As a follow up on my prior blog post and reader comments.
Code Enforcement is ineffective. Since Mayor Iorio came in, there has been a lot of talk out of Code Enforcement but very little action. There are always excuses. They pay big bucks to get some software so each inspector could have access to their data on laptops. It's been delayed and delayed and delayed. Then we get this story about alleged on the job pot usage by a Code Inspector.
Compare this to TPD and Solid Waste. Lot's of action as a result of their leadership. Chief Hogue. Assistant Chief Castor. Major McNamara and others. Same for Solid Waste's David McCary. Everytime I meet Curtis Lane, I come away with the impression he is a politician, not a manager/leader. Don't forget he was part of the old guard TPD.
""It looked like cigarette ashes and sesame seeds to me," Lane said in an interview. "I was an undercover narcotics officer for more than three years, and I've seen all kinds of drugs. It didn't look like marijuana to me." Perhaps that was why drug were a bigger problem then. The then Deputy Police Chief did not know what drugs looked like.
Code Enforcement's ineffectiveness is starting to tarnish Pam Iorio's image.
The Civic Associations should demand a change. Curtis Lane. Off with his head.
In 6 months, if Jane Castor or George McNamara were in charge of Code, we would really have a clean city.
Keep Bill Doherty. I like the guy. He want's to do better but is hampered by his leaders.
I suspect you have more problems with your inspectors than we do. I hate to keep stating the same ole' but I don't have any problem with code. I turn in complaints and within 2 weeks I see an improvement UNLESS the resident expecgts to stay forever and thus doesn't care about the fines. We have had foreclosures on two houses (not homesteaded), barbed wire removed, trash cleaned up, etc., etc.
ReplyDeleteI have more problems with solid waste. I have had my recycle bin not collected for weeks. We have a mattress on the corner of Broad and 12th that has been there for 2 or more months. Solid was has been called. Nothing. We have emailed solid waste. Nothing.
I always keep a paper trail of anything I turn into Code or Solid Waste or Construction Services. They all know it, too. I NEVER use the internet complaint site. All I ever get is "Your message has been read by Clerk XXXX" Then it says "Closed" I check and nothing happens. I fax my complaints downtown. They respond and they respond quickly. Am I the only person that ever gets a response? I doubt it.
My frustratiobn with Code is not the same as yours. It is that the process is so long and Code Review Board is so sympathetic to the violator.
I have driven every neighborhood in this city. If there is one that has no issues, I would have no idea what it would be. Parts of every hood have unattended issues. Some are far worse than others but they violations are there.
ReplyDeleteCertainly in ALL of Seminole Heights there are serious issues!
It is obvious that if Mayor Pam does not fire Curtis, and company, post haste, she will be wanting for voters soon. This was the dumbest appointment she made, and the fact that she has stood by it is even dumber. Curtis Lane is political suicide at this point!
It is bad enough he was dumber than a stone, a smoke and mirrors man with never a straight answer, just pacifications without fact. But this beats all for dishonesty. EVEN if you he did not know what it was, the fact that it was locked up in a drawer says SOMEBODY was concerned about it and as such it should have gone to be tested asap! Was not a simple code employee issue,,,,,,,was issue for TPD!
This very ignorant man needs to go if we ever want this city to be cleaned up.
>>a prime example is city owned lot next to the harbor club on the river that looks like a dump half the time.
ReplyDeleteHow about launching a class-action lawsuit against the city, claiming that they're supposed to "upkeep" any lots they own. Hit them in their pocket book, they'll do something about it.