One of the biggest improvements brought to Richmond is an intense focus on combating blighted properties and vacant buildings. For years, and even decades, City government did little, if anything, to hold property owners responsible.
It is well known that crime and blight go hand in hand, and for years entire neighborhoods were affected and it diminished the health of our entire City. Many areas suffered significant declines in both civic engagement and appearance.
Just as we have done the unthinkable by reducing crime to its lowest point in 26 years and making neighborhoods safer for our citizens, we are enforcing code compliance on property owners across the City so they understand that we will not tolerate neglect.
Our efforts have been paying off.
In April, when a community blog noted a dangerous situation at an abandoned Church Hill market, the City's code enforcement and Department of Public Utilities teams acted immediately. DPU drained and sanitized a flooded loading dock area to eliminate a potential health and drowning hazard.
The City issued a citation to the property owner to fix the problem within 10 days and then billed the owner for the clean-up work performed.
Another recent example of City enforcement involves an overgrown lot in the East End's Woodville neighborhood. A church complained the lot was overgrown and the City acted the same day to cut the tall grass. The City cited the property owner for the violation and billed him for the work performed.
In Northside's Highland Park, City Inspectors conducted the following work just this year through August 1:
· 4700 property inspections, ranging from overgrown
lots to crumbling structural buildings
· 19 demolitions of condemned housing
· 130 additional buildings now registered on the
City's vacant building registry for further monitoring
· 14 properties condemned for violations and neglect
· 25 suspected rooming houses now under
investigation
· Inspectors are monitoring 229 open cases with 474
violations on record
Near Southside Plaza, a 1200-unit apartment complex was cited for numerous violations including a rusting staircase that collapsed and injured a tenant. A bank has since taken control of the property and is now working earnestly to upgrade the entire complex for the safety of all the tenants.
In another case on Southside, the City worked with property owners and provided walk-through tours to point out violations as well as offer informational notices in Spanish to assist our growing Latin American population.
In another instance, a property owner who was greatly under-serving his tenants was told he needed to correct more than 400 violations to improve their living environment. It was no coincidence that these conditions were met with constant calls to the Police Department. Holding the owner responsible will make the neighborhood safer and free up public safety resources for more urgent needs.
As you can see in this chart that is organized by Police precinct, the City is working aggressively to make our neighborhoods cleaner and safer. In the first seven months of 2008, inspectors performed almost 28,000 inspections and more than 16,000 violations were corrected.
It may surprise you to learn that about 50% of all violations are environmental in nature, such as tall grass, trash, or abandoned vehicles. Our goal is to make property owners more responsible and reduce the number of minor violations so inspectors can focus on more serious blight issues.
Code enforcement is not limited to patrolling streets and issuing citations; it is working in the courtroom as well.
One major property owner with dozens of dilapidated properties across Richmond faced hundreds of code violations, and the City took him to court. All nine City inspectors appeared before a judge and the owner, rather than face paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines, agreed to correct the violations and either fix or sell them to someone who would.
The City's proactive assault against blight and vacant buildings - coupled with major crime reduction - has produced a renaissance for many neighborhoods that for years had been considered beyond hope. But clearly, they are worth saving.
To further advance our ongoing successes, I am announcing this week that the City's Code Enforcement personnel will transition into a new department.
Code Enforcement will be part of a new Bureau of Permits and Inspections (BPI) that will provide the "one-stop shopping" services long requested by our local builders and contractors. BPI staff will also finally have a new location providing the space needed to operate more efficiently.
BPI will be located at the 3600 Building on West Broad St. As you can see from the study done last year, the current set-up and lack of space at City Hall seriously inhibits staff/customer interface. The new location will provide much-needed room for customers and ample free parking in a more accessible location. Contractors have even agreed to pay higher permit fees if the result is enhanced software and a faster review and approval process.
Simply put, the plan to enact one-stop shopping in permits and inspections is impossible without more space. BPI's reorganization will achieve that goal.
Cleaning up our City is an important ingredient for fighting crime and even with the evident improvements in recent years, we must continue. The new BPI process and continued proactivity will go a long way toward ensuring that the health of all of our neighborhoods - and our City as a whole - remains strong for future generations. |
