Federal lawsuit filed over giant concrete blocks obstructing Harvey’s work; Mayor says property owners don’t pay property taxes

HARVEY, Illinois (Wales) — Friday has an update on the I-Team’s investigation into cement blocks barricading businesses. A federal lawsuit has been filed over Harvey city officials shutting down access to south suburban businesses.

The city says it is using cement barricades to shut down businesses that refuse to pay large fines to get their business licenses revoked. They said this all happened because businesses failed to pay county property taxes.

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A federal lawsuit calls it a “scheme” and “extortion.”

A chain and giant cement blocks placed by the city of Harvey are preventing Benecia Gonzalez from operating her auto repair shop. The blocks were placed in front of his and others’ businesses because they refused to pay the $20,000 annual fine for a “one-year” business license, which is usually around $250 depending on the size of the business. Businesses were denied licenses and told to pay these “penalties” in settlement offers for not paying Cook County property taxes.

“This is the job of the Cook County treasurer to collect, not the city of Harvey,” said attorney Rob Hanlon of Netzky Olswang Law Group. “And what they’re trying to do is circumvent regulation so they can extort money from individuals for something they don’t have the power to do.”

Hanlon recently filed a lawsuit on behalf of Gonzalez and other business owners. The lawsuit alleges that city officials’ efforts were a “scheme” to “extort money from local businesses.”

“You have a unit of government that is crazy,” Hanlon said.

He noted that even if businesses pay this “fine” for their licenses, the money does not go towards property taxes.

“This is unconstitutional,” Hanlon said. “Because it means that every single one of these properties or every one of these businesses is deprived of their right to be met in the courtroom to the full extent of the law.”

The City of Harvey vehemently denies the allegations, saying they are false and unfounded and that the city supports transparency, fairness and law.

“Allegations that enforcement efforts, including business license penalties and the use of concrete barricades, constitute ‘extortion’ or ‘scheming’ are patently false,” the city said in a statement. The statement was included.

The city relies on county property taxes to operate, and when businesses don’t pay their fair share, the burden is passed on to homeowners who have to pay more, adding that hundreds of commercial properties are left behind and owed more than $12. million property taxes.

READ MORE | Huge concrete blocks block Harvey’s work; City says property owners don’t pay property taxes

“The small business owner is wondering, ‘If I have to pay $20,000 to keep my business license, how am I going to keep up?'” Harvey Mayor Christopher Clark said. ” he will say. he said. “Once again, if they were good corporate citizens and did what they were supposed to do, they would have paid their taxes anyway, and if they had paid their taxes, they wouldn’t be in this situation.”

The federal lawsuit also alleges that business owners who rented buildings paid for business licenses they could not obtain because their landlords did not pay property taxes. The lawsuit also alleges that some citizens who voiced concerns at public meetings were wrongfully detained.