May 17, 2012Neighborhood Inpection Sweeps Begin in June
Neighborhood Housing Inspection to Begin In June
Courtesy The Post Journal
by Jason Rodriguez
In the office of the director of development for the city of Jamestown there is a map of the city partitioned into four large quadrants, each outlined with a bold line of varying color.
These divisions are not some new scheme for city wards, nor do these lines denote physical boundaries. They represent the path toward improvement among the city's neighborhoods, now that the city has revitalized the comprehensive Neighborhood Impact Inspection Program. The starting date is only weeks away.
Director of Development Steve Centi said the target sweep for 2010 will begin June 7. Referring to the city map, the active quadrant will be the southeastern section of the city which is outlined in blue. The boundary runs down the length of Forest and east along South avenues, up Manchester Road and the eastern lots to Willard Street, and along Harrison Street back to the center of downtown below the Chadakoin River.
The city will assign each of its four housing code inspectors into an area of this quadrant Centi said. Next year they will focus on the next quadrant among the neighborhoods in the northeast, and in a counter-clockwise rotation the program will be completed in four years.
After completion of the program, the expectation is that there will be a significant drop in code violations when the next cycle begins in 2015, Centi said.
In a recent interview regarding neighborhood revitalization, Mayor Sam Teresi said that the program, traditionally called "spring sweeps," was dropped during his years in office due to manpower shortages.
Centi said the final quadrant inspection occurred in 2001. He added the department was down to two inspectors when one individual changed jobs and another retired. He said after 2005 the city welcomed Todd Peterson into the department as an inspector.
Currently the city has four full-time housing inspectors, the requisite number to get the door-to-door inspection sweep off the ground. He said while they are committed to this plan, "we're still going to get the phone calls coming in from routine complaints."
As the program kicks off this year, Centi said they will be utilizing a new computer database to ensure that every property is inspected within the four-year cycle, and this will save time and resources for the department.
Both Centi and Teresi consider the program as a proactive solution to property improvement. Centi said the housing inspector surveys the exterior of the house. If a code violation is noted a letter is sent to the property owner that asks for his or her cooperation in order to correct the problem. "Most people do correct without further action," he said.
In addition to the directed focus of the sweep, the housing inspectors have other ongoing projects. Centi said his team is wrapping up their survey of foreclosed properties due to nonpayment of county taxes. In instances of code violations, the inspectors will forward this information prior to the county auction. Centi said they do this "in advance of the new sale" so that new owners will not be surprised if a large investment is required in order to bring the property up to code.
According to the director, Peterson will follow up his duties this spring with a "gateway sweep." Centi said this initiative follows the recommendation of the recent czb, LLC report for neighborhood revitalization. He said Peterson will survey properties among the neighborhoods along North Main and East Second streets and Fairmount and Foote avenues. In addition to the exteriors of houses, Peterson will also note broken sidewalks and curbs and refer the findings to the Department of Public Works.
With respect to his inspectors, "everyone wears multiple hats," he said.