Up shit creek in north Hyde Park

By CAROLYN SZCZEPANSKI

In front of a house where the ceiling is caving onto the porch and the south-facing windows are covered in plastic, there’s a stream of raw sewage running into the street.

The property at 3435 Holmes Street in north Hyde Park is part of the disheveled empire of landlord Charlie Williard.

For years, residents say, Williard has been violating city housing codes and has been more willing to sit in a jail cell than fix up his properties. People like Frank Stapley, who has owned his house on Holmes for more than a decade, have all but given up on trying to get the aging landlord to clean up his act.

But after five weeks of watching feces and toilet paper bubble up through a hole just inches from the sidewalk, they’ve had enough. And Williard’s not the only one on their shit list.