"I'm not gonna lie. I'm not gonna say that, you know, everything is enforced fairly. We have so many code violations in the city, we can't cite 'em all at once. You can't ... and we also have the problem of trying to find the people."
Last month I was one of several local taxpayers and homeowners to announce the formation of an oversight committee in the City of Binghamton. In theory, the group would monitor and question the city on issues related to code enforcement, or not to put too fine a point on it, areas where the enforcement of code was either miserably lacking, or terribly misguided, sometimes to the extent of the glaring appearance of vast lapses in ethics, and in some cases, the suspicion of illegality.
For example, in a previous blog entry I reported on a situation encountered by neighbors of mine. They received a code violation for a shared garage, the other half of the garage residing on the property of a vacated house. The two properties share a driveway.
The code violation corresponded with an admitted interest from the city’s mayor, Matt Ryan, and a man who, on numerous occasions, has referred to himself as the mayor’s business partner. That man, Robert Cavanaugh, has since been indicted by the Broome County district attorney on three felony counts relating to his contracting business.
The mayor admitted that he and Cavanaugh were, on some level, interested in the next-door property to my neighbors. It may have been an investment property, or one he would have bought to live in, himself, said Matt Ryan.
You may recall from that previous blog entry that when asked, on the spot, who reported the garage as a code violation, the following three responses were offered by three involved parties:
* Dave Chadwick, then-code director, now retired, but still reporting to work at City Hall in the capacity of consultant, said he didn’t recall who reported the garage.
* Chris Schleider, the code officer who wrote the ticket on the property, told me he had no comment, and that I should ask Matt Ryan or Dave Chadwick. He also told me that the information could be had through FOIL, also know as freedom of information legislation. (It should also be noted here that my neighbor said he was told by Schleider that he was directed to check out the garage by his boss - Chadwick, who had received direction from the mayor. Chadiwck and Ryan have since denied this.)
* Matt Ryan, the mayor, admitted in a taped phone conversation (at which time he knew he was being taped), that it was indeed Robert Cavanaugh who reported the garage to code enforcement. Ryan also said he asked Cavanaugh why he made such a report.
In the meantime, my neighbors have tried to move on. They recently shelled out a fair amount of money to have a different private contractor come in to remedy the garage situation. That side of the garage is now down. Problem is, they only own half.
So as you sit reading this, the other half of the garage sits crumbling. And what’s the city been doing about it since the spring? After checking in with my neighbors, they gave me the go-ahead to dig around a bit. They said they’re none too pleased having to face the other half of the garage now, as nothing appears to be in the works.
I inquired with the city’s new code director, Tom Costello, in an e-mail Tuesday. I copied the mayor on the e-mail, as well as Dave Chadwick, since he’s still employed there in some capacity. I asked what action, if any, has been under way regarding the monstrosity that sits next to my neighbors. Certainly, if their garage was a safety hazard back when the mayor had some interest in “running the numbers” on the next door property, then it’s assuredly no safer today as it sits, crumbling.
I received the following response from Costello at 5:37 p.m. Tuesday:
I have reviewed documentation for the property ... and noted that the property was inspected repeatedly in response to a series of complaints about lawn maintenance, uneven sidewalks, and structural deficiencies located at or on an existing accessory structure (garage). The most recent inspection was conducted on 5/17/2009.
Given this information, I have referred your questions to the Inspector who is responsible for this district, Chris Schleider. When he has responded to my inquiry, I will give you the most current information about the parcel.
I wrote back at 7:37 p.m.
Mr. Costello, I appreciate your prompt response. I'll share it with my neighbors.
It concerns me that the most recent inspection is listed in department records as more than 5 months ago. I'll be sending you photos of the remaining structure, photos that were taken this week (Monday, specifically), that will serve as visual evidence.
It's somewhat alarming that when the mayor had personal interest in this property, his administration's code enforcement division provided a full-court press. Yet when that interest subsided, so did the pressure to rectify a situation a man purporting to be the mayor's business partner deemed "unsafe."
I look forward to what Mr. Schleider has to say about this on-hold situation.
In the meantime, I couldn't help but note some incredible hypocrisy by the mayor, or perhaps someone who wrote a statement on his behalf. In either event, it was attributed to Matt Ryan, regarding code enforcement in the city. It was dated September 17, 2009, and was disseminated to members of the area media.
“The city’s commitment to transparency includes complying with all FOIL requests and encouraging citizen input on operations,” Matt Ryan’s statement read. “The city’s policy is to enforce the Housing Code fairly and equitably citywide. The city’s enforcement record speaks for itself.”
I agree that things do, indeed, speak for themselves. That includes when the mayor spoke for himself, in that same taped September phone conversation I mentioned above, about the city’s code enforcement efforts. The following are his words, verbatim:
"I'm not gonna lie,” said Mayor Ryan. “I'm not gonna say that, you know, everything is enforced fairly. We have so many code violations in the city, we can't cite 'em all at once. You can't ... and we also have the problem of trying to find the people.
“I mean, ya know, one of the things is - and I'll admit it - the local people who get fined, ya know, are the ones who end up, ya know, in court more (laughs) because (laughs) they're here,” Mayor Ryan went on to say. “It's very hard when someone's out of state to get 'em in court. It's very costly and, uh, it's almost impossible sometimes.”
Matt Ryan said that part of the problem is a lack of manpower. He added that another problem is the city’s small legal department.
“People say they should do this and do that, then they say, well, you should cut this and cut that,” he said. “What you end up with at the end of the day is, ya know, uh, an organization that's too small to have any great accomplishments except hold the line.
“It's not like we have a team ... that's why it was so important to consolidate tax collection with the county, which we did in six months, which the other group talked about for years and never accomplished anything,” Ryan added.
"... some people get caught in the system, uh, that you don't want to get caught in like Mrs. Monico - though I still think her sons (laughs) letting their mother go to jail over $500 ... I wouldn't have done that to my mother, but anyway, um ... ya know ... it's not a perfect world, so if you wanna, if you wanna, you know ... and I'm a, I'm a ... strong advocate,” Mayor Ryan continued.
“I was a really good public defender (laughs) and, uh, I made some of those arguments, the law's not fair, and we should ... and wouldn't it be great if everything was perfect,” he said.
“And you do that when you, when you ... ya know, my job was to make that argument and try to convince a court that somebody was, ya know, wrongfully prosecuted or overly prosecuted because of who they were,” Ryan said. “And that was part of the equation. But in this case, these code violations are not that.
“There's a lot of code violations that we've cited that we just can't get enforcement on, and it's not that easy.”
Speaks for itself.
***
And now, something completely different.
No comments:
Post a Comment