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Keeping neighborhoods healthy is worth the effort — and money
I don’t care about brown lawns.
If other members in my household didn’t insist otherwise, I’d let the Bermuda go dormant during winter and never plant rye. So when I read that the Bakersfield City Council’s Legislative and Litigation Committee was considering an ordinance requiring owners of foreclosed homes to keep lawns green, I scoffed and rolled my eyes. (OK, I admit it, I do that a lot.) What a waste of time, effort and water, I thought. And how ironic that as other cities are citing homeowners for watering lawns too much because, you know, we’re in the middle of a drought, Bakersfield wants to fine them for not watering enough. Classic. Well, a little research changed my mind. Not so much on the lawns, but on the overall need to deal with vacant buildings not just because of the current tidal wave of foreclosures but especially for low-income neighborhoods battling crime and drugs. We don’t have a vacant building ordinance in Bakersfield. A building has to fall into obvious disrepair — fire-hazard-sized weeds, vandalism or trash heaps in the driveway — before the clock starts ticking on code enforcement. Once the process does start, it’s time consuming and can take up to 45 days with notices and appeals before significant action is taken, according to Phil Burns, the city’s Building Director, which oversees code enforcement. Foreclosed properties can be even trickier as ownership is in transition. As I said, if it were just dead lawns, I wouldn’t care. But as code enforcers in Sacramento and Fresno told me when I asked how their vacant building ordinances were working, empty houses can, and do, quickly attract vandalism and crime. Both cities have vacant building ordinances that allow code enforcement to jump on complaints before buildings become serious problems. Fresno enacted its ordinance two years ago when speculators were buying up multiple properties and just letting them sit. The process there, which can take 90 days (officials are working to shorten it to 30), is to notify the owner about the mess and not only demand it be cleaned up, but get a written maintenance plan, according to Howard Lacy, a senior inspector. Fresno doesn’t have a landscape ordinance, so he said they don’t go after lawns just because they’re brown. “We don’t have the authority to go out and make it ‘nice,’ but it needs to meet the standards of the neighborhood.” Sacramento’s ordinance, about a year old, is very similar except the total notice/appeal process is only 30 days. And the city does have a landscape ordinance, so brown lawns are a no-no that can attract code enforcement attention. Code Enforcement Manager Randy Stratton praised the ordinance for giving banks and mortgage companies a heads up on what they need to do to button up foreclosed houses before they get to the penalty stage. If we do adopt an ordinance, Bakersfield should take note that it will require hiring more code enforcement officers. Sacramento and Fresno had to add three bodies each. So, brace yourselves — if we want more services, we will have to pay for them. This is a more complex issue than just a few dead lawns. It will require study and careful crafting so the city doesn’t bring a chainsaw when only a scalpel is needed. But, hey, if Fresno can do it, it can’t be that hard. (Just kidding, Bulldogs!) Difficult or not, with more than 2,000 foreclosures already on the books in Bakersfield and adjustable rate mortgages going up again this spring, the time is now. Lois Henry’s column appears Wednesdays and Sundays. E-mail her at lhenry@bakersfield.com or call her at 395-7373. 17 comments from 10 users
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posted by
adampayne
on Dec 1, 2007 at 06:43 AM
The old Catch-22. If we want code enforcement we will need more officers to patrol the areas, but there is never enough money to hire new officers and tax payers will refuse to help fund a solution to the problem. I won't bother going into the history of recycling and road repair/expansion. This means, of course, absolutely nothing will change.You are spot on about code enforcement on vacant commercial buildings that continue to fester throughout the area. City government sees no reason to demand from people who own these structures, and who all value their property in these strip malls and downtown at millions of dollars, any other responsibility than making sure their property taxes are current. Local government says with its actions Blight is Beautiful when you own commercial business property but might be willing to go after individual home owners who struggle today to financially survive. Although, I did