Town Treats More Properties Like WestHelp

ABG was invited to look at two homes in one neighborhood during a tour of several Town locations for different reasons. We’re not making judgements of the people who may own these homes or their circumstances. We were told when we visited them that they were not occupied. These photos cannot capture the conditions that an “in-person” viewing did. The reason for our post with these two homes is that the condition of the homes present a danger to the residents, if in fact they are occupied, bring a negative image to the neighborhood, and ultimately reflect poorly on the Town’s code enforcement departments.

The first home is on Drisler Avenue and the second is on Lark Avenue, both in the Worthington Woodlands area of the Town. Unfortunately, they do not adequately show the true condition of what we witnessed. We knocked on a few neighbors doors and only found one person willing to admit that they had contacted the Town about trying to get some attention to these homes. Her concerns were to have repairs made before they became either too damaged, infested with rodents, used by squatters or stripped by thieves. She explained her pleas to The Paul fell on deaf ears.

Note the cars shown appear to not be registered for street use.

It is incumbent on the Town Building Department to secure the safety of all our residents, not only on the streets, but perhaps from themselves through neglect. The Paul and his Stepford Board never seem to miss an opportunity to create a new fee (tax) for the Building Department to charge residents. If the owners of these homes need help, we should find a way to help them fix what needs to be fixed. If these homes are simply unoccupied because the owners passed away, is incapacitated, too old or frail to make repairs, or in foreclosure, let them investigate and find every way to make them habitable.

With all the homeless, seniors, veterans and others in need of a roof over their heads, wouldn’t these houses, instead of constructing apartment buildings that don’t fit in our neighborhoods, be a better solution? Simply, yes!. Every neighborhood throughout the Town has vacant homes for a variety of reasons. Shouldn’t we stop letting facilities such as WestHelp be used for a personal agenda as a political football and start housing people again? Simply, yes! Shouldn’t we look at homes that are vacant as part of a solution to our affordable housing solution. Simply, yes! Shouldn’t our “problem-solver” be solving problems instead of creating more of them? We can only hope.