Ummm, a little help please?
Following up on Friday's post about Durham police doing a house raid and busting an alleged murderer on my block, Mrs D. went out earlier today to consolidate some of the stuff in the various recycling bins, remove the leaves that have blown in them the past two days, etc.
She almost stuck herself on this:
Fortunately, she saw it under the leaves in time, and saved us from, at minimum, a trip to the emergency room for antibiotics and tests on this holiday weekend.
It's certainly possible that one of our transient diabetics just happened to finish an insulin injection while walking past our house on Friday afternoon and tossed his syringe in our recycling bin while it waited at the curb for our return from work. More likely, it was tossed there by our neighborhood fugitive as he ran from the police after being surprised in his house. My next door neighbor reports he also dropped a cell phone in her yard.
I've posted this to the PAC2 list. I don't think it's a 911 call. I'll follow up during business hours tomorrow and see if anyone at DPD thinks it's worthwhile as evidence.
Elsewhere on Avondale Drive, the City County Planning Department has still not been able to figure out that the tenants at 1705 Avondale Drive are running a car sales lot out of the back yard.
Here's a photo from September showing 4 cars in the yard:
Now, here's one from this afternoon with three different vehicles. I'll post a close up on the truck to show that it's not registered next.
The Planning Department's reluctance (some people less generous than i might call it incompetence) to enforce zoning laws regarding businesses being run out of residential property is simply incomprehensible to me, especially after all the fuss that was made over provisions in the UDO about how many square feet in a house would be allowed to be used in a home base business like a law practice or design firm. Running a junk yard though seems to be OK, as long as it can only be seen from the backyard.
The Planning Department's inability to enforce Durham's laws doesn't end there. Way back in the spring, the folks at 1707 Avondale Dr. began to construct an addition to their house, visible only in the back. Since no permit or inspections placards were posted on the site, and the addition was as large as the main building, with a separate entrance, i emailed the Planning Department inspector to ask whether or not building a duplex on that site was permitted under our current zoning.
Never heard back.
I made a few followup emails to the supervisor of zoning inspectors. Here's the email i got in response:
Got that? The Planning Department investigated whether or not zoning violations were taking place at 1707 Avondale by asking the owner.
Here's the photo of 1707 Avondale that the city has in its GIS database with a 2005 tag:
Now, here's a screen grab from Google Maps taken this month:
Is it a duplex? I sure as hell don't know. But it's at least as big a footprint as the original building. And i suppose you could call it a new roof, if you neglect to mention the 900 or so square feet that are under the new roof.
But wait, there's more.
That's a carport being turned into a garage by means of a cinder block foundation and plywood siding. It sure looks pretty close to the edge of the property line if you ask me, but i'm not a Planning Department inspector, so i can't tell you whether or not it violates the zoning codes. Unfortunately, neither can the Planning Department, because as far as they're concerned the only thing going on at 1707 Avondale is a new roof.
Oh, and did i mention that the backyard at 1707 is a parking lot also? I didn't? Well, i guess they ran out of room after parking 5 vehicles in the front of the house.
Maybe after Avondale Drive turns into another completely blighted district of the city we'll have people in various departments holding meetings and throwing money around trying to solve intractable problems and coming up with redevelopment plans. In the meantime, with just some unlicensed businesses, unpermitted construction, and a murderer or two on the block, there's no point getting too worked up about the state of things, is there? Just make sure your graphic design business doesn't take up more than 300 square feet in your 1200 square foot house. Because then you'll get busted for sure.
UPDATE: i'm pushing this to the top of the blog through Wednesday for any city folk who happen to stop by to read it.
UPDATE II: We had an officer stop by on Monday afternoon and tell us that the syringe really wasn't going to be useful as evidence. He recommended that we toss it in the trash. I told him i didn't think that was a good idea, since it's hazardous medical waste. Following some advice i got from the post i made to the PAC2 list, i dropped it off at a fire station near Mrs. D's mom's place. Hopefully, they got it to the EMT people to dispose of with the rest of the hazardous medical waste.
She almost stuck herself on this:
Fortunately, she saw it under the leaves in time, and saved us from, at minimum, a trip to the emergency room for antibiotics and tests on this holiday weekend.
It's certainly possible that one of our transient diabetics just happened to finish an insulin injection while walking past our house on Friday afternoon and tossed his syringe in our recycling bin while it waited at the curb for our return from work. More likely, it was tossed there by our neighborhood fugitive as he ran from the police after being surprised in his house. My next door neighbor reports he also dropped a cell phone in her yard.
I've posted this to the PAC2 list. I don't think it's a 911 call. I'll follow up during business hours tomorrow and see if anyone at DPD thinks it's worthwhile as evidence.
Elsewhere on Avondale Drive, the City County Planning Department has still not been able to figure out that the tenants at 1705 Avondale Drive are running a car sales lot out of the back yard.
