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Last week, a resident of ROLO mentioned this house at 1528 Cochran that really is no longer a house but a slab and a few boards. Apparently it has been in this condition for years and located just a few blocks from the Vice Mayor's house.
Manuel Gonzalez bought the property in July 2014 for $7,500 and if you call his "for sale" sign, he is asking $65,000. Taxes that were due by April 2015 go unpaid. The city has been fining the owner(s) of this property at a rate of $100 a day since 2008. Recently a new case was opened and it was declared that the building was "unsafe." It goes before the magistrate tomorrow at Lake Worth City Hall.
This pile of crap is less than 200 feet from Scott Maxwell's house.This has got to be the worst code case in the entire city.But Maxwell goes ballistic over a non existent code case brought for strictly political reasons against Maier. The blight has been going on since 2008 right on Maxwell's doorstep.No wonder Maxwell's own neighbors hate him.
ReplyDeleteI read a comment you wrote saying that you dont go around taking pictures of other people's blighted properties. WISH i could find that paragraph you wrote!
ReplyDeleteDon't worry so much about it. You really do need to get a life. This particular property is coming before the magistrate and has 7 years of fines on it. Definitely news worthy, anonymous at 4:02. I haven't written about blighted properties in quite a long time but perhaps I will start again. You motivate me to action with your comment. :)
ReplyDeleteBully for you! Bully!
ReplyDeleteYou got it wrong, anony at 4:10. It is the other blogger who is the bully.
ReplyDeleteGlad to see that this eyesore is finally getting some attention. I was under the impression that the Code Compliance Dept was to address the worst cases first. So why on earth has this property been allowed to fester just around the corner from Scott Maxwell?? While he has the audacity to go rabid over Starbucks hearsay about Commissioner Maier's home?? Could it be that code compliance is more concerned with political retribution for representing us citizens??
ReplyDeleteTalk about purely political, quite a stretch to somehow attach this code violation to Comm. Maxwell. So his neighbor has a code violation, I can't see how he's responsible. Maier "alleged" violation is actually against him, so obviously it's relevant to Comm. Maier.
ReplyDeleteWhat are you talking about 6:45
ReplyDeleteAs I understand it, a private property owned by someone, not Scott Maxwell, owns a dilapidated property a couple hundred feet from Scott's house. It has allegedly accumulated seven years of fines for code violations. Apparently some in the community believe that it's in Scott's best interest to just let a code violation go in his neighborhood. ( and that doesn't make any sense to me… For a host of reasons )
ReplyDeleteThe publicly stated goal of code enforcement is to address the worst case scenario first. So I'm thinking the one, near his house, is not on the worst-case list yet.
While Ryan Maier's allegedly has been renting space in his home to a tenant, who worked or works at Starbucks, without a rental permit. Additionally, it is alleged that he, without a building permit, put up a wall to divide space and create a second dwelling in his house, adding an additional bathroom, kitchenette, and exterior door. So there are the issues with his claim for homestead exemption on the property and shorting the county of tax revenue as well as a code violation for not having various permits, and a safety/fire issue with access and proper, code compliant work being done. He must've pissed somebody off, because somebody outed the whole issue and has now officially filed a complaint and called code enforcement to inspect the property to determine if the allegations are true. And as I understand it Commissioner Maier refuses to allow them to inspect his property, which is his personal right... But there's a lot of fallout as some perceive he is getting special consideration about the possible violations and people are bitching about how this conflicts with his publicly stated goal of transparency during his campaign .
It all seems rather silly to me… He is an elected official, and should hold himself to a higher standard. This ought to be done and over with, if he took two minutes in his day, allow the inspector from code enforcement to do his job, all this would simply go away... Or not. And that is why panties are in a wad on both sides of the issue.
You are still maligning Ryan Maier with what has been described as a non-issue by William Waters. Why is that? Politics.
ReplyDeleteYou use the word "allege" whereas the house depicted here is anything but alleged as far as a code infraction. a good stiff wind and it will collapse to the ground.
If this house is not the absolute worst in LW, then I can't imagine what is.
This isn't the worst property in Lake Worth, there are plenty more like it, but Code continues to engage in petty politics while unsafe and serious nuisance structures are allowed to remain for years and years and years and years.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad the City is finally making progress on this property, they should foreclose on the fines and sell it. The City could easily be funding Code with fines and sales revenue and they should (that is what many other cities do).
So who is paying what kind of fine for this crap hole? Or is code just good for beating up people the city manager,Maxwell, Triolo and Amorso don't like?
ReplyDeleteIt's William Warers department and code enforcement that's responsible for identifying and levying fines when appropriate to these derilict properties… The CM, Maxwell, Triolo and Amoroso don't create these eyesores...
ReplyDeleteBesides its the responsibility of ALL the city commissioners and citizens to encourage the building department and code enforcement staff to do their jobs; identify code compliance deviations, send notices to these flea bag owners of such dangerous properties, and fine the crap out of them to clean up their properties and come into code compliance.
We've all heard of 'make the call, ya'll'...When there's a public safety issue. Well, these derelict properties serve to drive up criminal activities, fester unsavory elements and create opportunities that are also health and safety issues, all while dragging down the properties values and peaceful enjoyment in our neighborhoods.
We've all heard "make the call "... Well I say " make a code complaint " and let the code compliance people do their job at investigating, fining and doing what is necessary to bring subject properties up to code compliance.
Good advice.
ReplyDeleteThis particular property was coded for years and allowed to rot--until yesterday.