A recent article in the Columbus Dispatch discusses
the latest developments in the city's attempts to combat
blight.
City stepping up its fight to curb
blight
Monday, January 23, 2006
Under a crush of complaints about shabby housing,
junk cars and tall weeds, Columbus City Council is planning to add
money for up to three new code-enforcement officers to the 2006
budget.
While Columbus continues to grow and age, the city
has lost 24 code enforcers since 2001, going from 99 to 75,
according to a report prepared for City Council. That loss includes
nine full-time code-enforcement officers who were not replaced when
they quit or retired, and 15 seasonal employees who cut tall grass
and boarded up vacant houses.
Residents have noticed. City Councilman Kevin Boyce
said they consistently asked for more-aggressive code enforcement
while he was on the campaign trail last year.
"It demonstrates we’ve got to be addressing the
need out there," Boyce said.
Karen Cassidy, president of the Hungarian Village
Society, said her South Side neighborhood is trying to turn itself
around. But that’s hard to do when crime and rotting houses
go hand in hand.
"Drug dealers and criminals are living in the same
properties with code violations," she said.
Cassidy said she likes the code officer assigned to
her area. He works hard.
"But there’s not enough of him to go around,"
Cassidy said.
Boyce said more enforcement officers are a start.
They could cost the city between $175,000 and $200,000 a year
total. But with limited resources, city officials must think
creatively to boost code enforcement.
To that end, the city has talked with the nonprofit
Community Crime Patrol about a pilot program in Franklinton.
Trained patrol officers could assist city code officials by making
sure property owners are fixing problems.
In general, code enforcement in Columbus is driven by
complaints.
"It’s all we can do," said city
code-enforcement supervisor Jeff Pharion.
On the city’s Northeast Side, Pharion and the
two code officers he supervises are busy. They cover a huge area
from south of Morse Road, north to I-270 and across northeast
Columbus to the growing areas around New Albany.
The area is filled with houses and apartments built
in the 1960s and 1970s.
Pharion sees a lot of junk cars. At one house on
Glendon Road last week, he checked out an old red Dodge with
expired tags and three flat tires. He also noticed mildewed,
waterdamaged soffits and a dangling gutter at the house.
At a house on Tamarack Boulevard, he cited two
apparently inoperable vans, both with expired tags. One had two
flat tires and straddled the sidewalk.
Asked if he wants more inspectors,
code-enforcement supervisor Dana Rose said, "If we had five more,
that would be good."
According to a recent report that a legislative aide
prepared for the Columbus City Council, the number of full-time
code-enforcement officers dropped from 68 in 2001 to 59 last
year.
And while Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman touts the
success of his Neighborhood Pride program, which includes added
code enforcement, the December report said the Pride sweeps
don’t leave lasting improvements.
In the program, city crews spend a week in one
neighborhood cleaning trash from alleys, cutting grass in parks,
painting fire hydrants, repairing street lights and inspecting home
exteriors for code violations.
"This ‘systematic code enforcement’
approach has worked in some areas, but has only been effective for
a short amount of time,’ " the report said.
But Coleman called his Pride program "very
successful." Since the program began six years ago, 5,300
properties have been brought into compliance and 400 junk cars have
been removed, he said.
The city doesn’t have the money for a constant,
systematic approach, Coleman said.
Coleman’s spokesman, Mike Brown, said the city
has contracted with neighborhood groups to cut grass as the
seasonal employees had done.
As for the three new codeenforcement officers,
Coleman said, "I will gladly and willingly embrace them."
Boyce agreed that the program has been a success.
"The folks I’ve talked with want more of it,"
he said.
Neighborhood Pride went through Hungarian Village in
2003, Cassidy said.
She liked it.
"It’s what they should be doing all the time,"
she said.
Chris Gawronski, president of the Clintonville Area
Commission, also wants to see more code-enforcement officers. In
Clintonville, residents complain about deteriorating rental
properties and trash in alleys.
Cassidy said the city needs to shorten the time to
board up and sell vacant homes.
The city is putting together a new policy to speedily
board up and sell problem vacant properties when owners can’t
be found.
"We’re going to take it immediately to court,"
said City Attorney Richard C. Pfeiffer Jr., who is working on the
policy.
Some communities have come up with other ways to
enforce building codes.
A small staff also hampers Nashville, Tenn., which
has only 17 property-standards inspectors and supervisors for
Nashville and Davidson County, an area with an estimated population
of 572,475.
In Nashville, 35 neighborhood groups are part of that
city’s NOTICE — Neighborhoods Organized to Initiate
Code Enforcement — program. The city trains and deputizes
community leaders to cite property owners for tall grass, junk
cars, yard debris, graffiti and unsanitary conditions, said Linda
Lichtenberger, a supervisor for the program.
To view the online article please click on the following
link
Columbus Dispatch Article City of Columbus OH Actions to
Combat Blight