| Fort Pierce FL Code Enforcement |
| Thursday, 27 April 2006 | |
|
A recent report discusses stepped-up efforts by the City
(34945-54, 34979, 34981-34988) to address blight.
Fort Pierce FL Code enforcement sweeps through Avenue B apartmentsBuilding and Code Enforcement officials Friday began inspecting the interiors and exteriors of 41 squalid units in the Avenue B corridor — in what marks the beginning of a series of code enforcement sweeps to revitalize the neighborhood. The properties the city is targeting first are owned by Charles Brown of Pompano Beach. Brown owes the city more than $81,000 in fines and liens for code violations and charges his tenants, mostly Haitians, $500 a month in rent. Advertisement
 On Friday, officials found a plethora of code violations on Brown's properties, including rat and bug infestations, improper installation of plumbing, exposed and outdated electrical equipment, poor sanitation, inoperable appliances, piles of trash in yards with no grass and 80 percent of units without heat. In one apartment, Code Enforcement Officer Fritz Burlinson squashed a cockroach before it was about to crawl in 1-year-old Anise Joseph's hair as she lay sleeping on a blanket on the floor sucking her thumb. Officials also found some units with no smoke detectors, cracked walls and holes in the ceilings and hundreds of dead bugs in a light installed above a kitchen. "I can't believe somebody has the nerve to allow people to live like this," said Code Enforcement Officer Andy Avery. "It makes my stomach churn." Brown's properties aren't the only ones being targeted. The city is cracking down on all property owners with blighted buildings as part of an effort to tear them down and replace them with single-family, owner-occupied homes. That has concerned Pierre Paul Joseph, president of the Refugee Center of the Treasure Coast. He said he supports what the city is doing, but said the city needs to relocate residents to an area where they can afford to live. "They don't have big money," he said. Joseph, whose organization is trying to get state funding to assist people and does not have an office, said the city's actions prompted him to call an emergency meeting with residents at noon today at 203 N. Eighth Street. During the meeting, Joseph said he wants to explain the implications of the city's plans, and he wants to find out the residents' specific needs — how many are unemployed and what they can afford. "What concerns me is where are they going to move them and how are they going to support them," Joseph said. To view the online report please click on the following link: |
