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Pow! Sunny Schubert let the Mayor and Council have it right between the eyes (or somewhere on the anatomy of the body politic, anyway) over letters issued by the city's building code enforcement officer citing residents for 'unsightly premises'. The Mayor and Council has indeed sought increased attention to the condition of dwellings in the city, in part out of a concern about increasing numbers of single-family rental properties.
But, I knew trouble was loose when I read the headline, " 'Unsightly' warnings irk many Monona residents" and then read Nancy Cole-Rice's name starting the first sentence. That didn't sound right given that Gary and Nancy did substantial remodeling and renovation to their home a few years ago. According to Sunny, there was a Big Wheel toy in the yard and the city inspector cited it as 'debris'. Yikes. She gives a couple other examples.
Sunny also relates that the inspectors sent out 62 such letters in August. The question I need answered - and I have asked for copies - is what is the overall picture? Are the cases she cites the clunkers that got put in or representative of the whole effort? Yes, the city is concerned about dilapidated buildings, but canoes and Big Wheels in the side yard is not what we were talking about.
The city contracts for this service and it probably is cheaper - and it would be hard to find one person with all the needed expertise - but there is always a little loss of control when we don't have city staff performing city duties.
Sunny also rightly points out that the city has some property that needs attention, but that doesn't mean we put every building code on hold. For the record, the parking lot at Schluter Beach is in the capital budget (for next year, I recall) and I've asked for the Parks Board to look into the leaning flag pole.
I'll report more later. And I really hope it's not as bad as portrayed.
Friday, October 05, 2007
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Would it be helpful for the Council to hear or receive a report from the city inspector?
ReplyDeleteIs information regarding warning letters and citations from the city inspector public record?
Where was the headline "'Unsightly' warnings irk many Monona residents"?
You will find that most of the warnings were ridiculous. One person in my neighborhood was cited for having a couple of pieces of plywood leaning up against the house. Another for having a car with expired plates in the driveway. This guy was out of control and nobody was paying any attention. And another friend got a letter abotu having a lawnmower in her driveway.
ReplyDelete"'Unsightly' warnings irk many Monona residents" - That was on Sunny Schubert's column in the Heraldo.
ReplyDeleteIs information regarding warning letters and citations from the city inspector public record?
ReplyDeletePretty sure that is a 'yes'.
Would it be helpful for the Council to hear or receive a report from the city inspector?
I assume we will be hearing from them.
I think that plywood leaning against a house for more than a few days should most certainly qualify as a problem.
ReplyDeleteNope, in the grand scheme of things, it's not a problem, at least not when we have streets that are missing huge chuncks of pavement and other infrastructure that is decaying. Plus, with all the one car garages in this town, many of us don't have inside storage for everything we are using on home improvement projects. There are times when we need to store these materials in our back and side yards. I don't want my tax dollars spent sending out letters to people whose homes and yards are generally well kept. We have a few properties that are eyesores, and I want a bulding inspector who uses COMMON SENSE in enforcing our ordinances to get these properties cleaned up.
ReplyDeleteRead the article about the unsightly mess in Monona and saw that the building inspector spent 28 hours at the "one trailer park in Monona".
ReplyDeleteThe owners of the park are pleading not guilty to a citation from the city for operating a mobile home park without a license?
Why couldn't Monona, licensing, administration, or city council, have provided a protocol/procedure for closing a MH park. The park license was up in July and the owners did reapply for a new one. Now, 4 months later, the situation is a big mess. This could result in huge fines for the park owner.
It's not like Monona didn't know this was coming. Monona went through the closing of a MH park in 1999-2002 with Happy Acres. In reading the madison.com archives I read a story that a child was molested in the empty park.
You tried with the resolution for Hickory Lane, only to have it die on the table.
What on earth was Independent Inspectors writing petty citations, in volume, across the city, after years of little to no inspecting?
You and Kathryn were in the city council for Happy Acres. The city could not have forgotten. Why didn't they prepare so this area would not become a place terrible life changing, threating crimes can take place.
Why?
Correction from above comment:
ReplyDeleteThe park license was up in July and the owners did "NOT" reapply for a new license in July 2007.