not want to go into recycle history, one of the compelling reasons the mandated proposal was not as sound as it should have been was letting business interests off the hook as part of the mandate to recycle. The city needs to do one very critical thing to help residents in this town before it is too late, and that is to place a building moratorium on all new development for single family homes. The downward plunge of value for existing homeowners has taken a staggering toll on the local community and no relief will come for decades if city government does not take the simplest measure to help stabilize prices here. If developers are allowed to continue to put up, without restriction, more new houses that flood an already saturated market and are priced at levels that drag all values down the repercussions for tomorrow will make today's prices look like the golden years. The city is already watching a growing chasm of value between itself and other major municipalities here in the state. It is time to take a stand for existing homeowners here, and lawn patrols are not the answer. posted by
noholdsbarred
on Dec 2, 2007 at 10:19 AM
Adam: You make a great point about the commercial eyesores around town! Wish I would have included that in the column. I did ask about not approving anymore building until we can figure out how to accommodate what we already have (keep in mind also that there are more than 75,000 houses alone approved and not yet built!) and the council members all told me that the market was taking care of that issue, it wasn't up to them. Why are they there then??? posted by
TomW
on Dec 2, 2007 at 10:32 AM
I wouldn't worry too much about the new construction. I've been in town a few times this year and from what I've seen, all these new houses are going to fall apart in 10 years. Call it planned obsolescence if you'd like, but the overbuilding problem is going to resolve itself shortly.
posted by
NancyII
on Dec 2, 2007 at 10:48 AM
Tom... I went house looking with grandson and bride and am in total agreement with you. Crown molding not meeting..rows of lights croked, plates that don't cover holes from doorbells, lights, fans etc. and that was only what was visable. Lord only knows the defects NOT visable. I keep advising the kids to buy existing but the down is a lot more. I wouldn't want to spend my money on any of the new construction I've seen so far. Any idea of the suits against builders going on out there? I know of two who have suits right now. posted by
TomW
on Dec 2, 2007 at 11:09 AM
I don't know about the suits, Nancy. I just heard a story about a new place that has a foundation that is cracking near a bathroom. Tells me that the subslab plumbing is open and washing out the soil underneath. Apparently the builder came back and patched the wall where the sheetrock had cracked.The plus side is that in the Bako climate, things will stand a lot longer, especially with the slate roofs. That is if the plumbing holds up. posted by
NancyII
on Dec 2, 2007 at 11:17 AM
Tom..Mark's builder is one who had a lawsuit against him and the money he got didn't begin to cover the shoddy workmanship. Grandsons mother in law is involved in one out in the west southwest right now. And hers was in the 300K range before the boom hit. Imagine how much worse they must be because of the boom.
posted by
ChicoEsquela
on Dec 2, 2007 at 11:19 AM
re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic Lois...................... I'm gonna buy some of those chairs in a year or so though! posted by
saberhagen
on Dec 2, 2007 at 01:06 PM
As some of you bloggers may have noticed, since the recent erosion of our civil rights began with the current political regime, I have become keenly sensitive to even the mere allusion of further abrogations. On the surface, well crafted local legislation specifically addressing ill-maintained vacant properties while protecting residential homeowners from unfair financial mandates arising from silly laws governing aesthetics seems logical - as long as we don't allow the city to be morphed into a giant homeowners association directed by people afflicted with the ubiquitous greenlawn disease. Beauty is after all, a subjective matter. It doesn't belong in municipal law. Some folks might even rightfully like their sagebrush or other indigenous foliage. Heck, some in rural zones have the family horse or goat taking care of the weeds. Out in Lois' Rosedale neck of the woods people have horses and farm animals in compliance with existing code. I suppose they even poop on their lawns. To each his own. But like Lois, most of us don't want the Clampetts living next door with old appliances and vehicles cluttering the front yard, while at the same time we don't want, need or