annual, mandatory inspection program.
Most of us were dumbfounded when we awoke to the Chicago Tribune newspaper headline: Illinois pollution enforcement hampered by politics. The article, based on a Tribune investigation, revealed how carcinogenic solvents and caustic acids oozed out of rusty barrels packed haphazardly into a ramshackle building just two blocks away from a Schiller Park subdivision.
A color picture of the front entrance of Anchor Metal Finishing at 9355 Bernice Ave. in Schiller Park accompanied the Sunday article.
Any apartment building owner who has been through a Schiller Park inspection would have clearly identified at least four blatant code violations in the picture. God only knows what Illinois Environmental Protection Agency inspectors found inside when they raided the joint in January 2008.
Yet, this issue has remained unsettled for more than 18 months. Where were Schiller Park inspectors? Why didn’t Village officials alert citizens when this situation was first discovered? What are Mayor Anna Montana and Schiller Park village trustees going to do to prevent this sort of this from recurring?
Rather than searching through individual apartment building units citing renters and owners with petty violations, Schiller Park inspectors should drive around the numerous industrial parks and make sure the grounds are free of toxic sludge and eyesores!