Dec. 7, 2000

Once-dismissed case against Oak Park
landlord resurrected by village hall

By ERIC LINDEN

George Schneider's attorney has to go through a legal process called
discovery to find out why the Oak Park village government took him back
to court yesterday.

As it did last March, village hall has charged multifamily building
owner Schneider, also an Oak Park resident, with having in his buildings
so-called submerged inlets in some old, four-legged bathtubs.

According to village hall and its prosecutor, Assistant Village Attorney
Jack Tibbetts, the water in the tubs could back up and flow back into
the system and, eventually, contaminate water going other properties in
the village. The case had been dismissed in March.

The new case was opened Wednesday in the Fourth District Circuit Court
in Maywood and is, presumably, identical to one heard in March and
dismissed out of hand by Judge Daniel Miranda. The judge earlier this
year ruled that village hall had no basis for the submerged inlets case
because the tub fixtures were legal when they were installed, had never
caused a problem and were grandfathered in under the code that now
outlaws submerged inlets. Schneider and his attorney, Oak Parker Gene L.
Armstrong, have not been provided with information on why the village
has chosen to reopen the case.

"We want to have this heard," Armstrong on Wednesday told Judge Judge
Nello P. Gamberdino, who allowed discovery, which would provide a reason
for the village government's action. In the discovery process,
prosecutors have to provide any case-related information that is
requested by defendants, and Tibbetts said he would provide information
to Schneider and Armstrong. Tibbetts said, however, that he was
reserving the right to object to any discovery requests later.

Schneider again has been cited by housing inspectors for a condition in
some of his buildings. Several bathrooms in the older buildings had
plumbing in the bathtubs that, Tibbetts had said, could result in sewage
backing up, which would be against code and damaging to village
residents, officials said.

The plumbing, the so-called inlets, had been allowed when the apartments
were built and had never previously drawn complaints. But plumbing
inspectors issued citations and ordered that all such plumbing be
changed to prevent any risk of backups. Inspectors have ignored
Schneider's arguments--agreed to by Judge Miranda in March--that such
plumbing is allowed currently in Chicago apartments and exists in other
old buildings in Oak Park, including some noted structures and some
designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, the famous architect and former Oak Park
resident.

When the case was last heard in court, it was settled after a private
conference between Judge Miranda, prosecutor Tibbetts and Armstrong,
Schneider's attorney. Miranda publicly had promised to "narrow the
issues" in the case, and after the 15-minute private conference, the
case was over.

Miranda said he and the attorneys had discussed the "demonstrable
evidence" in the case: the plumbing existed and had always been
permitted. With this information, Miranda said the plumbing in
Schneider's buildings were grandfathered in under Oak Park codes, and
the case was thrown out.

With Judge Gamberdino now presiding over Oak Park cases, perhaps just
the prospect of a new judge caused village hall to resurrect the case
against Schneider.

Prosecutor Tibbetts had wanted to set the new trial before Judge
Gamberdino on Jan. 3, 2001, but Armstrong asked for more time to gather
information and to prepare the case. Gamberdino  then set the case for
trial on Feb. 7, 2001, again in Room 104 of the Fourth District Circuit
Court complex in Maywood.

Schneider said an Oak Park plumber told him that as many as 10,000
housing units in Oak Park have the submerged inlets currently
operating--including some apartments, some homes built before 1931,
"most" buildings designed by Wright and the Cheney Mansion, the home
owned by the Park District of Oak Park and rented for private receptions
on grounds at the northeast corner of Euclid Avenue and Ontario Street.