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Housing Wed May 12 2010
Eviction Trial Ends in Victory for Rogers Park Tenant
Carol Vialdores, the Rogers Park mother of five who was facing eviction from her subsidized apartment, has won her case and will stay in her apartment. Her trial ended after two days in court, and she was found not guilty of the four charges of lease violation brought against her by management at Northpoint, the Howard-area apartment complex where she lives.
Organizers from the Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign (CAEC) mobilized the community in support of Vialdores and her family. Holly Krig, a volunteer organizer for the CAEC, said the victory is a huge step forward.
"It builds momentum for the larger campaign," she explained. "People can now see that they absolutely can fight back and win. There are 3,300 pending evictions in Chicago. The more we fight back, the better chance we have on winning a moratorium on all economic-related evictions."
Krig attributed the victory to Vialdores being a "fantastic organizer."
"I told [the court] the truth," Vialdores said. "They didn't have any evidence against me. I've been living there for 16 years, and all of a sudden [management is] saying this stuff about me? No way."
Northpoint management declined to comment.
Now assured she and her family won't be evicted, Carol plans to do some work on her home.
"We're gonna paint my apartment and get some new furniture," she said.
RAStewart / May 13, 2010 12:16 AM
Good for Carol Vialdores and her family! An encouraging story I can go to sleep on tonight. I don't think a tenant would ever have won a case like this ten or twenty years ago.