LCIA New Orleans, LA

Lakeview Civic Improvement Association P.O. Box 24378 New Orleans, Louisiana 70184 Phone: 504.233.0124

LCIA Blight Committee Report               November 2009

The Committee’s periodic property surveys shed light on Lakeview’s rebuilding and restoration progress. The Spring 2009 Survey results are very encouraging.

Of the 6919 properties surveyed, 3313 properties are now occupied...up 311 or 10% over properties reported occupied in September of 2008.

There are 921 “homes with no progress” since Katrina. That number is down by 154, an improvement of 14% since September ’08. See list of 382 Blighted Properties

Many properties continue to be overgrown and not maintained.

Although significant progress has been made, we still have much work to do in ridding Lakeview of blight. The Fall Survey is currently underway. We expect the results to available at the January LCIA General Membership Meeting.

The City has and continues to process many Lakeview properties through its code enforcement inspection and hearing processes. The Blight Committee works with the City to help focus inspections on our most offensive properties. The hearing schedule and results are posted on cityofno.com.

Overgrown Properties hearings were held on April 20^th. 53 Lakeview property owners were summoned.

            Abandoned Pool hearings were held on June 30^th. 37 Lakeview property owners were summoned.

            Hearings on properties reported through the City’s 311 process are being held in July and August. 71 Lakeview property owners were summoned.

            The City completed a major code enforcement inspection of Lakeview this past summer and as a result the City has prosecuted another ~190 new Lakeview blight cases during September and October. Blight Committee representatives attended most of these hearings to make statements and offer recent photos attesting to the current condition of the property.

            City blight hearings are very important because they often result in property owners cleaning up there properties in order to avoid fines. A significant number of these hearings do result in fines and court costs for the owner. Fines range up to $500 plus up to $500 per day for every day the property remains in a blighted condition up to 30 days. Court costs are an additional $75.

            There continues to be many hearings reset to a later date for various reasons.

Blight Committee members actively participate in most of these hearings as well.

Council District A’s hearing results are available here.

As you may recall, an ordinance was passed earlier this year allowing the City to bring to Sheriff’s Sale any property which has unpaid blight code violation fines and remains in a blighted condition. The Committee continues to work with Councilmember Midura’s office to process qualifying Lakeview properties through such a Sheriff’s Sale. The Committee is monitoring 3 such Lakeview properties through the process.

You may have read recently that the City Council acted to require blight judgments to be paid at the same time as property taxes. Such fines should appear on the property owners’ property tax bill. The Blight Committee applauds this action.

The April 30^th deadline for FEMA trailer removal has come and gone. Ten Lakeview FEMA trailers were removed in June. Another 8 trailers have recently been removed. Lakeview is now down to 13 FEMA trailers which have not as yet been removed. Our Committee met in October with representatives of the City, the La Recovery Authority and FEMA to request more aggressive action on this issue. FEMA is working each of the 13 Lakeview cases to affect trailer removal in the short term.

In May the LCIA sent out blight letters to our top 100 or so blighted property owners at the addresses listed on the Tax Assessor’s website. The purpose of the letter was to share information about the city’s blight process and to encourage the owner to be a good responsible neighbor and clean up his or her property. Some recipients have responded positively to the letter with promises to clean up their property; a few responded negatively. Many letters were returned to sender because the property was abandoned with no forwarding address.

Our Blight Call Team continues to contact derelict property owners when complaints are received and has had some success convincing a number of owners to clean up their property.

I would like to thank all the Blight Committee members who work to make Lakeview’s recovery a continuing success.

If anyone wishes to be part of this unprecedented effort to fight blight in Lakeview, please contact the blightcommittee@lakeviewcivic.org.

Tom Schnatz

Blight Committee Chair

Do you have information on blighted property in Lakeview?

Blighted property should first be reported to the City by calling 311 or reporting online at http://www.cityofno.com/portal.aspx?portal=128&tabid=7

The Blight Committee can also help with a phone call directly to the owner of the property. If you have information such as a contact name, address and PHONE number, you can leave this information on our voice message line, or via email: blightcommittee@lakeviewcivic.org

We will attempt to talk to the owner, and hopefully get a resolution.
Also leave the address of the derelict property, a description of the problem and your name and phone number on the message.

