Arizona Republic, The (Phoenix, AZ)
November 15, 2006
CITY GETS TOUGH WITH CODE VIOLATORS
Author: Jim Walsh, The Arizona Republic
Article Text:
Chronic code offenders beware. Mesa is coming after you about your trashy yard, your overgrown weeds and your rundown buildings.
As part of an overhaul of the city's oft-criticized Code Compliance Office, the city will stop taking anonymous complaints about violations. It also is taking steps to knock one-third of the time off its investigations and plans to focus enforcement on repeat offenders.
The reforms, which start Jan. 1, are aimed at addressing complaints by neighborhood activists who cite lengthy delays in enforcement and city inspectors wasting too much time making multiple visits to the properties of repeat offenders.
''I believe in the broken window theory. If you don't deal with it, it heads into a bigger problem, not only a nuisance issue but crime problems,'' said Ray Villa, a retired Chandler police officer who went to work in July as the city's interim code compliance director.
Villa's reform plan includes:
* No longer responding to anonymous complaints, which often prove inaccurate, so that the 13 city inspectors can tackle identified neighborhood problems.
* A streamlined procedure that may cut at least one month off the current three-month enforcement procedure.
The problems are most acute in aging neighborhoods, where there usually are no homeowners associations, Villa said. Most offenses involve rental properties.
The new enforcement procedure depends heavily on property owners voluntarily correcting the problem after receiving a notice in the mail from the city.
It eliminates at least one inspection and sends chronic offenders directly to the enforcement stage.
In 2005, the code compliance office received 8,344 complaints. It opened 23,222 cases and closed 22,320 cases when property owners corrected the problem with no enforcement action. The office cited 468 property owners. These numbers include cases carried over from 2004.
City statistics show that 90 to 95 percent of violators cooperate immediately to avoid further trouble.
Offenders who violate two or more times within two years will go directly to the enforcement stage, which could include having the city clean up the property and send the bill to them.
Tanya Collins, a former city employee and a member of an advisory committee Villa named to help map the change, said she wants neighbors to help the city.
Noting the small number of inspectors for a city of more than 450,000, she and others are working on a proposal to form neighbor committees, look for violations and send ''courtesy notices.''
Copyright (c) The Arizona Republic. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of Gannett Co., Inc. by NewsBank, inc.
Record Number: pho157828361
November 15, 2006
CITY GETS TOUGH WITH CODE VIOLATORS
Author: Jim Walsh, The Arizona Republic
Article Text:
Chronic code offenders beware. Mesa is coming after you about your trashy yard, your overgrown weeds and your rundown buildings.
As part of an overhaul of the city's oft-criticized Code Compliance Office, the city will stop taking anonymous complaints about violations. It also is taking steps to knock one-third of the time off its investigations and plans to focus enforcement on repeat offenders.
The reforms, which start Jan. 1, are aimed at addressing complaints by neighborhood activists who cite lengthy delays in enforcement and city inspectors wasting too much time making multiple visits to the properties of repeat offenders.
''I believe in the broken window theory. If you don't deal with it, it heads into a bigger problem, not only a nuisance issue but crime problems,'' said Ray Villa, a retired Chandler police officer who went to work in July as the city's interim code compliance director.
Villa's reform plan includes:
* No longer responding to anonymous complaints, which often prove inaccurate, so that the 13 city inspectors can tackle identified neighborhood problems.
* A streamlined procedure that may cut at least one month off the current three-month enforcement procedure.
The problems are most acute in aging neighborhoods, where there usually are no homeowners associations, Villa said. Most offenses involve rental properties.
The new enforcement procedure depends heavily on property owners voluntarily correcting the problem after receiving a notice in the mail from the city.
It eliminates at least one inspection and sends chronic offenders directly to the enforcement stage.
In 2005, the code compliance office received 8,344 complaints. It opened 23,222 cases and closed 22,320 cases when property owners corrected the problem with no enforcement action. The office cited 468 property owners. These numbers include cases carried over from 2004.
City statistics show that 90 to 95 percent of violators cooperate immediately to avoid further trouble.
Offenders who violate two or more times within two years will go directly to the enforcement stage, which could include having the city clean up the property and send the bill to them.
Tanya Collins, a former city employee and a member of an advisory committee Villa named to help map the change, said she wants neighbors to help the city.
Noting the small number of inspectors for a city of more than 450,000, she and others are working on a proposal to form neighbor committees, look for violations and send ''courtesy notices.''
Copyright (c) The Arizona Republic. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of Gannett Co., Inc. by NewsBank, inc.
Record Number: pho157828361
