Code Enforcement coming down hard
Guest Blog
At the last City
Council meeting a commenter noted, “Code Enforcement Is Heavy Handed” and is
becoming known as the NHB “Neighborhood Harassment Bureau”. Ms. Genis said she
was responsible for coining the NHB term.
After decades of inaction and years of accumulated blight
citywide, I'm surprised that the commenter, who is a frequent critic of the blight, wouldn't be elated that Code Enforcement is finally doing something. I wonder
if he expects code enforcement to spare the feelings of some while “draining
the swamp” for others.
They didn't used to do anything to us
People are so used to being negligent in maintaining their
property that the slightest pain causes an outcry. And outcry they did.
Unfortunately, some of the loudest outcry concerned errors; the city staff had
failed to remove the names of property owners who had cleared their
deficiencies, paid their fines, etc. In other words, Code Enforcement did their
job, city staff failed.
In the past, Code Enforcement took the easy route first.
Instead of dealing with the glaring issues, they dealt with the small annoying
things that had zero impact on the aesthetics of a property and neighborhood.
They took pride in the number of cases they generated and closed. It all
amounted to very little change and an ever-worsening blight.
Now we have a new direction and priorities. We have Code
Enforcement officers who are highly motivated to get results spearheading the
attack on many very difficult problems.
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