RICHMOND—
From Randolph to Richmond's Oak Grove Community, you can't seem to escape neighborhood blight."Whoever the homeowner is, whether they live there or not, it's their responsibility to make sure that they keep up the home and help keep the property values up in the neighborhood," said concerned neighbor Lisa Snead.
And the city is aggressively fighting it.
"They know that, we're serious and we should be. We shouldn't spend that time out inspecting and not going the next step to follow-up, said Director of Planning and Development Review Rachel Flynn.
Rachel Flynn is responding to a 40 page Audit. The City Auditor praises inspectors for cleaning up 250 properties, but criticizes the Department of Code Enforcement for poor record-keeping, code violations for city owned properties and rights of way, including private properties in disrepair. And City inspectors also failed to check on vacant properties within the 45 day guideline.
"Can we do better on the paper work? Sure. And that's one thing we take seriously and we're going to follow-up more and just tell the inspectors if it means one less inspection and you got to do better paperwork. That's where the priorities are going to be," siaid Flynn.
Flynn said they had fewer inspectors because of budget cuts, and tracking down property owners and taking them to court is a challenge.
"We told them what the problem was. We asked them for a time frame. We gave them an opportunity to meet that time frame, they failed. Often times we try to give them a second chance."
Flynn tells CBS 6, they're making changes in that department by having better trained employees, using computers to track those properties, and City inspectors will have their evaluations tied to the vacant properties they handle. Plus, Department of Public Works employees and jail inmates will remove trash and debris from city alleys and cut grass.
The City recently made big progress when Oliver Lawrence was convicted and served 30 days in jail. A judge ordered him to serve a portion of that time in one of his rundown properties and pay $177,000 in fines. Lawrence owned over a hundred properties in the Richmond with numerous code violations.
