Any ideas on what we can do about problem landlords who do not maintain their homes/property and do not screen their tenants? This is really taxing my morale, as we have worked so hard to revitalize the neighborhood, yet just one or two of these "problem" properties on a block and the whole effort seems for naught. Is there anything we can do????? I've got one of these next door to me and one almost next door because of the strange way the alleys are configued near my house. It's bringing me down!!! My thought is that, if I ever see the owner of the house next door again, I'm going to plant a bee in his bonnet about possibly SELLING the home because the values have skyrocketed so much. Other than that little diabolical plan, I'm fresh outta ideas. Anyone?

By Edna

If it's that bad............

I'm sure you've heard this before, but call codes. Then call codes. Then call codes again. I know it's a slow process, but......... If you want the owner to sell, help make the property a problem for him. Evetually he will sell, fix, rent to better tenants, or pay the fines. All things work in your favor.
Another approach is to write the owner a letter. He may do nothing, but he also may not realize the total problem or your intentions to "clean up" the area. If your worried, don't sign it.

By Bill

That's a nice theory...

...but it isn't reality. Example: I called codes in the past about a large, dying, diseased Laural Oak on his property that was posing a danger to my home, not to mention hanging all over the roof and damaging it. I know it is my responsibility to take care of any tree limbs on my property, but NOT if the tree is dying/diseased--then it is the property owner's responsibility. Codes did nothing--I paid hundreds of dollars to cut the tree back. It still poses a danger to my property and others. Another example is the new tenants in a nearby problem rental who insist on throwing their trash NEXT to the dumpster instead of INTO the dumpster. Called Yvonne Love in Sanitation several times over the last few weeks. The trash is still there--it looks like a dump. Finally, many of the quality of life issues are not codes issues. My next door neighbors constantly violate the noise ordinance, for example (they race a go-cart around and around their home), their kids are constantly in my yard (I know, I know, get a fence--I'm on it), etc. So while codes is a good tool for some issues, it can't make the landlord screen the tenants, and they don't seem very responsive to me on the rare occasions I've called. We've come so far and we are such a great neighborhood--but these rental properties are really a downer.

By Edna

P.S. I don't mean 2 sound so neg

...ative (boy, they don't give ya much room in these subject lines, do they *L*?), Bill. You do make an excellent point--we should use all the tools available to us, including calling codes--which I personally find very unpalatable, but I agree that it is there for just such reasons. I had to call the police at around 2:00 in the morning the other week because the new tenants who dump their trash on the ground also had a loud "alley party" which seemed to involve an inordinate amount of alcohol and skateboards for 2:00 a.m. on a weeknight. The police did come and break it up. And it was comforting to realize that, if those tenants do prove to be a big problem as previous ones in that unit have, we do have the wonderful resource of our community police officer, who in the past got the drug-dealing tenants from that unit evicted. I guess between the community police program, codes, and the various other city departments, we do have a lot of support and protection built in. And I need to focus on how far we've come, too. It's just, you know the old saying "One step forward, two steps backward..."? Well, I guess right now I'm just frustrated with some problems in my particular neck of the woods. So I guess I keep calling poor Yvonne about the trash and keep those other numbers handy as well! Thanks for the reminder!

By Edna