Back law to fight nuisance properties

Clear the human trash out of Harrisburg now.

What is up with this Neighborhood Nuisance bunch that appears daily everywhere U turn? Who is behind this? Here is how things work: Problems in your neighborhood? Call law enforcement and document the call, the response, and the officer responding. Then repeat those steps for two weeks, then contact the sheriff in writing, deatailing the events in your neighborhood. Request his support in reducing such events and give assurances that other neighbors will cooperate. If that doesn't work, go the TV channels & your commissioner and report the efforts of law enforcement and demand (in writing) that your neighborhood be protected. If current leadership can't get it done, there're being paid for nothing. Point fingers. Call out names. BUT, to continue to ask for laws or ordinances will NOT change your circumstances, it's only grandstanding or showing off.

The city needs to be very careful how they write the ordinance. They need to make sure it applies to true problem landlords and not so broad it could apply to just about anybody. Did you know there is already an ordinance about how high your grass can be? The intent was to prevent overgrown, rat infested properties. But, they set the max height of your grass at just six inches. That means a busybody neighbor can report your property as a health hazard if you go off on vacation for a couple of weeks or your lawnmower in in for repairs.

justus, AFTER all of the steps you recommend are taken and the police tell you their hands are tied because of limits on power, THEN trying to get nuisance laws enacted is the next step. That's where the Harrisburg neighborhood organizations are now. It's so good to see you in agreement with sensible thinking.

When the laws are finally passed, and they will be, the riff raff will be forced into south Augusta, who will, in turn, be forced to make the same effort Harrisburg is making now.

So what should be done about nuisance properties that are owned by the resident? Should we hold the mortgage company responsible? No, you would have to contact law enforcement or the city/county about trash etc. Don't get me wrong...I definitely think the area needs to be cleaned up, but I don't think the landlords should be held accountable for the behavior of other adults.

this is where community policing comes into play..not just having an empty building with a RCSO sign on it.....with a fully functioning continiously operating precinct 7 days a week 365 days a year w/deputies WALKING A BEAT!!! they would be able to monitor the nuisance properties and take a PROACTIVE approach to running the human trash and debris out of harrisburg

JUSTUS4- You have a good system. Funny thing is. All those things you mentioned HAVE BEEN DONE! The current stage is asking the commissioners for help. And we are seeing, as you stated, some are paid for nothing. This is why as citizens we have to do their job for them until a competent board can be elected. This is why a framed nuisance ordinance was shown to them from a successful city. Doing this limits the amount of work to be completed by the commission. We put the cake right in front of them, all they have to do is cut and serve...instead to drag feet, they would like to flour up the legal department to rebake...they're oven is broke.

Lori Davis appears to be the best spokesperson for Harrisburg and for resolving these nuisance problems. Knowing who some of these landlords are, I agree that they need to be held accountable to a higher standard than the one by which they have been doing business. Keep up the good work, Lori!

This "bunch" as justus so eloquently phrases it, are just average citizens who have had enough. The current law for nuisance properties is woefully inadequate for the issue at hand. Lori only proposed that the Commission set up a task force to look at the issue from all sides. She even gave them a federally funded research study and copies of other cities ordinances. And they basically showed their opinion of her hard work by saying "ho hum".She is doing what ALL concerned and civic minded individuals in a free society have the right and a duty to do. Petition the "powers-that-be" and hold them accountable. As far as the "no ones gonna tell me who to rent to" argument. Do your research..PLEASE. Not once has this group ever asked to control who you rent to. It's about giving good landlords the tools to evict troublesome tenants and giving good neighbors a voice when it comes time to rid areas of tenants whom landlords refuse to evict. I know Lori and when she says she's not going away..you can bet she means what she says.

when your Government fails YOU the law abiding, tax paying citizen you must make a stand and fight!..Don't sit down..don't shut up....keep fighting!

Justus4....The sheriff, George Patty who is head of zoning and Rob Sherman who is head of Code enforcement, ALL say that Richmond County will greatly benefit from a chronic nuisance property ordinance. They are experts. They are the top paid people who know what is going on. What is your problem?

Justus4 The Reverend Martin Luther King would have been sad over your attitude. Peaceful protest is the only way. Please visit Harrisburg and meet these nice people before you make such rash judgments.
These people have got the light shined on a porblems and yesterday they got four boarding houses shut down. It was in the newspaper. What is at the root of your negitive attitude?

Justus, That plan has worked great for the inner city hasn't it?
Of all people I would think you would support a plan that FINALLY WILL HELP CRIME RIDDEN AREAS!!!!
Thank you Lori and Butch.

Robaroo if you can't take care of your property then don't go on vacation. I am sure if the property owner has pets they are taken care of, whats wrong with setting up a plan to have your grass cut while you are away. I personally believe that without Loris' plan the entire area has and will turn into a bad dream for people who maintain their propertys. I don't know about you, but the majority of rentals in my neighborhood are owned by people who don't live here anymore and many are out of state. I would like to still see a licenseing requirement for anyone renting property. It just makes sense, especially for people renting out 2 or more propertys for income. The license dosen't have to be costly, but if the owner isn't maintaining the property they can be denied the right to rent said property until it is brought up to code.

