Code is Part of the Problem

Here is Carolyn's account of the TV interview:

Jeff Butera from ABC Action News arrived about 10:30 AM. We talked for a while. Then he put me in the direct sun for 20 minutes or so and we talked about the situation next door. By the time I was finished I was soaked with sweat. Jeff told me that some of the top code officials were going to meet him at 6003 and he thought I should be here.

Code guys showed up a little after 1 PM. One of the gentlemen, I think his name is Tom, is acting deputy mayor currently in charge of code. The other was Larry Canalejo, Area Supervisor for code. "Tom" had printed off several pages from the blog and one had a picture of the raw sewage in the back off 6003. When I showed him the nice clean dirt, he heaved a sigh of relief and told me he was relieved that it had been cleaned up. I asked him how he thought I felt living with that for a year. He commiserated.

Larry was interviewed by Jeff while "Tom" and I stood in the shade. When I asked why "accumulations" was marked as complied in the last code visit, he said he was new and would get with Larry on the way back to the office and get up to speed. Later I asked Larry the same thing and he said these things take time. It is very difficult to deal with someone like James who is so poor. I kept my mouth shut but it was more of the same good ole boys crap.

I also told Larry that Steve and Kate had offered to buy the paint and Brian had offered to use his paint sprayer to paint the house. James refused. Larry thought it was his pride. He also told me he had never heard that neighbors tried to help James. I told him there had been numerous other offers (e.g., Brian offered his high pressure washer so James could get the algae off his house).

Larry planned a campaign to get SHIP in to repair the windows, et al, and Paint Your Heart Out Tampa to paint the house after it was pressure washed and repaired. He told me I'll have to be patient while all this gets worked out. So he is going to clean the place up with no thought to keeping it cleaned up.

Larry also said he'll pay the two years' back taxes on 6003. So, he's going to use money from people who pay their taxes to sustain this nuisance. This is unbelievable. Brian is pricing out a six foot fence with lattice. I will continue to add latice in two foot lots until I cannot see that house any more.

Saturday a man came by with an old lawn mower. James fiddled and finally got it started for about 2 minutes. The it stalled. I lost what little mind is left to me and walked out with my toolshed keys and asked James if he wanted to borrow my mower. Jessica was walking past him and said "if you say yes I will hit you in the face." James of course said no.

James kept tinkering with it and it ran for a while. The Boyfriend mowed for a while and James and Jessica pulled and cut weeds in front yard. For a non-codeable offense, they certainly are moving fast.

Larry is either an idiot or a liar: He told Jeff Butera that grass and paint are not Code issues. Sec. 19-50 of the Tampa Code says that nuisance vegetation exceeding 12" over the majority of the parcel is a public nuisance. (Apparently Code sang a different song to Alverson; he mowed the lawn Saturday). As to paint, Sec. 19-231(15) provides, in relevant part:

The exterior of all structures ... shall be protected from the elements by the application of paint or other approved protective material and shall be maintained in a good state of repair... All structures ... shall be free of deterioration and maintained in a good state of repair and such that the appearance of the premises and structures shall not constitute a blighting factor for adjoining property owners...

More to the point here, there is a pile of trash including a tire and two open containers that are breeding mosquitoes


and Larry wanted to talk about grass and paint. And he repeatedly told Carolyn that the birdbath, benches, and swing were personal taste and they could do nothing about them. I guess he is too important to have read the file or this blog before coming out. If he had done either he would have known that Carolyn has not complained about the birdbath et al.

Carolyn has been living next to a public nuisance (including trash and unmowed lawns and, for the past year, raw sewage) for years and Code nonEnforcement now is telling her to be patient.

Code has been unwilling to deal with the nuisance at 6003 for years. Now that TV has entered the picture, they are going to slap on a temporary remedy (at taxpayer expense) and let the underlying problem fester. Code is not part of the solution in Tampa; it is part of the problem.