Fire up the bulldozer, baby.
City administration is finally getting serious about cracking down on problem properties in the downtown core and across the city. Tonight, council will consider a staff recommendation to tear down and remove 16 mobile homes from the notorious Lombardy Mobile Home Park on Norwood Street. While some of its residents are proud homeowners and law-abiding citizens, many of their neighbours are not. The RCMP were called to the park 335 times from 2012 to 2014, 142 of those incidents occurring in just 2014 alone.
Nobody needs a degree in sociology, criminology, psychology, human geography or community planning to see why. Too much of the park is a dump, with abandoned fire-damaged homes surrounded by garbage. Feral cats are everywhere and squatters have taken advantage of the shelter opportunities. When the broader community turns up its nose and looks away from a problem, a criminal element claims the space. That just encourages nearby citizens to abandon their properties and the rot spreads. Meanwhile, police and bylaw officers devote too much of their time managing the problem.
It's about time their political masters start addressing it.
The Community Charter gives city council sweeping powers to force property owners to clean up their act. Council has the authority to order an immediate property clean-up, particularly if the site poses a danger to nearby buildings and residents. If the property owner doesn't comply, the city can bring in the bulldozers and the dump trucks, remove the problem buildings and the garbage and then send the property owner the bill.
Previous city administrations were far too tolerant of this nonsense and far too accommodating of property owners giving sob stories about their financial situation and various other personal tragedies real and imagined in their lives. That tolerance led to the situation at Lombardy Park. It has led to the neglect of various downtown properties, including the old laundromat on George Street, across from the courthouse. Meanwhile, downtown fires, started in back alleys or in unsecured and/or abandoned buildings, have been happening with increasing regularity.
Enough.
The tolerance towards these kinds of properties and their negligent owners should have been zero from day one. Just because someone owns the deed to some land doesn't mean they get to use it how they want to the detriment and danger of their neighbours. Well-meaning investors who bought downtown properties expecting a development boom and a big return on their purchase shouldn't receive a sympathetic ear from city council just because the boom didn't come and they never anticipated having to spend money maintaining their property. That's the risk of investment and the cost of business.
City council appears to be getting busy conducting its business, part of which is keeping the city clean and safe for its residents while also attracting newcomers. Taking action on these problem properties sends a message to newcomers and longtime residents alike that the Wild West days are over and there is now a vigilant city government and community that holds residents and land owners equally accountable.
Hopefully, this is just a start and bylaw enforcement officers will be fanning out across the city to address problem residential properties, particularly on the outskirts where outdoor storage of rusted-out cars, trucks, semi-trailers, travel trailers, boats, motorhomes, household appliances and who knows what else is considered a God-given right that comes with semi-rural living. Both the city and the regional district should be working together to crack down on these embarrassing eyesores. Property owners unwilling or unable to clean up the mess should be promptly greeted by a city crew carrying a work order from city council to get the job done and the bill for services rendered.
Kudos to mayor and council for dutifully exercising their powers. Previous administrations allowed this mess to build up because they respected the rights of land owners and investors far too much and their governmental responsibility as mayors, city councillors and senior managers far too little. It never should have been allowed to be so bad for so long but thankfully this council is taking action.
Hopefully they don't just stop at the worst offenders.
