Is there someone I can call about this?

[sgray]

I've found the inspectors VERY LAX and usually give MULTIPLE BREAKS before even writing up anything, even after you get wrote up, they still give months if not years before they actually truly enforce things.

I've got my releases in writing. I have noticed that they are more lax on things like lawn stuff versus code violations on like buildings and stuff.

Even if they go to court over it, nothing usually happens, no fines, so you and Luke are really getting upset over nothing.

See below. We should have a law that fines citizens for making false reports. And if somebody takes me to court and loses because an issue doesn't exist, I'm gonna haul their a** right back in to court and sue them for all the trouble they are stirring up.

The only time they enforce something is if 2-3 complains on grass over 1 foot high in at least 90 days time or more, then city crews will come mow and charge the bill to the owner, that's about as far as I've seen it, and I've been reporting issues for years. I find the people who the law is for, are the ones who don't want to talk to their neighbor anyways, and won't do anything about it even if you do talk to them!

What about people calling the city when the grass reaches 2 inches??? The laws are for everyone, and I have never refused to talk to my neighbors. And every neighbor I have ever had to talk to has been receptive and has never led to calls to the city except for my little trouble-maker at present.

sgray, it's really not that hard to keep debris out of your yard and your grass mowed once a month or so to avoid it getting more than a foot tall, that's the basic ordinances. Come on, don't tell me you or anyone can't do that or find a charity or church that would do it for them.

Notice that my last post was directly related to the insane level of "spaz" in our community that are tying up resources and costing us more money for issues that do not exist. In addition, by the time the city actually finds that no issue exists, we not only have personnel, paper, and fuel expense wasted, but at least 3-4 "update letters" (postage-paid by our tax dollars for each letter) being sent to these "spaz" citizens, who are constantly calling the city...NOT because a violation exists, but because they want YOUR property maintained THEIR way.

It has gotten so bad that I have witnessed inspectors using "choice words" referring to my neighbor while standing on my property. And that's just my neighbor alone. I've asked several of them and they claim that they spend most of their time chasing down reported violations that simply don't exist. That's the problem and I'm sick and tired of my tax dollars getting wasted by people who sit at home making a career of repeatedly calling the same baseless claims into the city after the city has repeatedly told them that they are wrong!

[sgray]

^
maybe you're reading me out of context. i was responding more to luke's notion that governments shouldn't be in the business of telling property owners what can and can't be on their property. if there isn't some kind of enforced order, then pretty much anything goes. sure, the hypotheticals presented are absurd... that's the point. without laws to restrict property use, anyone could do anything they wanted... and overall, that would be a detriment to the public good.

-M

It's not so much the enforcement of things that are out of order, but more so the folks who constantly report that things are out of order when they are not. Kind of like repeatedly calling 9-1-1 and reporting an emergency when one doesn't actually exist. You can get fined and jail time if I'm not mistaken on that, so why should there not be some action taken when false reports are made?

[Stan Silliman]

yikes. I would be scared to even approach that house. Seems similar to something the unabomber lived in.

Funny you mention that. When Ted K was making his package bombs out in the woods of Montana, all his neighbors were very suspicious about him. Here he had been all this time in the woods and hadn't grown a single pot plant.


Actually, that was a joke I wrote for Yakov when he was doing his TV show "Comrade in America."

[Martin]

actually, that was a joke I wrote for Yakov when he was doing his tv show "comrade in america."

no, no, no... joke writes YOU!

it's not so much the enforcement of things that are out of order, but more so the folks who constantly report that things are out of order when they are not. kind of like repeatedly calling 9-1-1 and reporting an emergency when one doesn't actually exist. you can get fined and jail time if i'm not mistaken on that, so why should there not be some action taken when false reports are made?

agreed... i think nuisance callers deserve to be ticketed themselves. i totally recognize the fact that there are crap neighbors that abuse the system.

-M

[smacketyanne]

I think people that drive around looking for things to call in on or just plain bitch about are ridiculous. Go volunteer somewhere, get a new hobby.
I live on 32nd and I have no complaints at all about the house that you have pointed out. If I live there and I don't mind then I don't know why the rest of you should. There are no ferel cats or any other health hazard. I have actually picked herbs from their yard on many an occasion. They are great for fresh, organic, healthy cooking.
In fact, I have been trying to grow more things in my front yard so that yahoo's driving around with their noses in everyone elses business can't see my every move when I'm home.