Here's a photo from September showing 4 cars in the yard:
Now, here's one from this afternoon with three different vehicles. I'll post a close up on the truck to show that it's not registered next.
The Planning Department's reluctance (some people less generous than i might call it incompetence) to enforce zoning laws regarding businesses being run out of residential property is simply incomprehensible to me, especially after all the fuss that was made over provisions in the UDO about how many square feet in a house would be allowed to be used in a home base business like a law practice or design firm. Running a junk yard though seems to be OK, as long as it can only be seen from the backyard.
The Planning Department's inability to enforce Durham's laws doesn't end there. Way back in the spring, the folks at 1707 Avondale Dr. began to construct an addition to their house, visible only in the back. Since no permit or inspections placards were posted on the site, and the addition was as large as the main building, with a separate entrance, i emailed the Planning Department inspector to ask whether or not building a duplex on that site was permitted under our current zoning.
Never heard back.
I made a few followup emails to the supervisor of zoning inspectors. Here's the email i got in response:
1707 Avondale: The owner stated he has installed a new roof and not converted his home to a duplex. Inspections did not respond to me that they are aware of any violations at this address.
Got that? The Planning Department investigated whether or not zoning violations were taking place at 1707 Avondale by asking the owner.
Here's the photo of 1707 Avondale that the city has in its GIS database with a 2005 tag:
Now, here's a screen grab from Google Maps taken this month:
Is it a duplex? I sure as hell don't know. But it's at least as big a footprint as the original building. And i suppose you could call it a new roof, if you neglect to mention the 900 or so square feet that are under the new roof.
But wait, there's more.
That's a carport being turned into a garage by means of a cinder block foundation and plywood siding. It sure looks pretty close to the edge of the property line if you ask me, but i'm not a Planning Department inspector, so i can't tell you whether or not it violates the zoning codes. Unfortunately, neither can the Planning Department, because as far as they're concerned the only thing going on at 1707 Avondale is a new roof.
Oh, and did i mention that the backyard at 1707 is a parking lot also? I didn't? Well, i guess they ran out of room after parking 5 vehicles in the front of the house.
Maybe after Avondale Drive turns into another completely blighted district of the city we'll have people in various departments holding meetings and throwing money around trying to solve intractable problems and coming up with redevelopment plans. In the meantime, with just some unlicensed businesses, unpermitted construction, and a murderer or two on the block, there's no point getting too worked up about the state of things, is there? Just make sure your graphic design business doesn't take up more than 300 square feet in your 1200 square foot house. Because then you'll get busted for sure.
UPDATE: i'm pushing this to the top of the blog through Wednesday for any city folk who happen to stop by to read it.
UPDATE II: We had an officer stop by on Monday afternoon and tell us that the syringe really wasn't going to be useful as evidence. He recommended that we toss it in the trash. I told him i didn't think that was a good idea, since it's hazardous medical waste. Following some advice i got from the post i made to the PAC2 list, i dropped it off at a fire station near Mrs. D's mom's place. Hopefully, they got it to the EMT people to dispose of with the rest of the hazardous medical waste.
Labels: bad neighbors, Durham, local government
Since 1949, Durhamites have slept soundly, secure in the knowledge that, in our town, erection can be depended upon. Now, thanks to the power of the internets, we can spread that security all over the world.
8 Comments:
Barry-
Great job with the photos - and the google maps really help you. RE the 1707 Avondale house, don't bother with Planning/Zoning, they can't or won't really do much for you. You need to call the /inspections/ department for building permits (yeah, they're in the same office, but are completely independent, and don't talk). They can pull the building permits, and if there isn't one, they can pull the CO and force the owner to prove that the building was built to code (and it'll be the inspections department that can light a fire under the planning department about the illegal duplex).
By
Unknown, at 8:05 AM
The last communications i have with the Inspections Department is dated December 10th of this year. I am still waiting to hear what they have learned regarding permits at 1707 Avondale.
As far as the used car lot at 1705, since there's no construction there, that's a Planning Department case from start to finish.
Or from start to start as the case may be.
Here's the most troublesome thing of what you say: they're in the same office, but are completely independent, and don't talk.
Umm, why not? Is that some kind of violation for different departments in the city to coordinate? Why is the burden on the citizenry, not all of whom have the time to attend Durham's Neighborhood College, to figure out who in city government needs to be brought to the table?
By
Barry, at 8:15 AM
I would suggest calling neighborhood improvement services. Their inspectors LOVE to come out and check on minimum housing code and will write up violations for trash, parking lots, anything at all that is visible from the street. Also, if it is a rental property they will do even more...
By
Natalie, at 9:27 AM
We had a meeting with NIS director Constance Stancil about 15 months ago, regarding another house on the block, 1700 Shawnee St. That house is owned by a Duke grad who bought it for $20,000 back in the 80s and has rented to a succession of no accounts since then. the last tenants used to park about 9 cars on the lawns and let their breeding pit bulls run through the neighborhood*.
