• Home
  • About
  • Advertising
  • Digital Archive
  • Contact
    • Letter to the Editor
  • Find us
San Diego Uptown News
  • A&E
    • Art
    • Photography
    • Film
    • Dance
    • Music
    • Books
    • Theater
  • News & Features
    • News
    • Feature
    • Politics
      • Elected Official Reports
        • Chris Ward
        • Mara Elliott
        • Summer Stephan
        • Susan Davis
        • Toni G. Atkins
    • Community Updates
      • Hillcrest Town Council update
      • SD Zoo News
  • Food & Drink
    • Uptown Food Briefs
    • Restaurant Reviews
    • Bars & Happy Hours
    • Uptown Brews
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Letters to the Editor
  • Lifestyle
    • Health & Fitness
    • History
      • PastMatters
    • Homes & Garden
      • HouseCalls
    • Travel
    • Fashion
    • Parenting
    • Pets
  • Business
    • Best Of Uptown
    • Business Profiles
    • Finance
    • Real Estate
    • Sponsored links
    • Expert Advice
  • Neighborhoods
    • Adams Avenue
    • Balboa Park
    • Bankers Hill
    • Downtown
    • Golden Hill
    • Hillcrest
    • Kensington
    • Mission Hills
    • North Park
    • Normal Heights
    • Old Town
    • South Park
    • Talmadge
    • University Heights
  • Calendar
  • Experts
No Result
View All Result
  • A&E
    • Art
    • Photography
    • Film
    • Dance
    • Music
    • Books
    • Theater
  • News & Features
    • News
    • Feature
    • Politics
      • Elected Official Reports
        • Chris Ward
        • Mara Elliott
        • Summer Stephan
        • Susan Davis
        • Toni G. Atkins
    • Community Updates
      • Hillcrest Town Council update
      • SD Zoo News
  • Food & Drink
    • Uptown Food Briefs
    • Restaurant Reviews
    • Bars & Happy Hours
    • Uptown Brews
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Letters to the Editor
  • Lifestyle
    • Health & Fitness
    • History
      • PastMatters
    • Homes & Garden
      • HouseCalls
    • Travel
    • Fashion
    • Parenting
    • Pets
  • Business
    • Best Of Uptown
    • Business Profiles
    • Finance
    • Real Estate
    • Sponsored links
    • Expert Advice
  • Neighborhoods
    • Adams Avenue
    • Balboa Park
    • Bankers Hill
    • Downtown
    • Golden Hill
    • Hillcrest
    • Kensington
    • Mission Hills
    • North Park
    • Normal Heights
    • Old Town
    • South Park
    • Talmadge
    • University Heights
  • Calendar
  • Experts
No Result
View All Result
San Diego Uptown News
No Result
View All Result
Home Featured

Tackling nuisance properties in your neighborhood

SDCNN by SDCNN
August 6, 2021
in Featured, Mara Elliott, Opinion
0
0
SHARES
102
VIEWS

By Mara W. Elliott

Safe and healthy neighborhoods benefit all of us. And when even one property is allowed to deteriorate, we are all imperiled by the hazards it creates: Yards piled high with flammable junk, festering pools of stagnant water, infestations of rats and roaches that spill over property lines.

My office intervenes in situations where dangerous property violations persist, and inspections and warnings by police, fire marshals and City Code Enforcement inspectors are ignored. We provide relief to the neighborhood and help the occupant obtain resources that may be necessary to address drug addiction, hoarding behavior and other mental illnesses.

My Office’s Nuisance Abatement Unit focuses on quality of life crimes by addressing nuisance and substandard housing properties throughout San Diego. It has successfully petitioned the court to appoint a receiver to bring 22 challenging properties into compliance.

The California Health & Safety Code authorizes the court to appoint a Health and Safety receiver when a property has substandard housing conditions and when the violations are “so extensive and of such a nature that the health and safety of residents or the public is substantially endangered.” Working under the direction of the court, the receiver is charged with cleaning up the property, relocating the occupants if necessary, and even offering them counseling or other assistance to address the underlying issues that allowed their home situation to escalate out of control.

Our Nuisance Abatement Unit has pursued Health and Safety receiverships in cases involving abandoned buildings and general public nuisances, but most involve hoarding.

Here are just some of our cases:

In a Pacific Beach house, piles of furniture and trash inside the home created a serious safety hazard for the occupants, which included young children. The bathroom sinks drained into buckets and water leaks caused mold throughout the structure.

The yard of a City Heights man was overtaken by squatters, who filled his property with junk and debris while he was busy caring for his seriously ill wife. The trespassers set fires in the canyon behind the property, endangering the entire community. Police were called to the address 117 times in three years. The homeowner had no way to evict the squatters and clean up his property.