Get em Bowles! I sat in agony in the commission meeting, earlier this month, as you were painfully out numbered by inadequate, incompetent, special interest pocket padding commissioners. It will be such a breath of fresh air to see new energy who are not in it for nothing more than the betterment of Richmond County and not for things to staple to their resume.

Lori Davis, you rock! Lori, the City of Charlotte is getting tough on landlords, too. They are in the process of writing an ordinance fining landlords based on the number of police calls and crime reports of a property. Keep fighting, Lori!

So Mr. Bowles, How much of a property tax or sales tax hike do you propose for the all the new code enforcement officers to enforce this new law? Ordinances are pointless unless the city has the man power and resources to back them up. We need to start putting our money where our mouths are. Who has more overgrown property in Augusta then anyone else? RICHMOND COUNTY! This city wont take care of its own property how is it supposed to force citizens to? It seems stupid to spend time chasing a landlord rather then the guy selling the drugs! The only way to fix a troubled property is make the real estate valuable enough to sell. The only way to increase property values is to make people want to move to the city. Better schools, safer neighborhoods, cleaner streets these attract people and like it or not they take money to make happen.

Anotherway, Why don't you educate yourself. Sales tax can't be used for manpower!!!!. The people that cause the problem will bear the burden of the enforcement. The ordinance will put teeth into our legal system and will not add personnel cost.

doubt justus is interested in helping....probably looking for ways to delay any help as he is probably a part of the problem.

If ever it came to a vote, I would favor this law.

When some commissioners are deadbeat landlords it is hard to get much movement in city hall.

mr. bowles, what good is an ordinance if there are no police to enforce it, if i am not mistaken isn't the police force in need of 50-100 more deputies???? so i guess the plan is to wave a copy of the ordinance in front of the offenders and that will be enuff..the key to safe neighborhoods is community policing!!! decentralize the police station and get fully functioning satelite offices in each neighborhood and get the deputies out of the cars have them walking a beat, this will allow them to loiter in front of the nuisance houses as a physical deterrent and to let them know they are being watched. so instead of voting for "pie in the sky" projects how about voting to increase the pay of existing deputies and increase the pay and benefits in order to attract a sufficient number of deputies or deputy candidates

We also need to adopt Butch Palmer's suggestion of returning to precinct based policing, atleast in the inner city or Old City Limits of Augusta area. We need precincts, not substations where officers simply fill out paperwork.

justus4. You know yourself that that has limited results. I have a stack of police reports and a time line of trying to do that very thing in 30906 and it still took over 7 years to get two of the biggest drug traffickers arrested. Noise pollution, littering, vandalism, harassment, burglaries, break-ins, gunfire, criminal trespassing and more continue to plague the area. The people of Harrisburg are frustrated and trying a different tack and I can't blame them. It's all I could do not to go postal or retaliate except by lawful and legal means. It didn't matter, I didn't respond to their bait and in desperation they just made up stuff to cause problems for me. Like I suspect they did to Butch Palmer. It's not law enforcement's fault either (except for any crooked ones that might still be lurking around), their hands are tied and the jail stays full even as they have to let people go. It might as well have a revolving door. The whole system needs an overhaul. I just wish they'd decriminalize the use and possession of presently illegal drugs so this whole underground and dirty business would stop & also stop marginalizing and compromising so many addicted people.

They do have the deputy positions filled. They just have a tremendous workload because of the frequency of calls here.

It would help to empower the landlords so they can more easily get rid of bad tenants. But that won't help with landlords that are complicit in purposefully allowing criminal activity to go on, if that happens to be the case. I don't know how that can be addressed unless by an ordinance like Ms. Davis and Mr. Palmer are proposing.

Lifelong- No we are not short 50 deputies, We gave an across the board $2,000.00 to all Officer 1.5 years ago and got the number of vacancies down to about 8. This ordinance costs nothing and could actually raise funds for more deputies. That is why we want a task force, to develop this ordinance to be beneficial to all citizens..

From my understanding of the situation in Harrisburg, it is not section 8 tenants that are causing most of the problems. What you have is a situation where unscrupulous landlords rent out what are essentially shacks to drug dealers far above the market rent value. You have one shack that is being rented out for more than $3,000 a month. The drug dealers will pay it because it is just another business expense to them, and these homes are essentially being used as drug houses. Reputable landlords won't rent their properties out to the drug dealers, so the criminals go to those who will rent to them, even if it means paying an outrageous rent. Certainly the landlord who is getting this money knows where it is coming from

Not doing anything is costing us all money.. because these nuisance properties erode our tax base.. because fed up citizens flee to neighboring counties..that leaves the rest of us who remain to pay more, plus our property values are being degraded by these nuisance properties, yet strange thing is our assessments keep going up.