Fire at a Mohammed Amro Property

Post and photos by the Hawthorne Hawkman.

The two properties down the street from me at 2515 and 2519 3rd St N have played a key role in my blogging efforts.  The owner, Mohammed Amro, has been coined "Mr. Slummy" on the Johnny Northside blog, due to his extraordinary flouting of both city housing ordinances and common sense.  After I confronted Amro regarding his illegal excavation at 2515 3rd, an anonymous commenter on JNS was the first person to use the moniker "The Hawthorne Hawkman."

Well, on Sunday I was out for a stroll in the neighborhood when I saw the family that lives just south of Amro's properties standing outside and looking rather concerned.  They had noticed smoke billowing out of a second-story window and alertly called 911.  It should be noted that Amro has been nothing short of a complete disaster of a neighbor to these folks, and yet they still had the common decency to do the right thing.

And thankfully, no one was home when the fire occurred.  It appears as if no one in the house nor any firefighters were seriously hurt either.  For Amro's sake, let's hope the damage is minimal, because...

...at this address he's already more than a year behind on his taxes.  He's also received 19 special assessments from the city on this property in under two years.  Four of those (three $10 fees and a $6,360 boarded/vacant registration) have been canceled, but he still owes over $4,800 in unpaid special assessments at 2519 alone.

2515 3rd St N is a whole different story.  Well, not entirely.  He's still behind on his taxes.  He's been cited 26 times here, although many of the $10 citations have been canceled.  Still, he owes more than $9,400 in assessments.

Once again, thankfully no one was hurt, and thanks to good neighbors a viable structure appears to have been saved from a fire.  But now it becomes even more unlikely that Amro will be able to make anything positive out of either of his two properties.