An elderly couple was forced to live in their Bay Ho backyard because there was too much trash inside their home to safely enter it. They lived in a camper shell for five years, took sponge baths in the yard, and cooked on a portable camp stove. Feral cats, skunks, and possums lived alongside them in the piles of debris.

A University Heights home had a 20-year history of excessive junk, abandoned cars, and a strong stench from rotting food inside and out. The occupant cleaned it up twice after being contacted by authorities, but when it became a nuisance again, the court appointed a receiver to step in.

A man living in a house in Bay Terraces that had no working toilets or showers was collecting urine in hundreds of plastic bottles stacked in his backyard. Doors and windows were blocked by a ceiling-high accumulation of trash, creating an extreme fire hazard.

My Office does not get involved until Code Enforcement inspectors have visited a problem property repeatedly to determine the extent of the issues, and the occupants or owners are issued warnings to comply with the Health & Safety Code.

If the problems are not addressed, the City issues a legal Notice and Order to vacate and repair or demolish the property. The notice clearly identifies every violation, compliance measures, and informs the property owner that failure to comply could lead to the appointment of a receiver. By law, the property owner has a reasonable amount of time to correct the violations. The City makes every attempt to work with the property owner before seeking a receiver, which is always the last resort.

If you have a property in your area that appears to pose an extreme health and safety hazard, please contact the City’s Code Enforcement Division at 619-236-5500, the Nuisance Abatement Unit at 619-533-5655, or email CityAttorney@sandiego.gov.

— Mara W. Elliott is the San Diego City Attorney.

Related Posts

  • What is a Screen Reader?What is a Screen Reader?
  • Beware of COVID-19 vaccination card fraud and scamsBeware of COVID-19 vaccination card fraud and scams
  • Uptown News Briefs: January 2022Uptown News Briefs: January 2022
  • How to Develop Health & Safety Policy for Your StartupHow to Develop Health & Safety Policy for Your Startup
  • How landscape architects turned a parking lot into an urban plazaHow landscape architects turned a parking lot into an urban plaza
  • The Importance of Physical FitnessThe Importance of Physical Fitness
Previous Post

Beware of COVID-19 vaccination card fraud and scams

Next Post

Little Italy Social Club launches

Next Post
Little Italy Social Club launches

Little Italy Social Club launches

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Category

  • Adams Avenue
  • Art
  • Arts & Entertainment
  • Balboa Park
  • Bankers Hill
  • Bars & Happy Hours
  • Best Of Uptown
  • Books
  • Business
  • Business Profiles
  • Calendar
  • Community
  • Community Profile
  • Community Updates
  • Community Voices
  • Congressional Watch
  • D3 Update
  • Dance
  • District 53 Dispatch
  • Downtown
  • Editorials
  • Elected Official Reports
  • Expert Advice
  • Fashion
  • Feature
  • Featured
  • Featured News
  • Film
  • Finance
  • Five Points-Middletown
  • Food & Drink
  • From the Cover
  • Golden Hill
  • Guest Editorial
  • Health & Fitness
  • Hillcrest
  • Hillcrest Town Council update
  • History
  • Homes & Garden
  • HouseCalls
  • Kensington
  • Letters to the Editor
  • Lifestyle
  • Mara Elliott
  • Mission Hills
  • Music
  • Neighborhoods
  • News
  • News & Features
  • Normal Heights
  • North Park
  • Notes from Toni
  • Old Town
  • Opinion
  • Parenting
  • PastMatters
  • Pets
  • Photography
  • Politics
  • Real Estate
  • Restaurant Reviews
  • SD Zoo News
  • Small Business
  • South Park
  • Suds in the city
  • Summer Stephan
  • Talmadge
  • The Spoken Word
  • Theater
  • Top Story
  • Travel
  • Uncategorized
  • University Heights
  • Uptown Brews
  • Uptown Briefs
  • Uptown Food Briefs

Site Links

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact

© 2022 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme.

No Result
View All Result
  • A&E
    • Art
    • Photography
    • Music
    • Books
    • Dance
    • Film
    • Theater
  • News & Features
    • News
    • Politics
      • Elected Official Reports
    • Feature
  • Food & Drink
    • Bars & Happy Hours
    • Uptown Food Briefs
    • Suds in the city
    • Uptown Brews
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Letters to the Editor
  • Business
    • Finance
    • Real Estate
    • Expert Advice
      • Sponsored Links
  • Lifestyle
    • Health & Fitness
    • Fashion
    • Pets
    • Travel
    • History
  • Neighborhoods
    • Adams Avenue
    • Bankers Hill
    • Balboa Park
    • Old Town
    • Kensington
    • University Heights
    • Normal Heights
    • South Park
    • Mission Hills
    • Community Updates
      • Hillcrest Town Council update
      • HouseCalls
      • SD Zoo News
  • Best Of Uptown
  • Calendar
  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertising
  • Archive

© 2022 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme.

desi sex
forced sex stories
desi chut