A charitable businessman targets foreclosed homes

Seven years ago, Marcial Rodriguez was the major bankroller behind a Lake County gun buyback program because he wanted to help local police.

He's at it again, this time as leader of a group of about 15 business owners who've agreed to charge just $1 to Lake County communities that need help boarding up vacant homes. And he's hoping to spread the good deeds statewide.

With foreclosures still occurring with frequency and some homeowners simply walking away because they owe more than a home is worth, Rodriguez said, some empty houses need to be boarded up so gangs aren't attracted to them.

"My goal is to take this statewide and get everybody aboard," said Rodriguez, whose family owns Capital Board-Up and Construction Inc. in Fox Lake.

Rodriguez pitched the idea at a recent Lake County Chiefs of Police Association meeting. Several chiefs were familiar with him from when he donated $5,000 to fund the Lake County gun buyback effort in 2003.

So, they weren't surprised he's back with an offer of more help.

"With Marcial, he really has been a resource for police and law enforcement in Lake County," Mundelein Police Chief Raymond J. Rose said.

Board-up jobs can run upward of $1,000, depending on the number of broken windows or other problems with an unoccupied home. Rodriguez said towns that are forced to secure homes don't need such expenses in difficult economic times.

Work completed by Rodriguez or his volunteers is viewed as a stopgap measure for a problem home before a municipality locates a property owner who would be responsible for its upkeep.

It didn't take long for Rodriguez to find a taker for the $1 board-up offer.

Round Lake Park police officer Ari Briskman was working his beat about 1 a.m. May 20 when he noticed a light on in a house he knew to be vacant. Authorities said it turned out reputed street gang members were living inside.

Officers from Round Lake Park and three neighboring agencies, assisted by a canine unit, found alcohol bottles, drug paraphernalia and gang graffiti on the walls. Round Lake Park Police Chief George Filenko said the home also had broken windows.

Two young men were charged with criminal trespass, along with other charges. And four teenage girls were charged as juveniles with criminal trespass and underage drinking.

But Round Lake Park police could not find the owner of the home, Filenko said. So, authorities decided the house should be boarded up quickly to protect the neighborhood.

That's when they call Rodriguez to take him up on his $1 board up offer, with plans to then find the owner and order the house to be repaired. Authorities said the home's utilities were still connected while the reputed gang members lived there for an unknown period of time.

"It brings down the neighborhood," Filenko said of the problem houses. "And it immediately brings down the property owner."

Rodriguez also has been summoned to Wauconda, where he's secured at least three homes at the request of village government for $1 apiece.

Village Administrator Dan Quick said while houses partially covered with boards are not attractive, the alternative is to have them become a magnet for playing children or criminal elements.

"Once a door is broken or a window is broken, I don't think you have a choice," said Quick, a former police chief. "You have to board it up."

Meanwhile, Round Lake Park, Mundelein and other Lake County towns now have officers keeping an eye on vacant properties as part of their daily beat work. Water shut-offs are one way municipalities become aware of empty homes.

Filenko said addresses of about 90 vacant properties are divided among his beat cops. Rose said Mundelein became aware of at least 94 new foreclosures in April.

Officers will typically investigate a property after noticing an ordinance violation such as tall grass or a safety problem. Authorities said residents also will be a key in making sure trouble doesn't develop in the vacant homes.

This month's Mundelein village newsletter informs residents that foreclosed and abandoned properties have become "hangouts for kids and undesirable individuals." Residents are asked to report any problem homes in their neighborhoods.

Rose said it's just another aspect of the broken windows crime-fighting technique that came to the public's attention in 1982. Under that philosophy, police take seriously any signs of public disorder.

"Our position is we in the community, as a municipality, have to get control of this," he said.

Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani pushed the broken-windows philosophy in the 1990s, when the city became known for its tough stance on panhandling in its effort to reduce serious crime.