Sacramento Press / City cracks down on code violations

Sunday, March 21, 2010

STORYLINE Sacramento City Government/Politics

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Sacramento City Councilwoman Lauren Hammond did not like what she read on the list.

At Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, Hammond was scanning a list of property owners that owe the city money for fees and fines related to housing code violations.

“There are so many bank-owned properties on this list,” Hammond said.

Banks that have not paid the city for violations at properties include heavy-hitters such as Wells Fargo Bank, Wachovia Bank and Bank of New York. Many properties owned by individuals are also on the city's list.

The city needs to examine how it can require banks to take care of properties in the same way that real estate agents do, she said.

The City Council approved liens on 250 properties for code violations Tuesday. The total amount of the liens is about $500,000.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

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trapper

edited on August 19, 2009 | 08:33 AM

Just a thought... it seems right now the city code enforcers are out writing citations all over the city for property owners not keeping up the front yard which in turn fill the cities coffers with more money when they need it most. In my observation, it did not seem the code enforcers were as diligent as they are now because the city wasn't broke, but now that the city needs money they are looking for anything and everything to ticket and raise funds.

Our city would look so nice if the code enforcers did their job like this all the time and not just when the city is in need of money.

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savemidtown

edited on August 19, 2009 | 09:19 PM

Please tell the City Manager! It is not the staff it is bad management. They have cut and cut and cut Code Enf. and experienced building inspectors were replaced by less experienced people. Mr. Kerridge should appreciate buildings inspectors - he was one in Portland and is way over his head as City Manager of Sacramento. Code Enforcement can pay for itself if there is proper staffing and teeth to the ordinances that allow them to place liens on gross violators. & Yes, when the department is correctly staffed, they are able to get out there and do the work that keeps neighborhoods liveable.

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thsas

edited on August 19, 2009 | 02:24 PM

Enforcement staff can pay their own way by focusing on established non-negotiable code violations, meanwhile increasing the propery values in our neighborhoods. Perhaps move some folks from other departments into this area.
Broken sidewalks, widespread grafitti, blue-tarp roofs, and many other low-hanging fruit violations are harming neighborhood home owners.

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Bill Burgua

August 19, 2009 | 12:36 PM

What has happened is that experienced code enforcement employees with lower seniority have been replaced with less experienced employees with more seniority from planning under the current city cutbacks. City management has not seen the advantage of more code enforcement to improve the city while bringing in revenue.

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Bill Albertson

August 19, 2009 | 12:43 PM

Wow, half a million in owed and overdue fines. Maybe the city council should consider passing an ordinance permitting the use of empty residences with multiple violations and unpaid liens as interim homeless placement. That should solve several problems very rapidly- those banks that care about reselling will take care of the properties or price to sell quickly, and those banks that don't care can alleviate our homeless issue due to the banks' evictions.

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Kelly Krehbiel

August 19, 2009 | 05:03 PM

I don't view this as a good idea - at all. These properties would likely become centers for crime, not havens of opportunity.

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Rhys02

August 19, 2009 | 08:03 PM

Typical of Hammond, this has been an issue for over a year and she is just NOW discovering it. Ever wonder why Sacramento never seems to move forward... watch Hammond at work...

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savemidtown

August 19, 2009 | 09:15 PM

The code cases cited at Tuesdays meeting were dangerous buildings cases not unkepmpt yards. As Bill Burgua cited - many experienced code enforcement staff have been laid off so there are fewer staff to enforce our laws so the priorities are on the 'gross offenders'. Agreed the city managers office is backwards in not seeing code enforcement as a priority - code staff rank up there almost as high as police in contributing to public safety by going after slumlords and dangerous buildings that are crime havens. My friend recently bought a property in Oak Park that had code fines levied against the bank (bank owned property) and the city worked with him and waived some of the fees. So if / when a property is sold to a responsible owner the city will work with them.

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AyatollahGondola

August 20, 2009 | 08:49 AM

There are many code violations being purposely ignored because they aren't profitable from the City's standpoint. what you get from that is a business as opposed to law enforcement..

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justinokeefe

edited on August 24, 2009 | 06:46 AM

You can find bank homes in Sacramento City or other locations at BankOwnedProperties.Org.

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STORYLINE Sacramento City Government/Politics

City cracks down on code violations

by Kathleen Haley, published on August 18, 2009 at 10:13PM