One of the biggest concerns of most Alta Vista neighbors is code compliance violations, and how to effectively handle the complaints. The AVNA Board is considering using a "Blue Card" mailer to alert residents of code violations on their property. If voluntary compliance is not met within 10 days, a Code Compliance Officer would then make a house call.

We thought it wiser still, that we once again inform every one of the most common complaints in the hope that violations might receive the proper attention and fewer would need porting. The most frequent violations include:

* parking on the front lawn
* parking on the sidewalk
* right of way obstructions
* excessive noise
* unclean and unkempt property and weeds exceeding 12"
* animal problems, especially unrestrained pets

Should identified code violations persist, you may do one of two things. You may call Code Compliance directly at (210) 207-7230, to report the complaint, or you may call the AVNA Hotline and leave a detailed report. The complaint will then be faxed with AVNA?’s support to both the Code Compliance Department and the District Council Office. In turn, this will produce quick and effective measures in dealing with and following up on the violation.

During the AVNA annual "Spring Clean", among other clean up measures, we will be doing a code compliance sweep throughout the neighborhood identifying violations.

Please help keep Alta Vista the best that it can be, through voluntary compliance with city codes.

Code Compliance Limitations

A neighbor has a car parked in their back yard and although the car has been there, unmoved, for many many months, Code Compliance seems to be powerless to do anything about it. Code Compliance has been to the residence many times, but 1) the resident does not answer the door 2)the one time the Compliance Officer did contact the resident she was told that the car was operable, but the resident was unable to show her, since the car had no battery (and now has no wheels) 3)the Officer has subsequently visited the site but cannot gain contact. The owner of the home lives out of state and will not accept mail from the Officer despite many attemepts to contact them.

The bottom line is that apparently Code Compliance has their hands tied since 1) the owner of the property will not respond and 2) even if she was able to cite the resident it is possible that the resident would just pay the fine and leave the car where it is.

This same resident has multiple dogs which run loose, dumping the trash all up and down the alley. We noticed a dog catcher in the alley trying to pick these animals up but the dogs ran into the unfenced yard and the dog catcher was unable to pick them up.

Despite the fact that many people in the neighborhood are trying to make this neighborhood a desireable place to live and improve their homes, apparently there are other people who are intent upon making this neighborhood as trashy and undesireable as possible.

Any suggestions on either of the problems above would be appreciated. We do not want to move out of the neighborhood because there are many things about it we enjoy, in addition to the fact that we have made quite an investment in improving our home, however we do not enjoy living here under the present circumstances. We have in fact quit recommending this neighborhood to new people as an up and coming place to live.

Forcing the Issue

I understand the limitations of Code Compliance being sometime "unable" to fix a violation because the resident refuses to co-operate.

The Neighborhood Association is trying to help. My suggestion is that we need to get out Councilman involved in issues like this. I believe that no council member wants to have this issues outstanding on their agenda. My belief is by continuously "nagging" our representative; we will get better results.

Please call out hotline 736-HELP and let us get this issue to the city.

By Kevin Cloonan

Code Compliance Limitation

I E-Mailed Councilman Flores' office today with the pertinent info. We'll see if anything can be done now. Thanks for the suggestion.