Local real estate consultant Tracy Williams allegedly told Willie Miles, a middle-man in a real estate deal, that she, not Ald. Shirley Coleman (D-16th), ran the 16th Ward, according to a story in today’s Chicago Sun-Times. Coleman was at the meeting, according to the story, and did not contradict that assertion, saying only that she and Williams were the “best of friends.”
California investment company Blythe Holdings, Inc. wanted to buy 100 city lots on which to build housing in Chicago’s 16th Ward, which includes large parts of the Back of the Yards and Englewood neighborhoods. The company used Williams, who has been accused of fraud, on Coleman’s recommendation. Today, Blythe has no lots to show for the more than $500,000 it allegedly paid to Williams’ company, Flawless Financial.
Coleman has downplayed the relationship, but Williams allegedly paid an interior decorator to work on the alderman’s home, donated a pricey Christmas tree to the alerdman’s ward and arranged for a piano to be given to the church where the alderman is a reverend.