Tenant-Rights Group Still Trying To Block Evictions At Logan Square Redevelopment
(CBS) -- Fighting evictions in the city's Logan Square neighborhood has been the goal of local activists for months.
CBS 2's Sandra Torres met with a tenant who was supposed to leave his apartment by Oct. 1 because of a mandatory eviction. He says he has not been able to find a place to live.
Eleven years -- that's how long Gerardo Chavez has been living in his 2-bedroom apartment in Logan Square with his wife and three children.
Now, the family and other tenants in his California Avenue building are facing eviction from the property.
Lilly Lerner is with an organization, Autonomous Tenant Union, which held a protest Saturday morning to fight against those evictions.
"We're fighting in all parts of the city against developers who are trying to push out our community, against developers who buy properties and intend to flip them by evicting tenants, doing all the renovations and upping the rent," Lerner says.
The developer in this case is Savoy Development, owned by Enrico Plati. They're behind a project to get rid of the building the Chavez family lives in -- to make way for a 138-unit luxury building.
Lerner's organization tried to meet with Plati Saturday morning to ask for an extension. At the very least, they want the evicted families to be allowed to stay for at least one year more.
Savoy Development did not respond to a request for comment.