rightfully expect to be told what color our grass should be if we have any. But it is not entirely clear that additional code legislation is actually needed within the city proper. Especially if new legislation would encroach on citizens' right to the due process afforded them under existing law. The presumably fair and proper legal mechanism to deal with blighted properties already exists. There is presently code and enforcement in place sufficient to regulate the Clampett's squalor or a vacant property owner's code violations under due process. Sure, it takes a while, but that's what due process is all about. So what if we have to pay for a few new code enforcement officers to expedite the process within already established legal limits. If that's what needed to avoid miscarriages of justice, than so be it. But then again, perhaps existing law can be more efficiently enforced at no extra cost. Despite their mess, everyone, including the most obvious offender, enjoys the right to proper notification and reasonable response time for defense, mitigation or remediation of their alleged infraction before being spanked by the long arm of the law. After all, this is America where summary judgment is not hastily passed before marching offenders off to the arena for some horrific punishment. Well, I suppose under our unpatriotic Patriot Act, recalcitrant property owners COULD be deemed terroristic and waterboarded for a few years first, but our democratic brand of humane justice really isn't supposed to work that way. The last thing we should be doing is acquiescing to a kneejerk reaction calling for more harsher and unnecessary laws to supplant fair ones we already have. posted by
sagefever
on Dec 2, 2007 at 01:59 PM
I agree saberhagen~ brown yards turned green are still properties that have been foreclosed on. Much like a 75 year old with a face lift~your still old(er). Cosmetic changes do not alter the fact we have over built(shoddily at that) and people have gone beyond their means.
posted by
TomW
on Dec 2, 2007 at 02:27 PM
Nancy, I picked up two jobs during the week I was in Bako. One was repair and one was upgrade. I'm sorry for all the people who got screwed, but if you're worth your salt as a builder, these next few years are going to be good years.
posted by
Lingtaowoo
on Dec 2, 2007 at 02:37 PM
Look forward to alot more break-in's into these residences...what a prime target rich environment...no one's at home to stop these people from stripping the residence
posted by
Mobombhead
on Dec 2, 2007 at 03:13 PM
Saberhagen - I was recently in the area around MLKjr park that the paper reported today as ground zero for sub prime loans. There were a lot of properties in various stages of neglect, but I saw nobody that could be described, as I remember, as "Clampets". Maybe you could explain what you ment. Oh, and the stuff about the patriot act and waterboarding. Was that meant for this post or the mental illness post?
posted by
sagefever
on Dec 2, 2007 at 03:25 PM
Ling~ I was going to mention neighborhoods~ you know the kind...where if the neighbors foreclosed lawn bugs you,you water it and mow it? The kind of neighborhood where someone calls the cops when they see the appliances"moving out"...but never mind I am just a crazy mentally ill tightwad liberal...who still thinks watching Mr.Rogers would do most a world of good.
posted by
noholdsbarred
on Dec 2, 2007 at 03:37 PM
Saber: The laws passed in other cities still have all the proper notification, they just don't have to wait until the homes become total junk heaps, or dangerous before code enforcement can kick in. The "Clampetts" Saber is referring to are, um...well...folks who don't mind letting it all hang out, including garbage, old appliances, junk cars and more...all on their front lawns. posted by
sagefever
on Dec 2, 2007 at 03:55 PM
Murphy~ blue grass is a lot of upkeep~lol .go for the spraypaint stuff!
posted by
RoyTullis
on Dec 2, 2007 at 05:03 PM
When I was a wee lad, everybody except a few rich folks let their lawn go brown in the summer time. When winter came a little water brought it back to green. With the water shortage I see nothing wrong with that as long as the lawn is kept up and the rest of the property is in good shape. If we have another dry winter we may all be looking at a brown lawn to save water.
posted by
RoyTullis
on Dec 2, 2007 at 09:04 PM
Murphy. There probably will not be enough water behind the dam to water lawns. I drove by Lake Superior the other day and it's a mud hole. I'm glad I have a rock yard. Never mow or water it. I run the drip system on my shrubs in the summer and turn it off as soon as it cools down . It makes for really low water bills.
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