New Haven Independent

Posted by: robn | July 23, 2009 3:48 PM

I had every intention of renovating my house exterior until the city announced an 80% tax increase.

Posted by: Beansie's Mom | July 23, 2009 5:55 PM

So, does the house on Quinnipiac Avenue reach the blight level?

With the drastic number of foreclosures facing the city, a standard needs to be set. Otherwise what happens is flippers run away and we the tax payers end up paying to clean up.

Posted by: FairHavenResToo | July 23, 2009 10:26 PM

Other than neeing the grass cut, do we consider the above house as being a blighted property? It's true that no one is living in the house, but I'd rather have a structure secured by boarding up the windows than having them broken and open for invasion/squatters. It's not always possible to have a property occupied 100% of the time, especially if you're renovating it or just purchased a foreclosed property that needs a lot of work, as I have done before. I'm hoping that the City is lenient in its definition of 'blighted,' especially with private homeowners, unless it wants to pick up a few hundred more properties via foreclosing on the current owners. A recession is not necessarily the best time to start complaining about blight. Private homeowners are doing the best we can, in many instances, and it would be nice to have the city on our side for once. Want me to replace my windows and cut my grass more often? Lower the insane property tax rate.

Posted by: Ned | July 24, 2009 10:37 AM

I'm hoping that the City is NOT lenient in its definition of 'blighted'. What do taxes have to do with not cutting your grass? Maintaining your property to a minimum level, like cutting your grass and picking up trash, is the least you can do for adjacent property owners/residents, and your own self-respect.

Posted by: robn | July 24, 2009 12:43 PM

NED,

The ordinance concerns more than grass. It concerns physical conditions thats cost lots of money to repair.

Posted by: FairHavenResToo | July 24, 2009 1:56 PM

Apologies if my post was confusing Ned, as I said 'other than needing the grass cut,' as I do agree with you that all property owners should cut their grass. But I don't think boarded up windows should qualify as blight, since they're doing the important job of keeping would-be squatters out. Physical repairs can be costly, and having the City on your back while you're already down is not a good idea. As long as the building's secure and the yard is maintained, that should be enough for the City.

Posted by: Ned | July 25, 2009 9:13 AM

I do think that boarded up windows qualify as blight. When I walk down a street with boarded up buildings, I'm not thinking "wow this is great!" I'm thinking: SLUMLORDS. If one is restoring a property, as opposed to destroying a neighborhood by neglecting one's property (or investment), i.e. boarding up windows, not painting, not being around enough to keep squatters out, not keeping an eye on tenants behaviour, etc., that seems more like the behavior of an absentee slumlord than a "restorer". If you can't afford to maintain your property, then you can't afford the property.

Posted by: FairHavenResToo | July 25, 2009 10:30 AM

On the flip side of that, though, and this has happened to me, I was in the process of remodeling/renovating a property for future tenants and the house was broken into by someone who simply cut the screen, smashed the window in and took anything of value. Now I leave the first floor boarded up until the very end of the process, as you simply can't install windows into a house around here and think that no one is going to break in. I don't think of that as blight at all, but a house that's under construction by a cautious (and now wiser) homeowner. I think it's absurd that I have to board up a house while I'm working on it, but that become a necessity.
Food for thought.