By John Briggs • Free Press Staff Writer • April 9, 2009
The residential portion of Ward 1, which houses many college students in sometimes ramshackle rental housing, has a parking problem.
Up and down Weston, Loomis, Isham and other streets in the Ward, the yards of house after house have been converted into parking lots, and the public greenbelts — the space between the sidewalk and the curb — into expanded muddy driveways.
Caryn Long and Sandy Wynne, both of whom say they have complained fruitlessly to the city for years, fault landlords. The absentee owners squeeze too many tenants into single-family houses turned into student tenements and ignore city rules on care of greenbelts and backyard — and, in some cases — front yard parking. But their special ire is reserved for the city’s Code Enforcement office.
The Code office, they say, has been aware for years of the parking and other Code violations in Ward 1 but has been, at best, lackadaisical in enforcement, weak in follow-through, and apparently indifferent to the concerns of permanent residents.
In addition to the aesthetic concerns — the violations make parts of the ward seem slum-like and untended — the use of yards as parking lots insures run-off pollution into Lake Champlain.
The house at the corner of Looms and N. Union Street — a house Wynne describes as “my favorite,” — had a row of cars Wednesday in its front yard. The curb in front was smashed down, and the greenbelt had become the residents’ driveway.
Beyond the parking issues, with cars and SUVs crammed into muddy, rutted backyards, many houses seem in violation of other city ordinances. A house at 55 Loomis Street, for example, has a large rental banner across it’s front offering “1-2-3-4-5BDR Apartments” with leases starting June 1. The sign was posted last year and stayed up for months, Long said. .
Long said she complained again this year when the banner reappeared and received a letter from the Code office, “with a number” indicating the complaint had been received. The letter, she said, was dated March 20. The banner was still hanging on the house Wednesday.
At 22 Loomis Street, the formerly single-lane driveway has expanded to the entire side yard of the house, and the back yard has become a parking lot. Five cars were parked there Wednesday. Three moldy mattresses lean against a building at the back of the lot.
“You’re not supposed to just throw trash in your yard,” Wynne said.
Along Weston Street, at house after house, curbs were broken down and the greenbelts turned into rutted expanded driveways.
“They park regularly in front of the door,” Long said at one house. “The greenbelt? That’s just access.”
Ed Adrian, D-Ward 1, said he hears regularly from Ward 1 residents about Code issues. “The number one ongoing constituent complaint is the inability of Code Enforcement to enforce city ordinances,” he said. “There are longstanding problems I’ve seen for myself and that I know have been brought to the attention of Code Enforcement and haven’t been resolved.”
Assistant City Attorney Gene Bergman became interim Code director on Monday. Told of the complaints from Long and Wynne, he said, “I will have to investigate and get back to you.”
Adrian said the department should make itself more visible, perhaps patrolling in police-cruiser-like cars clearly marked Code Enforcement. “Being a presence is a huge deterrent,” he said.
Beyond that, Adrian said, the Code office needs to notify owners of violations and follow through, working with them reasonably and prosecuting if necessary.
With the departure April 3 of Kathleen Butler as the director of Code Enforcement (the third director in the last five years), Adrian said the timing is ripe for change.
“I want these issues brought to the attention of the public,” he said. “I want to demand from the administration that we hire the very best Code director we possibly can. We have an opportunity to hire a director who is going to reach out and work with the community.”
Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, P-Ward 2, said she has become aware of Code Enforcement issues both through personal experience and by seeing living conditions “inside and outside” while campaigning.
As the city searches for a new Code Enforcement director, she said, it’s a good chance for councilors to learn “what is in the current city code and what should be there and “be thoughtful about how to expand (the Code office) outreach so they can be more effective.”
Adrian said the city must involve the public in the hiring of the new director, as it did in selecting Mike Schirling as police chief.
“We need a public hearing to let people come and share their frustrations with what has, or hasn’t, been going on in the Code office all these years,” Long said. “It might be a wake-up call for the city.”
Contact John Briggs at 660-1863 or
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