New program aims to keep eye on fixes

GLENDALE — It seems everyone is evading responsibility for this abandoned Allen Avenue property, say city code inspectors.

The duplex, which sits in then northeast part of the city, has multiple code violations, including an illegal garage conversion that was altered into living quarters.

The property owner couldn’t maintain payments on the duplex and it foreclosed, so the county evicted the tenants from the property, Inspector Rene Sada said.

Since the tenants were evicted, Sada has tried to inspect the home, but the county put locks on the duplex’s doors and gates. He also can’t reach the bank, which now owns the property, in order to force officials to maintain the property.

“We want somebody to take care of it,” he said.

Getting property owners to realize that their unkempt estates are a blight on the community is part of the city’s Neighborhood Services Department’s Nuisance Abatement Program, which code inspectors enforce, department administrator Sam Engel said.

The program was initiated in December as a four month-long pilot program. But it will now be a permanent program and will be used for serious code violation cases, Neighborhood Services Program Coordinator Sandra Rodriguez said.

Once a home is deemed to have violated several city codes, it goes through the program, which is made up of four phases. The first phase includes a comprehensive check of the property with code enforcement inspectors. The Allen Avenue duplex hasn’t moved from the first phase.

The second phase is enforcing laws, such as citing people who don’t reside at the property and are loitering outside for trespassing. During the third phase, inspectors ensure that the property management is properly maintaining the estate. They also educate property owners of the procedures that they need to enforce to make sure the estate doesn’t become a problem again.

The fourth phase is long term, and inspectors will continually check the property to ensure it is up to code for several years.

Three Salem Street homes, in a neighborhood riddled with crime, are in phase three.

The homes were known to police, residents and city inspectors because of the illegal activities, such as drugs, graffiti, loitering and sexual assaults, that occurred in the once abandoned dwellings.

But the homes are no longer plagued with squatters. Three families now call the houses their homes.

“It’s like day and night,” City Inspector Michael Chong said Wednesday as he walked along the perimeter of the homes.

The homes still need some work on peeling paint and unkempt landscapes, but the properties’ current state is a far cry from March 2008, when inspectors initiated the cleanup, he said. The city attorney’s office had to step in and demand the properties be taken care of to reduce the occurrence of illegal activity.

“The property manager is in the process of complying,” Chong said.

The property owner worked with city officials to rehabilitate the homes and moved in tenants so the homes weren’t empty. The homes will eventually be demolished and an 18-unit condominium will stand in place of the dwellings, Chong said.

But the property will have to relocate the homes’ current tenants.

Resident Alberto Dorado and six other family members moved into one of the homes in December, he said, after his Palmer Avenue home was foreclosed.

He owned his home for 16 years, but after retiring from his job, he struggled to keep up with the mortgage and lost the home.

“I don’t like it because it’s too old,” Dorado said of the home.

The home has its fair share of problems, including leaking pipes and a detached garage that is buckling.

Dorado misses his other home, but his family’s current dwelling will have to do for now.

“We’ll stay here until we get back on our feet,” he said.