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DOWNTOWN — The city says it will pursue "significant fines" against the owner of an Old Town house allowed to decay earlier this year when the roof was removed without permission.

"The city is going to seek significant fines on this matter," said attorney Greg Janes in a Daley Center court hearing Thursday on 1720 N. Sedgwick St.

Owner Joseph Younes has said that he wants to restore the building to what it was, but also admitted previously in housing court that he and his contractor made a "judgment call" to remove the roof to ease pressure on the surrounding walls — without a permit to do so in the Old Town Triangle Historic District.

Younes wasn't in court Thursday, but his attorney got an earful from Ald. Michele Smith (43rd), who was.

"It's critically important to maintain the integrity of our district," Smith testified. She accused Younes and his contractor of "deleterious behavior" and suggested they were dragging their feet on the legal process, as Younes' attorney Hugh Howard sought a one-week continuance.

Smith said if they weren't prepared to deliver plans on what exactly they intend to do to restore the building at a hearing before Associate Judge Patrice Ball-Reed now set for next Thursday, "that is a sign they're in bad faith."

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DNAinfo/Ted Cox

Smith cited last week's action by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks to seek a "maximum fine" for the violations, and quoted the possible figure of $150,000 amassed at $1,500 a day since the city issued a stop-work order on the property in March.

Howard said he would do all he could to get architect Allen Yanong to make final changes ahead of next week's follow-up hearing.

Still to be determined is if Younes will be responsible for making those changes or if that duty will fall to the court-appointed receiver, CJR Realty, which has already stabilized the structure. Smith argued that the contractor who removed the roof without a permit should not be in charge of restoring the building.

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DNAinfo/Heather Cherone

CITY HALL — Of the 804 new Chicago Police officers hired in 2017, 41 percent are white, according to data provided to aldermen Thursday. Some 35 percent are Hispanic, 17 percent are black and 7 percent are Asian.

That's evidence, says Ald. Anthony Beale (9th), that process the department is using to hire more than 1,000 new officers by the end of 2018 "systematically discriminates" against black and Latino Chicagoans.

"If we don't hurry up and change this process, we are going to have a problem," Beale said.

The Police Department's 2018 budget includes $65 million to fund the second and final phase of an effort to hire nearly 1,000 officers to stop a surge in violence that swept the South and West sides starting in 2016 — a goal Supt. Eddie Johnson said he would achieve.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel vowed to ensure that those new officers reflected the city's multicultural makeup, and his office repeatedly trumpeted the fact that 76 percent of the 14,200 people who applied to the police department earlier this month were black, Latino or Asian.

Commenting on the racial data revealed Thursday, "That does not make sense,"  adding, "The test discriminates systematically against minorities."

Many African Americans fail to make it through the hiring process because they have poor credit ratings, often times because they have failed to make a payment on a student loan, Beale said. That creates a vicious circle where people can't get a job, and fall behind on their bills — and then can't get a job because of the missed payments.

"This has been burning my ass for years," Beale said.

Overall, the department is 48 percent white, with black and Latino officers each making up 24 percent of the department, according to CPD data. Asian officers make up 4 percent, according to the data.

The overall city makeup in 2016 was 32.6 percent white, 29.7 percent Hispanic, 29.3 percent black and 6.3 percent Asian, according to the U.S. Census.

Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) urged the department to redouble its efforts to recruit Asian officers, especially those who belong to the Muslim faith in order to serve a growing community in his North Side ward.