By Karen Middleton
A group of Athens women are concerned about their neighborhood. Conscientious in keeping their properties clean, attractive and in good repair, they worry about the unsightliness and danger of dilapidated and abandoned nearby homes.
From time to time they bring their complaints to the city council, usually alone or in pairs, but at the last council session, at least six women who live in the 12th Street, Highland, and Plainview streets area came to say they are fed up with conditions.
“Is someone hired to check up on this?” asked Rosie McLin. “Why do we need to come up here time and time again?”
The answer to McLin’s question is that the city pays code enforcement officers to contact owners of rundown or dangerous properties to warn them, cite them if they don’t comply, and turn the complaints to the city Building Inspection Department to begin condemnation proceedings.
But both inspection officials and code enforcement officers say they rely heavily on citizen complaints to zero in on the problem areas.
Athens Police Code Enforcement Officer Paul Tucker is taking over full-time duties since the Thursday retirement of Ron Ultz.
“We do regular patrols, but we’re going to miss some,” said Tucker. “We rely on incoming calls, but a lot of the time people to come to us before they go to the council. We get with the Building Department, tag them, contact the owners and tell them they are going to have to bring them up to code or tear them down.”
Tucker said he was unaware of a home about which 12th Street resident Cozie Maxwell complained.
Maxwell complained about owners building on too small lots and about a house across from her that has been long abandoned.
“There’s just old junk in there, old washers and dryers,” said Maxwell. “Squirrels go in and out and probably all sorts of other things.”
The home of which she complains faces Highland Street at 12th. Junked cars sit beside it and it doesn’t appear to have been inhabited in recent years.
District 3 City Councilman Jimmy Gill, who represents the area in which the women live, said he is aware of several problem properties.
“Two or three of those properties need legal action to clean them up,” said Gill. “I’ve said time and again, we have these ordinances on the books and they’re not being enforced.”
Down the Highland Street sits another dwelling, occupied only by bees. Mary Fletcher complained about that structure, saying neighbors are afraid of being stung.
However, the house with the bees, while unpainted and run down, appears to have a new front door and storm door. Someone is aware of conditions there and has obviously taken measures to secure the structure from break-ins.
Tucker says he wants to know about such structures.
“Anybody throughout the city can call,” said Tucker. “We don’t consider any calls worthless. We need all the eyes out there we can get. Call me at 232-7230. If I’m not in the office, leave your name and number and I will get back to you.”
