Milwaukee, WI
Article prompts Milwaukee’s Seaway Terrace Apartments to repair tenant’s heat
During Milwaukee’s frigid temperatures in early February, Steve Paradowski found himself facing a familiar problem in the apartment he moved into over 10 years ago — his heater wouldn’t turn on.
Paradowski, 68, told Public Investigator he couldn’t remember the last time both heaters in his Seaway Terrace apartment at 4601 S. First St. had worked. As soon as one was repaired, it didn’t take long before it broke again or the other one stopped working, he said.
Public Investigator called the phone number on the Seaway Terrace Apartments website, which is the same number for the Illinois-based property owners, Kinzie Realty, three times. Reporters also followed up with five emails over the next three weeks. Nobody responded.
But just three hours after Public Investigator published an article about Paradowski’s faulty thermostats and nonfunctioning heater, he said he got a call from the property manager.
“I just had a long talk with the manager,” Paradowski texted the morning of March 3. “Apparently, your article was read by the owners who contacted the manager. A maintenance man is on the way as we speak.”
That day, Paradowski said his living room heater was fixed. Two days later, maintenance fixed the thermostats that had been hanging from the wall since he moved in.
Even the closet door, which Paradowski said had been broken for nearly his entire time there, was repaired.
“It’s a little overwhelming,” Paradowski said. “I didn’t expect them to act so quickly.”
Paradowski said property manager Scott Snarski personally visited his apartment to check over the completed repairs.
Andrew Brown, a representative for Kinzie Realty, said the company never received any voicemails from Public Investigator at its Evanston offices, even though reporters used the contact information on Seaway’s website.
According to Brown, Paradowski didn’t formally request maintenance work. Tenants have to make these requests through email, phone, online, or in person before they’re logged in the company’s software, Brown said.
“There are no logged work order requests from this tenant from the past several years,” Brown wrote in an email.
Paradowski said he knows a filing a work order is required, but thought he could ask maintenance directly for help, which he’s done in the past.
But Brown said notifying maintenance staff isn’t sufficient for a request.
He said the other tenant in the story, Nailah Boyd, who also reported heating problems, has also been visited since the article’s publication, and her issues are being resolved “as rapidly as possible.”
Boyd’s thermostat had been “repaired promptly” after she submitted a maintenance request in December, Brown added.
“At the same time, it is possible that her heat was compromised, but we’re not certain,” Brown said.
Brown also pointed out that Kinzie Realty did not own the apartment building until 2018. The company owns or manages several apartment buildings in Wisconsin and the greater Chicago area.
“We’re regretful that this prior owner may not have focused on repairing property maintenance issues timely, but we can’t be responsible for their flaws,” Brown said.
Paradowski said the problems with his apartment go back farther than just the issue with his living room heater. He also took issue with Kinzie Realty taking away residents’ free storage units in 2018 and maintenance staff making a hole in his wall in 2019.
According to a notice viewed by Public Investigator, maintenance made the hole to install a sleeve for a standing air conditioning unit. Paradowski was given two choices: buy his own AC unit, or rent one from Seaway. He said he couldn’t afford either.
Though his heating issues are resolved, Paradowski said it shouldn’t have taken an article for Kinzie Realty to respond to Public Investigator. But sometimes, that’s what it takes, he said.
“It’s good,” he said. “Because I guarantee you, I’m not the only one.”
Quinn Clark is a Public Investigator reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She can be emailed at QClark@gannett.com.
Contact Public Investigator
Government corruption. Corporate wrongdoing. Consumer complaints. Medical scams. Public Investigator is a new initiative of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and its sister newsrooms across Wisconsin. Our team wants to hear your tips, chase the leads and uncover the truth. We’ll investigate anywhere in Wisconsin. Send your tips to publicinvestigator@jrn.com or call 414-319-9061. You can also submit tips at jsonline.com/tips.
Milwaukee, WI
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Murray Avenue and Edgewood Avenue, Shorewood
SHOREWOOD, Wis. – A 13-year-old was taken into custody on Wednesday morning, May 13, following a police chase that started in Milwaukee and ended in Shorewood.