Other departments were represented at the meeting as well.
What we were told is that if we invited the inspectors to come and look for violations at the house, we shouldn't be surprised if, say, everyone in the neighborhood who didn't have a storm door (also apparently a violation of the minimum housing code) received a citation.
In other words, we were threatened with citations if we asked the department to do its job.
It wasn't a spur of the moment decision for me to publish these pictures and give the actual addresses. I'm a reasonably knowledgeable and active person in the community. I've been attempting to work within the system to address the issues, and things have only gotten worse. I'm hoping that a certain degree of embarrassment will act as a spur at this time.
================
*No city action was ever taken at 1700 Shawnee. The immediate issue was resolved with the threat of a lawsuit after a pregnant neighbor was attacked by the pitbulls one night while walking her own dog. The tenants were then told by the landlord to either get rid of the dogs or move out themselves. They moved about 72 hours later. The house has not been rented in the last 14 months.
By
Barry, at 9:37 AM
It finally occurs to me to ask: how can your readers help you (and Durham) leverage your blog posts to get some of the results you're looking for?
You deserve plenty of praise for standing up for your neighborhood (the law-abiding parts, anyway), and for having the courage to speak up about problems -- both in person (via your visits and calls with the
City) and by publishing your notes and photos.
And of course you make some progress by letting your readers know what issues are out there and who is or isn't being responsible. In theory, this makes your readers better neighbors, advocates, and voters. And in theory, your public servants and officials are noting these blogs and reckoning that other folks must be reading them, too.
But are there other things you'd specifically recommend for making the most use of your efforts?
Should Durham residents (or business people, if we don't live in Durham) be emailing city/county staff and politicians with a "hey, I read Barry's blog and I think you should do something about this"?
Should Durham folks write letters of support to you and any of your specific efforts or campaigns?
Should Durham residents call/write to any of our local media and encourage them (via calls/letters to the editor or "letters to the editor") to pay more attention to your voice and what you're writing about?
I imagine that some of all these above items are being done. But what would you recommend more of?
This comment extends, as well, to some of the topics at BCR, The Bull in Full, and Endangered Durham. But I mention them first and most specifically here at the DE.
Oh, and if you've answered this question elsewhere already, please just point me to the link.
Thanks.
By
Marsosudiro, at 2:31 PM
Phil - i honestly have no idea whether or not anyone can help. Generally, i don't post this kind of stuff here until my frustration level has reached 155/110. That doesn't happen until after i go through the proper channels and make all the proper requests.
I'm actually a fairly well-connected guy in town. More so than anywhere else i've ever lived. I just wonder how people who haven;t taken the time to get involved with any civic activities fare when they have complaints about city services. I assume that most of the time people just shrug their shoulders and say oh well.
Mainly i'm just trying to document this stuff. If anything actually gets done about it i'll be shocked.
BTW - the police did come by today to look at the syringe. The officer told me to just throw it away. I told him i wasn't about to throw hazardous and potentially infectious waste into the landfill.
If anybody is inspired to pick up the phone or write an email, i suppose that city council would be the place to start. You can write to all City Council members at once by using council@ci.durham.nc.us
By
Barry, at 3:34 PM
well, NIS told me I needed to mind my own business when I called asking to be sent the violations list on a specific historic property in my 'hood and certain people in General Services routinely tell me that nothing *HAS* to be done about issues and the operators at 9-1-1 treat me as if I am wasting their time when I call about gun shoots, people bleeding or getting beaten in the street.
What part of Civil Servant to they not understand? I mean, if I do my part to be a responsible citizen of Durham, shouldn't they do theirs to ensure that they are proactive, positive, or even responsive?
By
Natalie, at 9:38 AM
I think I told you before that I had a very similar problem living in a rental house in Carrboro. The tenant next door (the grandson of the absent grandmother) was running a construction company next door. Let's just say the schedule of construction workers and the noise of backhoes and dumptrucks revving up in the morning does not jibe too well with the schedules of restaurant workers.
I took pictures. I went through voice mail hell. I talked to everyone at Town Hall, I think, multiple times. It took forever to find the one person (a "new guy") who cared enough to listen to me and finally wrote a letter to the house saying that the tenants would be fined $1000 for a zoning violation. They did leave. That was several years after I started working on it (with varying degrees of determination).
I *think* what finally got it through was not that it was an annoyance (because, honestly, isn't everyone's neighbor an annoyance to a certain extent?) but that it was a *danger* to me. I did reiterate that there were large groups of men standing in my backyard in the morning and that it was scaring me.
But I'm confused...it's not a zoning violation? Shoot, install a storm door and go for that one again!
By
Anonymous, at 1:17 AM
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