The scene

Don’t you be my neighbor! It’s safe to say Gov. Rod Blagojevich has pissed off a lot of Illinoisans, but no one’s more peeved than the folks in his backyard. On his 52nd birthday, the day after federal authorities arrested him on corruption charges, a scrum of TV-news trucks, cameramen and photographers lined up on the usually-serene streets and sidewalks around G-Rod’s Ravenswood Manor home (2934 W Sunnyside Ave) as several news choppers thundered overhead. “It’s a huge distraction,” says Leigh Chethik, a Blago neighbor. “My son was awoken by the sound of helicopters at 4am.” Like many of the ’hood’s residents, Chethik had met Blagojevich and found him rather charming. “He was giving autographs on Halloween, and my son got one,” he says. With her wily dog in tow, neighbor Erin Keppel was less prone to wax about the governor’s good qualities. Her concern was the ruckus on her block. “It’s annoying. The TV vans have been sitting here all day. I don’t need my life disturbed,” Keppel says. “I just want my dog to be able to take a dump and not have to worry about him going after some cameraman.”

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