Recent field reports have discussed a heightened awareness to vacant properties in the Englewood/West Englewood area of Chicago. Please see the following communication between Pura S. Bascos, Deputy Commissioner Department of Buildings for the City of Chicago and J Schwegel, High Risk Specialist, Safeguard Properties Inc. 

From: Pura Bascos [mailto:pbascos@cityofchicago.org]
Sent: Monday, March 27, 2006 3:10 PM
To: Nicholas Schwegel, High Risk Specialist
Subject: Re: City of Chicago Englewood/West Englewood, IL Police Alert

Hi J:

I was not able to find anything official about focusing on vacant properties. Frankly, vacant buildings are always a priority with DOB. I also asked our Press Officer and he had not seen anything.

Englewood has always been a hot zone of gang activity. I bet if you looked at the addresss and I gave you a map, you would see a lot of these properties clustered in that area. It is an economically deprived area that needs a lot of attention.

Anyway, hope this helps

Pura S. Bascos
Deputy Commissioner
Department of Buildings
121 N. LaSalle, Room 501
Chicago, IL 60602

To view the zip codes for the area please click on the following Excel file.

 Englewood_West Englewood.xls

To run a property report for a list of properties housed in the Safeguard Database please click on the following link. (requires log-in)

City of Chicago Englewood/West Englewood Special Ordinance Area