Police chase
The backstory:
It was around 1:40 a.m. Wednesday when the Shorewood Police Department was notified of a pursuit involving a reported stolen vehicle.
The pursuit had been initiated by the Milwaukee Police Department and was terminated before entering Shorewood.
Shorewood officers located the vehicle and attempted a traffic stop, but the vehicle did not stop, and a pursuit was initiated.
The chase ended near Murray Avenue and Edgewood Avenue.
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The 13-year-old driver and sole occupant ran from the scene – and their vehicle rolled backward into the front of a Shorewood squad car.
Murray Avenue and Edgewood Avenue, Shorewood
Teen in custody
What we know:
The teen was taken into custody with the assistance of several neighboring law enforcement agencies.
The individual will be referred to the Milwaukee County Children’s Court for charging.
No injuries were sustained by the suspect or officers, and no damage was reported resulting from the contact between the vehicles.
The Source: The information in this post was provided by the Shorewood Police Department.
MILWAUKEE – A Milwaukee man is accused of shooting and killing Dennis Johnson, a 56-year-old Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office employee, on the city’s north side earlier this month.
Charges filed
In court:
Prosecutors charged 29-year-old Prinston Underwood with first-degree intentional homicide, attempted first-degree intentional homicide, two counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety and possession of a firearm by an outstate felon.
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Another man, 53-year-old Darrin Sutton, is charged with a gun possession felony in the case. A 25-year-old woman was also arrested in the case; the district attorney’s office said charges against her are still under review.
Prinston Underwood and Darrin Sutton
Teutonia and Chambers shooting
The backstory:
Milwaukee police responded to a shooting near Teutonia and Chambers just after 5 p.m. on Friday, May 8. When officers arrived, a criminal complaint said they found Johnson shot in the driver’s seat of his Jeep.
An autopsy determined a bullet went through Johnson’s right arm and into his chest, and the medical examiner’s office ruled his manner of death as homicide.
Court filings said there were three other people in Johnson’s Jeep at the time of the shooting, including Sutton and two children. Prosecutors said Johnson was not the intended target.
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What they’re saying:
Sutton told police that Johnson drove him to the area of 12th and Locust to pick up his two kids, according to the complaint. While there, he got into a verbal argument with two women.
Prosecutors said Sutton claimed one of the women gestured to her boyfriend, later identified as Underwood, in a way that Sutton interpreted as a directive for Underwood to shoot at him. Sutton admitted to arming himself and displaying a gun, and noted that, at the time, he saw Underwood holding a gun of his own.
According to court filings, Sutton said Johnson then began to drive away from the scene. Sutton claimed that, as they drove away, Underwood opened fire on the Jeep – and he fired back four or five times.
Sutton said that a few moments later, per the complaint, Johnson alerted him to the passenger side of the Jeep as they were driving on Teutonia Avenue.
The complaint said Sutton looked out the window and saw a white GMC before hearing a gunshot. He admitted that, once he realized Johnson had been shot, he discarded the gun he had next to a nearby building.
A witness told detectives that Underwood fired a single shot through the Jeep’s front passenger window as the Jeep slowed down for a red light at Teutonia and Chambers, per the complaint.
Surveillance footage
Dig deeper:
Detectives recovered surveillance footage from a home near 12th and Locust, which captured the shooting. Court filings said it showed the Jeep and the white GMC were both parked on the west side of the street.
The video showed Sutton arguing with two women from the front passenger seat of Johnson’s seat, the complaint said. It also showed Johnson got out of the vehicle and walked around to try to de-escalate the argument.
Underwood was seen on the sidewalk with a gun in his hand, according to court filings. As Johnson began to drive away, Sutton then showed a gun from the window – at which time Underwood took aim at the Jeep while shielding himself behind the white GMC.
The complaint said Sutton and Underwood pointed their guns at each other but held fire until, seconds later after the Jeep drove away and out of view of the camera, Underwood fired toward the Jeep while attempting to take cover from return fire. Underwood then got into the white GMC and followed the Jeep.
The Source: Information in this story is from the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office, Wisconsin Circuit Court and prior coverage related to the shooting and Johnson’s death.
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