Syringes on the ground. People emerging from boarded-up homes that don’t have water or gas. Vacant homes with human feces on the floor. You probably don’t associate the term “code enforcement” with drama, grime and social work. Yet, a day in the life of a Sacramento code enforcement officer makes for a gripping tale. The Sacramento Press observed Supervising Code Enforcement officer Bill Hutcheon, Ron O'Connor, department operations manager, and other officers during a three-hour ride-along ... KathleenHaley TheTaxPayer comment-57503 2011-09-20T02:16:33Z 2011-09-20T02:16:33Z City Code Enforcement Officers have very difficult jobs! Hats Off and keep up the good work Guys and thanks for saving my neighborhood!!!! TheTaxPayer 2011-09-20T02:16:33Z zhibin comment-44381 2011-01-25T23:44:36Z 2011-01-25T23:44:36Z Recently, I found the city of code enforcement did bad thing to the housing market and squeeze the citizen unfairly ! I bought a house in Sacramento recently. Before I closed the deal , I called City of Sacramento and asked whether any code violation, answered was NO. At the same time, I checked the listing footage matched the TAX record. So I bought the house. Only 2 weeks after close, code enforcement came and said "my stair's step is too high with 12", it should be 9". I asked how did he know. He said he had been code enforcement for 40 years, "he saw he knew". Because of that I let him in to check, he finally admitted he was wrong because all steps high is 9". Then he said my stair wide is too narrow, only 24', need to be 36". He force me to change it to new code. But the house was biult 1925, before my father was born. How can he force me to change now ? PG&E came and turn on GAS without problem, SMUD came to turn on power without problem either. he said that is our city code. He said my bedroom window was too small and life threaten in case of fire. But the window had been there for many many years if not 86 years. new code was effective just last year. My window is even wider than my neighbor's. If you force me to change now, should all All Sacramento old houses update to new code too ? ( if I change the window later, I will be happy to make it to new code) He said my house was not livable, why ? My tenant can not be more happy with new paint, new hardwood flooring. gas, electricity heater are normal, house are beautiful. So our code enforcement should help citizen and help Sacramento house market, in stead of squeeze the citizen and run down the market and scare the investors and home owners away ! please ! (zhibin_huang@yahoo.com) zhibin 2011-01-25T23:44:36Z thsas comment-14386 2009-09-25T16:38:28Z 2009-09-25T16:38:28Z A home is the largest single purchase most people make. Protecting the value of that investment is not such a minor concern, and the govenment makes sure they take advantage of that value by sending homeowners an annual tax bill based on value. (however flawed) Neighbors with unkept lawns, abandoned vehicels in the yard, blue tarped roofs, or an RV parked on the street harm every homeowner in the neighborhood by decreasing their home values. thsas 2009-09-25T16:38:28Z William Burg comment-14270 2009-09-24T07:23:56Z 2009-09-24T07:23:56Z Must be nice to have such minor things to worry about--code enforcement in Sacramento deals with things like unsanitary conditions, dilapidated buildings, overgrown lawns, piles of garbage, and hazards that endanger people's lives and well-being. These are conditions that can risk a fire, an accident, or the spread of disease, not things like basketball hoops. I think you might be referring to CC&Rs, Covenants Creeds & Restrictions, common in real estate developments governed by homeowners' associations. Those are not quite the same--HOAs have the power of government but without the accountability. They can also be far more restrictive than the level of code enforcement that a city regulates. William Burg 2009-09-24T07:23:56Z savemidtown comment-14206 2009-09-23T03:42:55Z 2009-09-23T03:42:55Z Code Enforcement is just as important and in some ways even more important than POP officers (both are essential to safe neighborhoods) to keeping bad property owners in check and keep neighborhoods safe and free of slumlords who rent to terrible tenants and don't maintain their properties. The few staff left who survived the budget hatchet are dedicated and totally overworked. If / when we ever have decent funding in this city again, we must ramp up this department first. savemidtown 2009-09-23T03:42:55Z SACRES comment-14205 2009-09-23T03:37:10Z 2009-09-23T03:37:10Z The city's code enforcement & housing & dangerous buildings building inspectors do a GREAT job for the city! These folks go where even cops fear to tread and are doing a great job trying to make our city a better place to live. The city needs to increase their budget in order to help them keep on keeping on! Kyle Caluya who is the guy you see with the hose. does a awesome job and has single handed cleaned up Oak Park significantly. Give him a raise!!! SACRES 2009-09-23T03:37:10Z Casey Kirk comment-14197 2009-09-22T23:52:25Z 2009-09-22T23:52:25Z Great link, Ayatollah! Casey Kirk 2009-09-22T23:52:25Z Susie Shields comment-14192 2009-09-22T20:00:24Z 2009-09-22T20:00:24Z Yes, thank you to the city code enforcement dept. for doing a difficult job. Susie Shields 2009-09-22T20:00:24Z Oracle comment-14190 2009-09-22T19:41:22Z 2009-09-22T19:41:22Z Code Enforcement is great. If you have any bad neighbors who park RVs, boats or trailers in the street, have unregistered cars that don't run or don't maintain their front yards, code enforcement will take care of it and improve your neighborhood and your property value. In some cities like Roseville and Rocklin, it's against the law to park any recreational vehicle even in your driveway. Even those portable basketball hoops aren't supposed to block sideways or be in the street. I urge everybody to go to your code enforcement web site and check the violations. It's your neighborhood, so keep it safe and looking good! Code enforcement rocks! Oracle 2009-09-22T19:41:22Z Lindsey Rodgers comment-14189 2009-09-22T19:29:07Z 2009-09-22T19:29:07Z This is a stinky situation for all. I wonder the frustration of some of the home owner's when they find that their homes were gutted and being lived in, regardless of the precautions made and following the code. Hats off to these workers for dealing with what I can imagine as a "Dirty Job", someone has to do it! Lindsey Rodgers 2009-09-22T19:29:07Z Davi Rodrigues comment-14180 2009-09-22T15:05:16Z 2009-09-22T15:05:16Z Visit this thread and you can see monthly lists of code enforcement activities for the county http://publicdocumentdistributors.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=34 Davi Rodrigues 2009-09-22T15:05:16Z trapper comment-14175 2009-09-22T04:46:48Z 2009-09-22T04:46:48Z I'm glad the city still has the funds to do this stuff. Good story Kathleen. trapper 2009-09-22T04:46:48Z