Letter

Altgeld management counters resident's claims

Dear Editor:

The letter from Cheryl Johnson on behalf of the People for Community Recovery at CHA's Altgeld Gardens/Murray homes (in the April 17-18 edition) was written without total disregard for the facts.

East Lake Management Group, Inc. is CHA's designated private manager for Altgeld. East Lake is required to implement policy directives from our client, CHA. CHA directed that residents would be charged a monthly flat fee in excess of the leaseholder's monthly utility allowance.

The maximum flat fee was set at $20 per month and was assessed only in those cases where the leaseholder's utility consumption for the applicable month exceeded $20. Verification of monthly utility usage was based upon meter readings taken by CHA monthly.

All Altgeld residents were given prior written notice of the policy change. In addition, CHA hired a private contractor to prepare and issue utility assessment statements to the affected leaseholders monthly.

On April 17 we received a bulletin from CHA that informed us that an error had been made in accessing the utility charges. The bulletin also stated that the rental accounts for all affected residents would be credited for all charges made in error for the months of March and April.

Ms. Johnson's letter correctly acknowledges that significant renovation and repair work has been completed and is on-going at Altgeld. She, however, incorrectly asserted that East Lake directed residents to dispose of personal belongings or directed (them) to refrain from smoking in their newly rehabbed units.

East Lake has informed residents of its willingness to hang pictures at no cost to minimize damage to the new units. We have received nothing but accolades from the 95 families that have been moved to newly rehabbed units since March 1.

Ms. Johnson has chosen to ignore longstanding CHA policies (prohibiting) washers and dryers in living units.

In addition, East Lake retained a private bus company to provide transportation to a laundromat that was both clean and affordable.

We have documents and resident testimonials to verify that work was completed and to the satisfaction of the substantial majority of our residents.

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[Author Affiliation]

Gertte H. Smith

Director of Site Operations

CHA Altgeld Gardens/Murray Homes