Note: This is for Lakeview properties only; please contact the appropriate neighborhood association for properties in other areas.

Past Blight News:

Blight Enforcement and Removal in Lakeview

Recent Code Enforcement Activities:

26 Lakeview Code Enforcement cases were heard in January and early February 2009.

13 property owners were found guilty with fines & penalties sustained.

13 properties were either abated or the cases were re-set for later.

72 additional blighted properties have been sent to the City with a request for code violation inspections.

Code Enforcement Summary:

Well over 260 Lakeview properties have been through the City’s blight hearing process starting in July 2008.

Close to 50% of these properties have been cleaned up.

The others have been fined upwards of $500 per day for every day the property remains in a blighted condition.

Blight Call Team Summary:

Processed over 225 blight complaints to LCIA since April 2008.

Call Team has contacted many property owners.

As a result, over 75 property owners have cleaned up their properties.

September 2008 Property Survey Results:

6,962 properties were surveyed in Lakeview.

3,007 (43%) were occupied.

922 (13%) properties were rebuilt or were being rebuilt.

1,093 (16%) properties had homes with little or no progress.

1,940 (28%) properties were vacant lots, 178 still with slabs.

1,086 (15%) properties needed to be cleaned up.

A new survey is being planned for Spring 2009.

Blighted Properties Updates

Blight in Lakeview

Code Enforcement Hearings November 20th

Lakeview had 87 cases to be heard

28 property owners came to the hearings

23 were found guilty and signed a compliance agreement
They must appear again in 30, 45 or 60 days

All 23 had one time fines and hearing costs imposed
All had daily fines imposed if the work is not complete in the allotted time
Most of the daily fines are $500 per day

5 properties were nol pros (dismissed) because work was complete or the house was demolished

On Tuesday November 24, the rest of the 59 cases will be read into the record
An LCIA representative will be there to continue the work and assist with recommendations.

Code Enforcement Hearings November 20th

Lakeview had 87 cases to be heard

28 property owners came to the hearings

23 were found guilty and signed a compliance agreement
They must appear again in 30, 45 or 60 days

All 23 had one time fines and hearing costs imposed
All had daily fines imposed if the work is not complete in the allotted time
Most of the daily fines are $500 per day

5 properties were nol pros (dismissed) because work was complete or the house was demolished

On Tuesday November 24, the rest of the 59 cases will be read into the record
An LCIA representative will be there to continue the work and assist with recommendations.

July 2008 Blighted Properties Results

July 15, 2008
WDSU News Video

July 2, 2008
Blight Hearing Results

Hello everyone

Thanks to all who attended the hearing today and who submitted written statements. It made a difference! Following are the results:

5848 Catina: presented signed contract for demolition. Owner fined $500 + $75 court costs. If not demo'd in 30 days, $100/day
6333 Louis XIV: guilty of blight and public nuisance. Fined $500 + $75 court costs. If not compliant (including gutting) in 30 days, $100/day
5845/47 Catina: owner presented evidence of beginning repair. Found guilty of blight and public nuisance. Fined $500 + $75 court costs. Siding must be replaced
and windows secure within 30days or $100/day fine to ensue
5902 Catina: guilty of blight and public nuisance. $500 + $75 court costs. Must be completely gutted, secure and yard clean within 30days or $200/day
6001 Colbert: guilty of blight and public nuisance. $500 + $75 court costs. Must be compliant (or sold) within 60 days or $250/day fine

The following properties had no defendant appear. We were still allowed to read our statements into the record and present photos. Judgments made accordingly
5820 Louis XIV: guilty of blight and public nuisance. $500 + $75 court costs. $100/day if not compliant in 30 days
6015 Milne: guilty of blight and public nuisance. $500 + $75 court costs. $250/day after 30 days.
6140/42 Catina: Belongs to Road Home. Found guilty of blight and public nuisance. Court cannot fine the State

As I understand it, with mounting fines, the property can be seized by the city and sold at auction.

My personal findings after witnessing the proceedings and testifying are that YOU MATTER! If the residents who live around these properties to not represent themselves via written statements or attending, the fines are not as high. YOU MAKE AN IMPACT. As future properties come up for hearing, please take the time to get involved.

