The dreaded Code Enforcement. This is a hot button issue for many residents of our community, myself included. How many have received ominous letters in the mail telling them that they had better clean up their act or face fines. I have. My wife (Angie) and I bought our house in the downtown area last May. It was a foreclosure and had been vacant for about 10 months. We had not been in the house for week when we got a letter from Code Enforcement telling us that we had to take care of the weeds in our backyard or face fines. Now I can appreciate wanting to keep our City looking good and controlling pests and noxious weeds, but I ask the question; did the City ever send letters to the bank (who owned the vacant property for 10 months) and ask them to control the weeds? Or did they just wait and pounce on the little guy once I had purchased the property? So my wife and I went out and bought a trimmer so we could tackle the weed problem. We didn't own a lawn mower or trimmer yet because when we lived in Phoenix we had a xeriscape (no grass, drought tolerant plants and gravel) landscape. Now some may be thinking, "well you should take care of your weeds, they're a blight on the neighborhood." True, but let's keep in mind that the weeds in question were in my Backyard. That means the Code Enforcer went into my backyard without permission, took photos and then proceeded to send that letter. I don't think that's right. I have heard countless stories from others about code enforcement and their tactics and I think we need to strive for a balance between maintaining the beauty and quality of our City and common sense. Code Enforcement should not be seen or utilized as revenue producer and the fines can sometimes be over-the-top.
If you have any stories about Code Enforcement or comments on the issue, let us hear them.
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