Can Detroit Do This? Beef Up Property Compliace Codes/Penalties

[laurin]

It's simple: they enforce their respective property maintainance codes.

Crappy irresponsible property owners are eventually forced to either become responsible or leave the market. New, more responsible, property owners invariably step in because they know that there is money to be made and they're not afraid to do it properly.

There is no reason that Detroit should be excluded from that path of enforcement.

[sumas]

So many good points made by forum members. Pro and con as to ordinance policing. It truely is a complex issue.

I generally hesitate to say too much negative about Detroit due to trolls on this board. I live here and plan to continue living here. I look for a balanced approach.

My biggest beef with the city is lack of enforcement with properties owned but in a large state of neglect. Two homes directly behind me, maintain their front yards but the backyards are beyond description. That, resulted in a rat problem for the neighborhood.

Sigh!

[hamtown mike]

If you doubt me, I invite you to have your favorite exburb resident dump a bag of trash on their front lawn. A ticket will generally appear within a matter of hours and the fine will be several hundred dollars.

All kidding aside, I really like this idea. Anyone want to conduct an experiment? I'll drop a few bucks to cover some of the fines.

Let's us all coordinate, cam corders at the ready, to do it the same day, at the same time, with the same garbage, with the same amount of passing traffic to reduce the only variable [[or as close to it as possible) to the municipality in which the infraction occurs.

How the city of Detroit hasn't lein'd its way into owning the Packard, MCS or half the friggin' land within its borders is beyond me.

[Fnemecek]

Sumas:
The thing is, it's not that complex of an issue. It's not any more complicated that handling traffic tickets, for instance.

If a given official [[elected or appointed) can't handle it then one has to ask what they are doing in office.

Hamtramck Mike:
I would love to see an experiment like this take place. My cameras are available for documentary purposes.

Who else is in?

[Frumoasa]

Although I understand why the city needs to collect, my fear would be that the city would put unrealistic expectations on homeowners in very tough economic situations. For instance, I know I am reaching the end of my roof's life, but it does not leak and it does not cause harm to me or anyone around me. I am saving money for a new tear off roof and I have fixed one area of the back porch that needed repair. The last thing I need is the city levying unrealistic fines on me when I am doing the best I can to take care of the situation. My house looks better than most houses in my vicinity and the last thing I would want is an inspector out picking on relatively small things on my house when they could be taking care of the open and unsecured structure behind me because they think I can pay the fine. I can't. I just try to take care of what I have the best I can.

[muskie1]

I think enforcing this will be come harder with time.Many homes are owned by outsiders and rented. I had an interesting encounter last winter at a gas station in Dearborn. As I was pumping gas a van pulled up to me and asked for directions to the Ford historic home district in Dearborn,I saw he had Georgia plates and was driving a company van. I asked if he was visiting someone , he said no,he was working.
He worked for a group of investors in the south who were buying up foreclosures to rent out in the tri county area. They had bought homes everywhere, the Pointes, Livonia, Troy, Northville etc. to rent out and expected to have a few hundred by time they were done. I asked how do they manage the properties and his sad reply was they really don't. They try to rent to people were they can recieve the money directly,all the homes are spun off to fake corporations in groups of two or three. If they are unlucky enough to have one destroyed by tennants they simply walk away and bankrupt the company leaving no one to pursue for upkeep on the vacant home.
They had about a 1,000 homes nationwide and target areas where housing purchase costs are low.
Overall I think that many suburbs will also soon be facing the problemthat Detroit has trying to enforce penalties on absentee landlords.

[sumas]

Sorry, it is complicated. Fru, pointed out a big issue with issueing tickets is ability to pay. This city is relatively poor with a few pockets of hugh prosperity.

Here is an example, The owners of The Vanity Ballroom have let it go to hell. People with means and creative ideas have tried to purchase that property over the years but the owners decline. With new ordinances, area groups and the city cited the property with some hugh fines. Guess what? The owners are rich, can tie shit up in the courts for forever, city gets scared, city backs off. Valuable historic site is still in decline. Sigh.