Renters really for tenants' rights amid rent strike in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood
Dozens of renters gathered in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood Sunday to rally for tenants' rights.
The Belden Sawyer Tenant Association Local 1 held the rally in Palmer Square Park. The group is in the middle of a three-month rent strike, refusing to move out of their apartments or pay rent to their new landlord.
The group says landlord Drew Millard and property management company 33 Realty bought the building in order to make luxury renovations, and will not renew existing tenants' leases.
The Belden Sawyer Tenant Association is demanding an opportunity to negotiate what it calls "reasonable rent increases."
Other tenant groups also attended the rally, including the Fuerzas Inquilinos de Broadway y Cuyler, which organizers said faces similar circumstances in Millard's Uptown neighborhood buildings where they live. Representatives of the Metropolitan Tenants Association, the Lunt Tenants Association, BTSA Local 2, the Chicago Union of Tenants, and the Parkside Terrace Alliance also spoke at the event about tenants' rights and tenant organizing.
