Joliet's Homeless Create Huge Filthy Mess On Larkin, City Responds

JOLIET ? For the second time in the past two weeks, city of Joliet crews found themselves being called to the vacant Steak N Shake property on Larkin Avenue after readers notified Joliet Patch that the two adjacent business properties have turned into filthy public nuisances.

By late Thursday afternoon, Joliet's neighborhood services department had crews on the site removing piles of garbage and materials strewn across the property behind the empty strip mall where the old J.J. Fish & Chicken fast-food restaurant used to be. The entire strip mall has sat vacant for at least three or four years ago.

In addition to the squalor behind the JJ Fish strip mall, several homeless people had beds and living space where the garbage bins used to be kept behind the permanently closed Steak N Shake. The Steak N Shake will be torn down in the coming months to make way for Joliet's second Chick-fil-A double-drive-thru restaurant.

On a positive note, by early Thursday evening, the city of Joliet had cleaned up the filth behind the strip mall. Two of photos of the city of Joliet's neighborhood services division cleanup are posted among the photos published below.

Joliet Fire Chief Jeff Carey told Joliet Patch that the city's Community Care Program, launched this year by the fire department, has tried to help at least 96 homeless people so far.

Of those, 67 former homeless people graduated through the program and about 20 people are still in it. Another 10 chose to leave the program and not get any help to overcome their homelessness.

"Some of them are not going to take it," Carey explained.

Joliet Fire Chief Talks About City's New Community Care Program

Carey said the Community Care Program has successfully cleaned up at least four major areas of Joliet that were being overridden with homeless people. One area was behind Al's Steakhouse and the former Bill Jacobs auto dealership on West Jefferson Street, Carey said.

Another nearby area was along Hammes Avenue near the BP gas station. A third spot was on the east side in the 600 block of Cass Street near the creek. A fourth location was along Stryker Avenue closer to Interstate 80 and the Prayer Tower Ministries Church, Carey said.

Now that the Steak N Shake property and adjacent Larkin Avenue strip mall have been identified as problem spots, city employees will make regular rounds to ensure that those locations do not become public health and safety hazards, Joliet's fire chief said.

"We have had successes with at least four of these places. Sometimes, it takes a few tries," Carey said.

Joliet's Community Care Program works with the homeless to help them find shelter, food, drug rehab, if necessary, Carey explained.

"Slowly, we are getting some of the people the help they need," he said. "But not all of them want it. There are certain groups of homeless, unfortunately, that won't take our services."

Besides the Fire Department, the Joliet Police Department and Neighborhood Services Division is also intricately involved in the Community Care Program.

Carey said the city was able to immediately intervene after Joliet Patch notified them of the squalor behind the Steak N Shake because it's unsafe and unsanitary. And since city staff found none of the homeless people around, "then we consider it an abandoned property. (Normally) if it's private property, we give them a couple of days to vacate the property.

"We consider it abandoned right now," Carey said of the Steak N Shake property.