Arkansas Blog

Nothing like being convicted before the trial! And if this stigma is supposed to embarass absentee landlords, refer back to the term "absentee".

I know these damn ordinances and codes are unconstitutional. There is I know a better way for a big city like LR to handle these problems...like buy the property if the owner will sell it to them...
This is nothing but pure communism at it's best..

Be interesting to see if someone challenges this in court. "has been investigated and found to be in violation"... Isn't that the point of going to court? Just because there's an alleged violation does the city now own my property to say that I can't take down the sign? It's not a quarantine - can there really be a compelling public interest in requiring this sign (other than Stodola's compelling interest to impress the public)?

Seriously, you don't get it, do you? How many times have you driven by this house or that neighborhood and see cars parked practically one on top of the other, or the yards in total disarray and wondered what is going on there? Ever driven by a house and pause for a moment and wonder why the house looks as if it is falling in on itself, if doing so, wondered what the city is doing about it?
Do you care?
You should. The more we as citizens ignore the problem, the bigger the elephant is in the room. But you drive on by...(not my problem, right?) Wrong...You want to know, your neighbors want to know, but you may not have the care within you to want to know...but you should. This neighborhood, or that neighborhood is in that condition because someone stopped caring...someone STOPPED. Shall we add your name to the list? Is it already there?
Because someone stopped caring and no one wants to step up to do something it suddenly becomes the city's problem. So you bitch and moan about the blighted areas (or do you not because it's not in your backyard?) and grumble about another break-in in your neighborhood...
Which brings me back to the driving by...you may want to know after all which violation is in court, because someone cared enough to make someone, renter, owner, etc...accountable. You didn't. You kept driving by.
These signs won't take anyone property...it will let neighbor after neighbor aware...that help is on the way...

mallen, you're a little misguided here. Life is messy, humans are messy....learn to live with it. If you're able to keep your house in order and every blade of grass the same length...good on ya. But there are lots of good reasons some people don't keep their property up to your standards.

When government goes past looking out for the safety of the public, it becomes Big Brother. The tastes of Big Brother change depending on who gets to be Big Brother this year. It's a very dangerous situation to get into. Harassing people unable to quality their place for Better Homes & Gardens is mean. Screaming at someone who is old or sick or both to fix up their place is mean. Threatening someone whose working 3 low paying jobs to keep food on the table with fines or possible jail time because of the lack of paint on their house is terrible. People can't simply shit money. If they could, I'd be on your side.

We all have our own tastes, our own priorities and our own particular set of problems. Probably no house built before 1970 was planned for the day when 5 or 6 of the occupants had to own a car to make their lives work. You can't tell working folks they can't have cars and have to walk. No parent is going to disown their child in order to comply with city code.

That's why I believe, unless it is a safety hazard to the general public, my right to bitch ends at my property line. If your neighbor offends you, build a fence or move. If 2 blocks over it makes you sick to your stomach......don't drive down that street. Develop an adult attitude about the possible.

In every case of human history where a people have been forced to conform into group thought and behavior disaster followed. Those legions of smartly dressed Nazis goose-stepping in perfect order turned out to be oh so deadly. Don't wish for more Yard Nazis or you will surely get em. Then what? No more fat people? No more Catholics? No more women on top sex? Get a new hobby, hon.

Of course, no one in code violation could be anything other than a careless greedy absentee landlord. They couldn't possibly be someone who really needs help. Caring citizens would much rather report them to city code than knock on their door and ask them if they need help with their property.
Have they lived there longer than you? Are they old? Are they low income?
Have they had a prolonged illness when they could not work? Are they depressed?
Do they have a family member they must support?
Do they not ask for help because they think others are more deserving, or do they fall in the black hole between abject poverty and having a job that prevents them from qualifying for any assistance?
How many people who really need help will be taken advantage of by shoddy contractors they could afford in desperation to meet a court deadline? And if they don't meet the deadline, they are fined, making their financial and emotional situation worse, reducing their ability to fix their property even further.

How many of their offended neighbors have asked the owner why their property is in disrepair? How many have knocked on the door, phoned them, or left a note offering assistance? Or even a note saying, "Let us help you, or code enforcement will fine you and take your house." How many on the block who can obviously afford it chipped in $10, or $50, to fix the problem? How many of them waste that much on dinner out, or donating to strangers via other charities? The cost would be less than the cost of the signs, notices, court fees, etc. Could you scrape paint for an hour a week? How fast could 12 neighbors scrape and paint a house? What would that do for neighborhood cohesion and community stability?

Good citizens who have moved into their neighborhood and gentrified it do not care. Maybe there are only a few properties left that need work. Get the bums out! Fine them into oblivion! They'll be forced to move, sell their property for $50,000 less than it's worth for lack of paint or a rotted porch railing, to my friend who will be more suitable to OUR neighborhood. My friend can fix it up and sell it for a huge profit to someone who can afford to maintain it. Or just wait until the city steals the offender's home, it's just what they deserve for being such unsightly neighbors.

