Neary-Sighted

One of the issues that came up during discussion of the city budget had to do with how the city deals with dangerous buildings. I was not satisfied with our approach, one reason I voted no on the budget. I was also pretty hard on the city's abatement efforts in my recent announcement that I am running for re-election.

Coincidentally, the city manager has recently been presenting a lot of info about abatement to the council. I include this info below, verbatim, because I thought you might recognize some of the addresses and be interested. Even if you don't recognize the addredsses, you will learn what the city has in its arsenal to deal with dangerous buildings.

This report also just goes to show that even without enough resources, the city is putting more effort than I had realized into abatement. It's one more instance of this: that the people in Lakewood City Hall are quietly putting forth more energy than a lot of us realize.

(The following, by the way, has already been published in the city manager's weekly report to council. I mentioned this weekly source quite awhile ago, so it might be worth repeating - you can keep up with a lot of things by reading the weekly reports)

1) Property Address: 3906 Steilacoom Boulevard SW.
Condition: Commercial building vacant and heavily vandalized. Rear wall is collapsing; substantial quantity of asbestos to remove.
Status: Notice and Order was issued. Property owner applied for demolition permit. Demolition is currently under way.

2) Property Address: 11435 Pacific Highway SW.
Condition: Former Lakewood Court Mobile Home Park. Park contained nine abandoned mobile homes and two dilapidated buildings. Large amounts of garbage, and junk found onsite. Property has been vandalized.
Status: Notice and Order was issued. Vehicles and junk removed. Most of the mobile homes have been removed.

3) Property Address: 11618 Pacific Highway SW.
Condition: Abandoned auto body shop. Building in deteriorated condition and has been vandalized on numerous occasions. Property contains numerous junk vehicles, junk, trash, extensive weeds and an abandoned pole sign
Status: Notice and Order issued. City hired a contractor to demolish building and clean site. At the eleventh hour, the owner agreed to clean the property. Work is currently under way.

4) Property Address: 14617 W. Thorne Lane SW.
Conditions: Property is unsecured. Property contains a dilapidated/collapsing house and garage. Trees are dangerous.

Status: Property was abated once already in 2001. A second Notice and Order was issued. Owner is currently obtaining an asbestos report preparatory to issuance of a demolition permit.

5) Property Address: 12907 Naomilawn Drive SW.
Conditions: House burned; property owner died.
Status: Notice and Order was issued. Building was secured at no cost to the City. Property is currently in probate.

6) Property Address: 11404 Cloverdale Court SW.
Conditions; House destroyed by fire.
Status: Notice and Order was issued. Property owner obtained demolition permit; site is clean of all debris.

7) Property Address: 95 West Shore Avenue SW.
Conditions: Notice and Order was issued. Hoarder house: numerous junk vehicles, extensive junk, trash, weeds, and construction debris.
Status: Over half the clean up completed by the owner. Owner has also been fined and is currently delinquent. City abatement is likely.

8) Property Address; 6717 100th Street SW.
Conditions: Burned out house (owner died in fire).
Status: Emergency abatement performed to secure structure. Notice and Order issued. Family member has arrived out-of-town to settle estate.

9) Property Address; 6902 146th Street SW.
Conditions: Abandoned hoarder house; abandoned vehicles; extensive piles of garbage.
Status: Notice and order issued. Abatement performed by the City.
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