Dilapidated home not sweet to neighbors

Deirdre Newman

Neighbors of a dilapidated house cluttered with junk and overgrown

weeds on Monrovia Street say they are frustrated that the city has

taken so long to pursue legal action.

Twenty-two residents have signed a petition enumerating their

complaints and calling on the city to declare it a fire hazard, clean

it up and put a lien on the property, if necessary.

The owner, Chris Lindeman, has been cited for numerous violations

in the past few years, but has not made any effort to comply,

neighbors and code enforcement officers said.

Lindeman was not available for comment.

Although Senior Deputy City Atty. Marianne Reger said the city is

now pursing remedies to the situation in the criminal courts,

residents emphasize the urgency of the matter because they see a fire

risk.

“This is a fire hazard, and we want the city to recognize it,”

said Julie De Batz, who lives across the street.

The house, in the 1900 block of Monrovia, is a well-known address

to code enforcement officers, said Sandi Benson, chief of code

enforcement.

In addition to the front yard being overgrown with weeds, the

driveway is jammed with two cars and a boat that are reportedly

inoperable. Broken windows have been boarded up. The remaining

windows show torn curtains. A brown gate in front of the house hides

an assorted array of junk that has piled up practically 6 feet high

and bars entry to the front door.

Inside the house is more of the same, according to pictures De

Batz and other neighbors have taken. In the back, pomfrets and weeds

reach up to the roof and cover part of it. The house has no running

water, electricity or gas, De Batz said.

“We have issued citations and tried to get him into compliance, to

no avail,” Benson said. “He has made promises and failed [to follow

up].”

Benson said the city was hamstrung in its efforts until 2000, when

a comprehensive property maintenance ordinance was passed. But after

two years, the city has exhausted all of its recourses.

Officials are still holding out hope that Lindeman will

voluntarily let the city clean up his property, but based on his

track record, that doesn’t look likely, De Batz said. She and other

neighbors have already offered to pay to clean the property, and

Lindeman has not taken them up on the offer.

To cover their bases, the city is evaluating two different legal

avenues, Reger said.

One is slapping Lindeman with an injunction, a court order that

requires the owner to clean his property and if that fails, allows

the city to do so. The other is going through a public hearing

process to get his property declared a public nuisance and then going

to court to get a warrant that gives the city the authority to clean

up the property. In each case, a lien would be put on the house.

And each requires City Council approval, Reger said.

“These type of things do not happen overnight,” Reger said. “I

know they’re frustrated, but it is going to take some time.”

That doesn’t make De Batz feel any better since there has already

been a fire at the house, she said.

“The neighbors should have reported something, but they just

helped put it out,” De Batz said.

De Batz said she does not feel any personal animosity toward

Lindeman and said he is pleasant to talk to.

Other neighbors say they are not bothered at all by the disheveled

property.

“The way I feel, he never bothered me, so if that’s the way he

wants to live,” said a neighbor across the street, who did not want

to disclose his name.

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers Costa Mesa and may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at deirdre.newman@latimes.com.