How many public service ads have we seen for big cities where the neighbors pitched in the fix up run down properties? Oh, but that's only for big cities, urban neighborhoods. No good Christian in Hillcrest, Capitol View, Stifft Station, or any other neighborhood with more Volvos, Hondas, and Porsches than Chevys would ever consider that.

DBI, although I appreciate you and your opinion often in these blogs, on this I will have to correct myself only in the fact that I didn't clarify my statement better. This has nothing to do with money, or making someone poop it out...there is no Big Brother involved in this.
This is pride...those who have it....even the very poor...show it...
Those who have no pride because of no care....show that louder...
This was my point...
The signs I believe will do good...because if we have the new 311 system...wouldn't you want to know if codes has been there? Would you not want to know the status of a house vacant for 20 years, falling down and burned up ....wouldn't you want to see a sign out front saying the deadbeat is in court?
If you don't care about your neighbors property...and it continued to be a mess...wouldn't you want to know why your property value went down? Why you couldn't sell it?
Someone stopped caring...no one accountable?
Someone is...you may want to know that...

Still love ya though DBI!

You go, DBI. For the past two years my husband has had a series of health crises. There have been times when the grass had to be cut with the bush hog before I could get a mower onto it. Then there's the time I brought the weed eater into the house and (over a cardboard floor covering) had hubby instruct me how to fix the carburetor after taking it to the shop three times in as many weeks.
Last fall, I finally finished tearing down an old shed that he had started to dismantle. I got around to burning the scraps this winter on a safe burn day. A fence needs to be replaced and I may get to that this spring, I hope.
The house needs to be pressure washed and a screen needs to be fixed. I could go on with a list of things big and small.
Understand that I'm not complaining. I'm not asking for help. I can do it. Most of it I have done in the past. It's just that it will get done when I can get it done. But when hubby needs constant care as he has on various occasions, THAT"S what will get done.
Good thing I live out in the county because if a code enforcement officer had come by at a bad time, I might just have pointed to the mower with the barrel of a shotgun and told him to have at it.
We won't even talk about a relative who sniffed at dirty dishes still in the sink and was kind enough to point out that the cat tracked some kitty litter across the floor.
GIT!

Mallen,

I have no problem with a sign going up once the court has found for the city. I'm all for bringing back stockades. I think a little more public humiliation would help in lots of areas. But only for those who have had due process.

Putting up a sign doesn't make anyone care. And those who care can call today. And if they're too lazy to call but want a sign they really don't care.

The sign is so that those who gripe but don't really care enough to do anything else will see that Strong Mayor Stodola is "doing something", thereby further enabling them to drive on and not care konwing smugly that they are now free from responsibility because "the government" is handling it.

Isn't there a connection between code enforcement and the proposed "land bank?" Discuss.

I think this is a great idea. Talk of "group thought" and "Yard Nazis is extreme and ill-informed. If you check the LIttle Rock Code of Ordinances, Section 20-2(a)(1) makes it unlawful to let the grass in your yard grow higher than TEN INCHES. We are not talking about every blade of grass having to be the same length here--it takes a lot of neglect for your grass to grow ten inches high. If the grass in your yard is so high that the vermin who take up residence there are coming into my yard, then it is my business. If your standing water is attracting mosquitoes that are becoming a nuisance in my yard, then it is my business. When the condition of your property is so bad that I can't sell my neighboring property at any price, then it is my business. When we choose to live in proximity to other people, we take on a measure of responsibility to those other folks, like it or not. I know there are extenuating circumstances, and courts are quite capable of dealing with those. But applying a little peer pressure is not a bad thing. And, having worked for another city in another part of the state, I know there are folks out there who like to know that their city government is actually using their tax dollars to enforce the codes that are on the books, so I think the signs are a fine idea.

20 years ago before i ran screaming out of Little Rock and the city sprayed my sunflowers on my side of the ditch with round up, my roomate and i got a notice of this sort to clean up the yard and remove the "mankin". My roomate still refers to it when the Art Squad shut down my baby doll garden. Anyone with more than a cursory glance could see that a lot of care had gone into the morning glories crawiling up the baby dolls and the mannequin. The yard was mowed and bordered bu cane pole and quartz spears. But it was more than the functionary in the little city pick up could deal with. Somehow my neighbor's car on blocks didn't offend anyone and the crack house around the corner continued to thrive.
Giving a bureaucrat authority is a scary thing to do. If I hadn't know i was leaving town it might have pissed me off. As it was it became a lesson to always avoid any idiot with a clip board and no sense of the asthetic.