Riverside Heights Civic Association & Crime Watch

Dear Desiree and Members,

Code enforcement and zoning issues along North Boulevard have been ignored too long by our neighborhood association and by the city.

Individuals in the neighborhood have been complaining for more than a decade about the blight stretching from the corner of Columbus and Boulevard, north to MLK. Nothing is being done by the city and our association to correct the problem.

Code enforcement under the direction of Curtis Lane is a joke, and we as an association need to insist that the Mayor Iorio replace him immediately with someone who will do the job.

One of the excuses that code enforcement loves to use is that the code laws in Tampa have no teeth. Well then we need to approach City Council and get the laws changed, something that Curtis Lane should have done years ago.

The subject of code enforcement and zoning needs to be placed on the next meeting agenda with the following demands by the association placed in letter form and sent to Mayor Iorio and city officials.

1. Demand change of ineffective code enforcement and zoning ordinances with effective ones.

2. Demand the Mayor Iorio and City Council replace Curtis Lane as head of code enforcement.

3. Demand the removal of Rick Barcena from The Code Enforcement Board.

4. Demand the city remove the flea market style clothing sales and illegal bill board located on the corner of Columbus and Blvd. (701 W. Columbus)

5. Demand removal of storage containers, debris, structures, and the illegal used car lot at Peninsular and N. Blvd. (701&703 Peninsular)

6. Demand removal of the Mark?’s Mobile Auto Repair truck parked on 3707 N. Blvd.

7. Demand removal of boats and construction equipment from 3602 N. Blvd. (Ohio& N. Blvd)

8. Demand the condemnation, demolition, and clean up of the Hutto?’s Corner property on MLK and N. Blvd.

9. Demand removal of jet ski stowed at 901 W. Peninsular.

If we as an association really want to see improvement in the neighborhood these demands need to be made, and seen through. This would not be an issue in South Tampa or the Mayor's beloved Beach Park Neighborhood, so why does it have to be an issue in Riverside Heights! Why do we have to tolerate this blight for years with out city officials doing a thing to correct it?

We have had to put up with this blight for too many years and it is time that something is done about it! As an association we need to quit addressing items such as what to rename Plymouth Park and start addressing the real problem.

I hope to see this matter on the agenda and addressed at the next meeting.

Sincerely,

John Weinsheimer

W. Plymouth St.

Hats off to John Weinsheimer

John, your email couldn't have said it better! Hope you sent a copy to Pam and the Code Enforcement office.

They need to address all your points and more!



By Anon

Code Enforcment is a JOKE!

Get this one while we are all on the band wagon of code enforcement.

Feb 19th a new inspector by the name of Chiquita Dallas sent me a violation for overgrowth located in my yard and said the remedy would be to mow it.

What the?!!

I pay a professional lawn care service to come weekly to my home (have back up receipts) to mow, edge, weed and trim. My yard is impeccable!

I called code enforcement and the first give that answered told me in a nasty voice ''Well mow it then!!'' I think her name was Lisa or something like that.

Unbelievable!

I asked for Ms Dallas who issued the notice and I told her she obviously had the wrong home. So, the next day she goes back out and told me she had made a mistake and she meant to send a violation about the weeds in the alley.

Weeds in the alley? Yes, she said, it's your job to maintain them. I told her I thought that was city property but she went on to tell me it's the owners responsibility. What's with that? How would the city like it if I told them it's their responsibility to come and mow my yard. Afterall ,the weeds in the alley over my fence line were no taller than 2 ft!

I told her I wanted her to remove the first violation about my yard being over grown since she admitted to writing it in error and send me a letter stating it was her fault. I never got that letter, and no doubt she property just closed out this report as a correction as if I complied when indeed it was an incorrect violation.

Then on March 1 I get two more notices from her. One was to tell me I'm in violation of over growth in the alley, and the other notice (dated the very same day) was the final notice!! Go figure, I get the first notice and the final notice all on the same day for the same weed violation in the alley! If that doesn't top it, the notice was dated March 1st yet it stated ''A reinspection of the above mentioned property occurred on March 30, 2007''. How on earth was that possible when the notice was written on March 1st!

I called Ms Dallas to discuss these issues with her and to explain first warnings are not sent out the same time as final warnings DUH but of course no response.

When I first initially talked to her she went on to tell me how disgusting this neighborhood is and that she's new with the city and is really going to clean it up.

Well Ms Dallas, I'd appreciate that, however first let's focus on the city property instead of us and clean up your filthy N. Blvd which makes it look like you are driving into the slums when coming in to our neighborhood.

No wonder there are so many homes for sale here. No one wants to buy in this neighborhood because they think it's the slums! This also drives down the value of our homes.

If these realtors like Leslie Sibbitt who has her mug shot on the manmade billboard at the corner of N. Blvd and Columbus as well as had those huge cheesy signs on both corners of Ohio, and the other realtor like Mark Hurley who his used car lot focused more on selling homes instead of driving down our neighborhood it might be a nicer place to live.



By ANON

easy solution

There is an easy solution to fixing the blight along N. Boulevard. Demand that the city rezone this corridor to allow for professional offices that maintain a residential character. If you notice, all of the existing offices along N. Blvd. are well maintained, attractive and in compliance w/ all codes. This would allow professionals w/ financial backing to come in and rehab these blighted houses that nobody wants to live in. As residences, they will continue to be rented and no money will ever be invested in them.