A first-year undergraduate twerp with obvious narcissistic tendencies went through a homeless encampment handing out fake eviction notices earlier this week:
The one-page notices titled “Maria Hadden’s Five Day Notice To Vacate” were stuffed into belongings and posted on signs in and around Touhy Park, 7348 N. Paulina St., residents said. They were dated Sept. 27 and listed the name of Hadden, the 49th Ward alderperson, in bold blue type over a line reading “landlord/agent.”
The notice says Touhy Park residents have five days to leave and clear the area of “all buildings, sheds, closets, out-buildings, garages, barns and other structures used in connection with said premises.”
It also says residents will be relocated for free to the Four Seasons Hotel in Gold Coast. Their stay at the hotel, 120 E. Delaware Place, would be open-ended “for as long as it takes for Maria Hadden to find you appropriate housing,” the notice states.
The notices say they were “served” by Bill Morton, president of the Rogers Park Chamber of Commerce and candidate for 49th Ward alderman. Sarah Lim, a DePaul University freshman who is considering a run for mayor, is listed as the document’s “affiant,” or someone who files an affidavit.
Lim said she was solely responsible for the fake eviction notices. Morton denied having any involvement.
Lim fantasizes that she's a candidate for mayor next year, and also fantasizes that she didn't do anything wrong with this stunt:
Lim, who is planning on running for mayor of Chicago, said she taped up the bogus flyers so that she could “get my name out there.”
By circulating the sheets, she also hoped to get publicity directly to her website. The site assists high school and college students in attaining internships.
“I started the website last summer,” Lim said. “It has really been a struggle to get more traffic to it, which is why I resorted to the publicity stunt.”
Lim, reached by phone late Thursday afternoon, said she didn’t mean to offend anyone and was only seeking publicity.
“I have no hatred against homeless people,” said Lim, who said she came up with the idea last week because she knows the encampment is controversial. “People want something done about it,” Lim said of the homeless people living there.
“Whatever the intention, it was a very cruel act for all of these people who are pretty vulnerable and seeking housing,” Hadden said. Some are on waiting lists to be placed in homes.
When Lim was told that Hadden thought the fake notices were “cruel,” she said: “I think that instead of trying to turn me into a criminal, Hadden should be focusing on the issues right now.”
A bewildered Hadden said she had no idea why someone would do this. “You can’t make this stuff up,” Hadden said.
I make the comparison to the character Tracy Flick in Tom Perrotta's novel Election because Flick frequently gets held up as a sociopathic striver who would do anything to get elected class president. Except anyone who's read the novel can understand that Flick is actually the good guy; she wins on her merits, and never acts as cruelly as the social-studies teacher who has it in for her.
Sarah Lim, however, seems like a true sociopath in a way that most 17-year-old humans have already grown out of. I sincerely hope she matures in college, but it looks like she has a long way to go just to get to the first-year baseline.