Again, many thanks to those who did!
Sharon

What we have been working towards for months has finally come to pass

The adjudication hearings are back on the City website

If you go to www.cityofno.com, click adjudication docket on right hand side of home page, then click Tuesday July 8 9:15, you will find 80 LV hearings.

Please check them out and see if there are any that you want to comment on

Lakeview only had one property on the docket.

The property owner did not show up, but a neighbor had a prepared statement and pictures they had taken this morning of the property

The Judge gave the maximum fine of $500 plus the Hearing Fee of $75 and ordered that the property be cleaned up by the City at the homeowners cost and the police be present. This is to take place within 2 weeks

This is a real step forward for us in LV with the Blight Fight

Please go to the City website and download the list of properties to be heard on July 8th and see if you have info about any of the properties and contact the LCIA so we can include it when we go to the hearings

We are fighting Blight on several fronts, the LCIA signs with the phone # to call in if you know the owner of blighted property, letters are going to be sent to property owners not in compliance and now the Adjudication Hearings with the new rules set forth by Ordinance 28

N.O. City Council passes tougher blight rules

by David Hammer, The Times-Picayune

Thursday March 20, 2008, 9:14 PM

The New Orleans City Council passed a new ordinance Thursday in an effort to put blighted properties back into commerce more efficiently and provide stricter building code enforcement, including fines of as much as $500 a day for failure to fix eyesores.

In addition to passing a 58-page amendment to the city code, the council passed an ordinance giving itself a more prominent role in seizing blighted properties and moving them through to sheriff's sales.

The ordinance, proposed by Mayor Ray Nagin's Office of Recovery and Development Administration, beefs up the code enforcement process and creates a case management structure that officials hope will turn over unkempt, unoccupied properties to those who will maintain and redevelop them.

It consolidates health and code enforcement procedures and gives the city more authority to go onto private property, perform maintenance and charge the owner. It also establishes a fund to put collected fines into future blight reduction work and applies blight standards to commercial and government-owned properties.

Also, the new code puts more of an onus on landowners to prove wrong city inspectors' judgments that their properties represent a public nuisance. The city hopes to clear up problems with about 1,700 blighted and nuisance properties, identified since Hurricane Katrina, that have been through a city adjudication process. Officials will use such tools as sheriff's sales, cluster redevelopment plans, the Lot Next Door purchase program and legal agreements with derelict owners.

The city's Finance Department tracks properties that had blight or public nuisance judgments against them before the flood. Those properties could number several thousand, according to Councilwoman Stacy Head's office.

The process of seizing abandoned properties stalled in September, with the recovery office complaining about a lack of staff. Two blighted properties recently moved through to sheriff's sales, and earlier this month, Nagin's aides said the city would be able to handle as many as 500 a month within the next few months.

Jeff Thomas, special assistant in the Office of Recovery Management, assured the council that the ordinance gives the city administration all the structure and authority it needs to move blighted properties through the pipeline.

"With this, we're up and running," Thomas told the council.

The ordinance explains the owners' duty to maintain their properties, whether private homes, government-owned buildings or commercial properties. The ordinance also includes rules for gutting and maintaining properties affected by future disasters, allowing owners six months from the time they can return to get a renovation permit and a year after that to finish rebuilding.

As before, owners will have due process, enforcement hearings and court appeals to challenge any findings against them.

But a separate ordinance by Head challenged the administration's plan, which allowed the council to make only non-binding recommendations about the fate of specific blighted properties. Head's legislation sought instead to give the City Council the power to identify properties for seizure and to direct the city attorney to include them in sheriff's sales.

Head grew irate when City Attorney Penya Moses-Fields informed her that the city charter's separation of executive and legislative powers prevented the council from forcing her to take a certain legal action. Head said she thought all parties had agreed upon the wording of the ordinance.

"This is the most bad faith I've ever seen in my life," Head said.

Council President Arnie Fielkow offered a compromise to which the rest of the council agreed, one that essentially lets the City Council bypass the recovery office's case management process and highlight certain properties for the city attorney, but without forcing the administration to act. Also, Head agreed to let the additional ordinance lapse on July 31, as long as recovery management officials can show that their case management system is moving properties through to sheriff's sales.

Although Head's ordinance only slightly altered the process, and gave the executive branch the same ultimate authority to seize properties, both Thomas and Head came away saying they got exactly what they wanted.

David Hammer can be reached at dhammer@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3322.