Abuse Of Power At The Monument Building

The building had begun its life as the 1st National Bank. The second owner renamed it Corporate Center. The third owner renamed it Monument Building.

One morning in early July of 2008, code enforcement descended upon the Monument Building like a swat team.  Every officer, in every department , entered the building at the same time, and spread out looking for every possible violation. Under the previous owner, the same conditions, with the same tenants, were lauded as a rebirth.

Whatever motivated Pawlowski to pull the plug on the new owner, the tenants were lightweights, of no consequence to him. At that time, myself and few other malcontents, like Lou Hershman, would gather early in the morning for coffee at Jerry's Cafe, located on the first floor.

Jerry's was not one of the upstart businesses blessed with a Pawlowski grant at the time. He had to pay for everything, and everything had been inspected, inside and out. His plans had been approved, his electric and plumbing had been approved,  and his expensive grill and hood system had been approved.  While all the tenants were put out of business that day,  Jerry was also financially ruined. 

During this sorry Pawlowski era, he used the code department as a weapon.  Although Pawlowski is gone, some of that same mentality apparently still lurks with some of the code officers.  I wrote about Pawlowski's tactics back then in 2008, and I will continue to defend those currently victimized by such abuse.

The Monument Building would be torn down years later by J.B. Reilly, and replaced by one of his Corporate Towers.

I photographed the code cars that morning lined up for the raid   

reprinted from previous years

ADDENDUM APRIL 26, 2022: In 2008, when the above abuse was occuring, this blogger was there documenting the incident. I documented numerous incidents in that period. As Pawlowski became bolder in his aggression and attracted the attention of the FBI, they used this and O'Hare's blog as a source for tips. Unfortunately those Pawlowski storm troopers are still at city hall. Some have ascended into positions of power. Just two years ago I documented on this blog a homeowner being harassed, as a personal favor to a friend of a code director. I have slowed down with such direct involvement, that was the last court hearing I attended. Thirty years of fighting city hall takes its toll. I can tell you that Pawlowski supporters thought that he could walk on water, he couldn't...that should be a lesson for current supporters of current politicans.