I recently learned something many of you might not know yet. Neighborhood Code, historically understaffed, has been a "respond to complaints only" organization, which led to a certain amount of unfairness in enforcement. You could have had the worst-looking house in town and not get cited, but somebody else with only minor problems could have been written up. It all depended on who got ratted out by neighbors, which tended to make Code Enforcement a potent weapon in long-running feuds.
Now, I understand, NC officers are also expected to write up code violations on their own intiative, with a current goal of at least one of those citations a day each. The way I know it is that it was told to be by an officer who was at my house explaining why I had been written up for some spots of peeling paint that I have to have scraped and repainted. She had been in the neighborhood to inspect progress on a house that had been ratted out, and I was the lucky one whose house also caught her attention.
On the one hand, I'm glad that, after more than 20 years in this house, I don't suddenly have a neighbor mad enough at me to start using the city to make his point. On the other hand, this will cost me money I wasn't ready to spend yet. I live in an old house that always needs things done. So now I'll have to do one thing when somebody else wants it done, instead of in the order I wanted to do it. I had the house completely repainted four years ago and was budgeting to have it done again in three or four more. Guess replastering the bedroom ceiling will have to be postponed temporarily.
Excuse me now. I have to go move the garbage can.
Comments
Leo:
If you ONLY have a few spots of peeling paint on your older home....you ought to see the "hovels" around us down HERE...
Were I an NCE officer in MY area...I could write up enough citations to retire early (if it were on a "commission" basis)...lol!
Broken doors, slats missing in fences, overgrown shrubs masking entire houses, siding coming off, abandoned cars, trashbins wherever they were placed when Serv-All came by LAST THURSDAY..all of this and a LOT more. These are only the "static" problems we "enjoy"...we won't even get into the people themselves. That's a whole OTHER post.
If you lived where I do....your house would be one of the VERY LAST to receive ANY sort of citation, trust me. If I see a broken down car on the street for more than a DAY...I'm on the phone.
Then again, with SO MANY irresponsible people who act worse than a 2 year old having a hissy-fit that "claim" to be homeowners, but have not clue one as to what home ownership entails, (and this applies to RENTERS AS WELL), it's small wonder that the very few of us that STILL care about OUR neighborhood find ourselves contacting NCE regularly to get something done. And it works.
I can state that the department (now) is a lot better with response and action than before Captain Bandor was placed in charge of it. Weeds are being cited, and little by little, people are being held accountable for the property they reside on, as it should be. But we don't "nit-pick" over a spots of peeling paint, or the like...we're trying to address BLATANT, OBVIOUS violations like those described above. The ones that cry out..."SLUM ALERT...YOU ARE ENTERING A *BLIGHTED* AREA".
It's SO nice to see all these "stay-at-home" young males actually MOWING A LAWN...now, if they could just be taught how to handle a PAINT BRUSH...
B.G.
please, citizens- drive by the homes of the editors and publishers of the journal gazette and report any code violations..
often...
its been a few years since Mr. warner had to repaint his house, after turning in that black ladies child care center...make "the penguin" break a sweat.....