[PennyQuilts]

Wow. I had no idea this was such a volatile subject!

Our neighbor went years without mowing his lawn unless someone called the county on them. The HOA was useless. We never said a word for fear that he'd complain about our barking dogs. We always worried that he'd think we were the ones calling the county.

Then I felt bad for all my aggravated thoughts. Turns out, he'd had cancer and had been fighting it for two years (beat it, btw). I don't know why he didn't call his relatives, hire someone or otherwise ask for help. We always waved and chatted in the yard but never had much of a conversation beyond that. he was always inside his house. He had a volunteer tree come up in his flower bed and husband moved it for him and replaced it with one he'd grown from seed. Husband assumed the neighbor was just clueless and didn't know enough to do it himself. It wasn't until one day when I mentioned to him that he'd lost a lot of weight and was looking good that he told me that he'd been fighting cancer and was doing a lot better. We felt terrible that we hadn't been more attentive neighbors.

[warreng88]

I think people that drive around looking for things to call in on or just plain bitch about are ridiculous. Go volunteer somewhere, get a new hobby.

Ok, just to clarify, I was driving around looking at houses and neighborhoods. I love driving through the older neighborhoods and looking at the interesting architecture. I was not looking for stuff to bitch about.

In fact, I have been trying to grow more things in my front yard so that yahoo's driving around with their noses in everyone elses business can't see my every move when I'm home.

OK, the fact of the matter is, because of what is in the front yard, YOU CANNOT SEE THE HOUSE. If one could see the house or they had an overgrown lawn because they didn't mow it for several months, I could care less.

[PennyQuilts]

Warren - let it go. That house is ridiculous. Perhaps some people with cranky comments had a different situation and are viewing anyone who says something as a busy body. This is such a fact-based deal that every situation is different. If people want to live out in the sticks in filth and junk, they should go live there. If you live in the city, there are certain codes and standards they are expected to respect, by law. If the city decides this isn't worth going after, so be it. I don't think you have any reason to apologize for calling it in and I'm betting someone had already beat you to it, anyway.

[metro]

Speaking of code violations, here is the property I can't seem to get the City to budge on in over 3 years. I'm not trying to be nit picky, but this house is Downtown near St. Anthony's near some the very nice houses going up in SoSA. This guy has holes in his siding, roof, broken windows, trash bikes and vinyl banners on his roof and patching up the holes in his house. The guy seems reasonable and says he's working the best he can on it, but the City has to draw the line somewhere. This is the point I was trying to make earlier, this was taken on my cell phone today, but it is much worse than these pics look. Many workers and visitors to St. Anthony's drive down NW 9th daily. Is this how we want to greet our visitors to Downtown? There are several other very bad properties on NW 9th and NW 8th.



Pic from County Assessor, front still pretty much looks the same, nothing changed really since at least 2004!!


Note the broken windows and various debris on the roof. Note some of the debris is a workout stationary bicycle and a "little blue" recycling bin the city gives to residents for recycling. There is MUCH more on the top and other side of the house, I will try and get pics soon of that side.


Haven't seen the car move in the 3 years I've been in the area.

[metro]

Just got my official responses back from the city again on the property I just posted pics of above. They cite "No Violation". According to their own website, they describe unsecured or dilapidated as this:

Dilapidated Structure/Unsecured Structure
It is against City Ordinance to allow a structure to remain in a dilapidated state. Examples: holes in the roof, foundation decayed, sagging roof, danger of collapse.

It is against City Ordinance to allow an unoccupied structure to remain unsecured. Examples: no broken window panes, unlocked or open doors, holes in walls.


This house has multiple holes in siding, roof, broken windows, etc. How is this not dilapidated or unsecured, am I missing something? The house is worse than it looks and the back and south side of the house are worse than pics above.

Steve, if you do an article on this, then I'll buy the daily paper!! Drove by the auto repair shop downtown on 10th yesterday (the one you did an article awhile back), man has the city made them clean up that place!

Inoperable Vehicle
This covers vehicles anywhere on the property, including driveways. Examples include, but are not limited to: wrecked cars, vehicles that are all or partially dismantled and even vehicles with flat (or no) tires.

Property
Property owners are required to keep their property in good maintenance. Examples, but not limited to: roof, paint, fence. Property Owners are required to keep buildings and other structures in good repair.

Really? That is good repair?

Junk and Debris
Anything that is not designed for outdoor use, for a residential area, can not be stored outside.

Ordinance - Chapter 35-Section 103