Volunteer group gets tangled in Carpentersville political feud

Village president criticizes involvement of anti-immigration group in cleanup effort targeting vacant homes

By George Houde | Special to the Chicago Tribune
September 27, 2008

The grass was a foot high and shrubbery had grown wild around a two-story house in Carpentersville that had been vacant at least since July.

The home in the 1400 block of Plainview Road was an eyesore, neighbors said, until an army of volunteers mowed, trimmed and pruned on a Saturday morning earlier this month.

"Isn't it awesome," neighbor Donna Duncan said. "If it wasn't for them, the place would still look abandoned."

But even good intentions can get caught in the crossfire of Carpentersville's long-running political feud among Village Board members, some of whom participate in the cleanup program, and Village President Bill Sarto. The house on Plainview was targeted by the Carpentersville Improvement Committee, whose members are appointed by the village president.

"There's a lot of problems with what they're doing," Sarto said. "It's dangerous, and there are liability problems. Trustees are out there with their own lawn mowers, so it looks like a lot of grandstanding to me."

A goal is to prevent neighborhood deterioration, said Patricia Schultz, committee chairwoman.

Schultz said she got the idea for the lawn mowing brigade from the Adopt-A-Block program under way in cities across the country. She said she hopes the yard work will motivate residents to help maintain their neighborhoods. A reduction in crime is another possible benefit, she said.

Schultz said the group has done yard work at more than a dozen properties since the committee began recruiting volunteers in late August.

"Crime doesn't go away, but it does lessen when people see neighbors involved in activities like this," she said.

Sarto complained that among the volunteers are members of the Fox Valley Citizens for Legal Immigration, a controversial group that backs restrictions on illegal immigrants. The group has supported a proposed ordinance to fine businesses that hire illegal immigrants and landlords who rent to them.

The group includes Carpentersville Trustee Paul Humpfer, a founding member and a political foe of Sarto. Humpfer and other group members have been wearing red T-shirts sporting the name of the organization while mowing lawns.

"I find the whole thing rather distasteful," said Sarto, who has opposed the Immigration group and the proposed ordinance.

Schultz said the political action group is providing elbow grease and lawn tools.

"They wrote the committee a letter offering to help, and we accepted," Schultz said.

She acknowledged the group's involvement may be a touchy subject in a village that is nearly 40 percent Hispanic. The illegal Immigration issue sparked large protests and heated debate two years ago and remains controversial even though the proposed ordinance has been tabled indefinitely.

About 150 homes in the village are vacant and in foreclosure or probate proceedings, Schultz said.

"We're just trying to take care of the homes that the banks or the families won't," she said.

Neighbors said young people were having parties in the home on Plainview, so they called the Department of Community Development, and a code enforcement officer tagged the house for overgrown grass and weeds.

That allowed volunteers to go on the property and be covered by insurance through the village, said Craig Martin, a code enforcement officer.
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