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         March 20, 2010        

Pictures of Boeger Road neighborhood
surrounding proposed apartments
for severely mentally ill

In yesterday's story, I promised you pictures of the forlorn, no-man's-land neighborhood where Arlington Heights dumps its most undesirable uses.  This is the commercial district into which the North/Northwest Suburban Task Force on Supportive Housing for Individuals with Mental Illness ("Housing Task Force") wants to put apartments for 30 severely mentally ill persons who suffer from such syndromes as schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder.

After seeing these pictures, I'm sure that you'll agree with me that, if they weren't suffering from depression before they got there, the mentally ill residents will be massively depressed, once they see where the Housing Task Force, Thresholds and the Village of Arlington Heights have stuck them to live, all without any transit, nearby, to escape the desolate surroundings.

The Radio Tower

Directly across the street from the proposed site where the apartment building would be located in a commercial district is the radio transmission antenna tower of Spanish language radio station WPPN 106.7 FM.  The radio tower is on land zoned as being an industrial district.

This is the view, directly across the street from where the front door of the apartment building would be.  Nothing but tall, broken weeds, litter and that monstrosity, perhaps 20 feet from the sidewalk:

The tower soars 440 feet into the air.  This would be their across-the-street neighbor, forever:

Here's another view, looking across the street from where the apartment building would be:

The landscaping is lovely!  Nothing but broken weeds and lots of litter:

The Timber Court low-income housing project

Next door to the left (east) of the radio antenna tower property is the Timber Court "luxury condominium" project, which contains many low-priced units that were set aside as "affordable housing" for low-income residents.

Here's a concept drawing of the landscaped courtyard, "Nestled away on a quiet, beautifully wooded lot ... The ultimate combination of a natural setting and all of today's modern conveniences," that Tandem Realty, developer of Timber Court, promised on their Site Plan would be built for the residents.  Boeger Road is on the right.  North is to the right.  West is at the top:

Here's a view from the northwest corner (upper right in the above site plan) of the Timber Court project, which is the closest view from where the apartments for the mentally ill would be.  Dumpsters, a mountain of dirt and tall weeds: Here's what the courtyard actually looked like, yesterday, from the northwest corner of the property (on the site plan, looking at the lower building from between the top and right buildings), which is the closest view from the proposed apartments for the mentally ill.  More tall weeds and another mountain of dirt: Here's a view of the entrance to the courtyard from the northeast corner (on the site plan, from between the bottom and right buildings).  Remember, this is what the new, across the street neighbor of the apartments for the mentally ill looks like.  Rather pathetic, isn't it, with the sidewalk to nowhere: Here's a view of the southeast corner (on the site plan, lower right corner at the curved driveway) of the new next door neighbor, Timber Court.  More of the same:  broken down trees, tall weeds and another mountain of dirt: At least they got the front yard right, right?  Nope.  Here's a look at the southwest corner of their front yard (on site plan, from curved driveway looking down).  That's the corner of Old Arlington Heights Court in Buffalo Grove and Old Arlington Heights Road, at the back of the picture.  In the foreground, more broken tree limbs, piles of landscape debris and litter: Here's a look at the center of their front yard -- their main entryway into Timber Court (on site plan, from front door of lower building, looking down).  We've seen this kind of broken branches,  litter and debris, before, haven't we?  Welcome to the Timber Court "luxury condominium" development: Here's a look at the full, "beautifully landscaped" courtyard garden at Timber Court (on the site plan, from upper left corner of lower building, looking towards building on the right), which would be the new, across-the-street neighbor of 30 severely mentally ill people.  How depressing! Compare all that to what was promised on the Project Rendering page of the Timber Court web site, which promises: "A combination of high-quality construction and extreme attention to detail, Timber Court is one of the finest developments in Arlington Heights."  At least they got the "extreme" part right.  This dump is pretty extreme, compared to what is promised on their Project Rendering web page.  Where are the clean landscaping and the grass and beautiful trees that they promised?: I stopped by the Timber Court sales office, early yesterday (Friday) afternoon, to ask about what their property maintenance standards are and to ask when, if ever, the courtyard would look like what is promised, on their web site, to prospective owners before they put down the big bucks to live there.  After all, their home page also promises:  "Office Hours:  Open everyday from 12 pm to 4 pm."  Alas, when I got there, a sign on the front door said, "Office closed on Thursdays and Fridays."  Gosh, they couldn't even tell the truth about that! Boeger Road Here's a look at Boeger Road from the northwest corner of Timber Court.  The radio tower property is on the left.  The site of the proposed apartments for the mentally ill is across the street on the right.  That's my new, orange Pontiac Solstice GXP convertible, parked legally on the street in front of the Thresholds site.  You'd think that you were in some poor neighborhood on the West Side of Chicago with all of the litter, debris and tall weeds everywhere.  I'm sure Mayor Arlene Mulder wouldn't tolerate this kind of property maintenance on the block where she lives: The Housing Task Force / Thresholds property On the site of the proposed apartment building, plenty of tires, broken debris and other litter: Here's another view of the proposed Thresholds site:

Finally, here's a view from the sidewalk in front of where the apartment building for the mentally ill would be located.

This is a section of Arlington Heights that is, by far, the worst place of any area in the Village to be, and that's where they want to stick the mentally ill, because the Housing Task Force, Thresholds and the Village of Arlington Heights care so much about the mentally ill.  Naturally, my efforts to stop this plan is being characterized as insensitivity to and discrimination against the mentally ill, because it's about a mile from my house, essentially across the street from Buffalo Grove High School and directly next door to a large private day care center.

I'm not against the mentally ill.  I just think that they should be allowed to live a life with at least some dignity, and be located near the services, like transit and a grocery store, that they need, rather than stuck in the most remote, desolate, isolated corner of town that the Village of Arlington Heights could find.  In other words, the severely mentally ill should be afforded an opportunity to live a life that is as normal as the rest of us have.

OK, I think that I've made my point.  What do you think?  Send me e-mail or call me at (847) 870-0700 to let me know.  Meanwhile, it's been a whole week and nobody from the Housing Task Force, Thresholds or Daveri Development has returned my phone calls and e-mail asking them why they thought that this was an appropriate site for their plan.  Maybe now you know why.

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