Clock Starts Ticking On Blight

Fines have started piling up on three derelict Hill properties and a West River home at the center of a legal battle over child lead poisoning.

This past week, Serena Neal-Sanjurjo, the executive director of the Livable City Initiative (LCI), the city’s anti-blight agency, signed off on property liens for homes at 136 Rosette St., 68 Barclay St., 159 Spring St., and 75 Sherman Ave.

The first three properties are all in the Hill. According to city land records and to LCI’s neighborhood specialist for the Hill, Arthur Natalino, Jr., all three homes have been problem properties on their respective blocks for months, if not years. The three all belong to individual landlords who have either passed away or abandoned the properties, leaving the city to pick up the slack in ensuring that the properties are not left open to trespass and do not become dumping grounds for trash and debris.

“I just want to make sure the property is maintained so as not to attract more illegal activity,” Natalino told the Independent.

LCI Deputy Director Frank D’Amore said the purpose of putting anti-blight liens on long-neglected properties ​“is to apply pressure on owners so that these properties no longer remain in limbo for years.”

Natalino said one of these homes is definitely slated for tax foreclosure. He said another is likely to face tax foreclosure soon.

D’Amore said most homes LCI targets for anti-blight liens also tend to face tax foreclosure. He said that if a tax foreclosure does not lead to a successful sale to a new, responsible owner, then the anti-blight citations, fines, and liens leveled by LCI serve as effective pressures for negligent landlords and banks to clean up their properties.

The typical fine associated with an anti-blight citation is $100 per day. If an owner doesn’t pay up, the fines mount fast. Often LCI has to wait to collect the accrued debt when a home is sold or refinanced. D’Amore said any money the department gets from its anti-blight liens and citations goes right back into LCI’s property management account. LCI often cleans up hazardous conditions at abandoned properties.

“It’s one way of combatting bad landlords,” D’Amore said of the fines.

Haunted Houses

The two-story, single-family home at 136 Rosette St. is owned by Paul Miller, Jr. According to an obituary on the McClam Funeral Home’s website, Miller died in early 2017.

On June 19, LCI put an anti-blight lien on the property for $331.80. According to the boiler plate language of the lien certificate, that lien is ​“for the inspection, repair, removal or other disposition of any real estate in order to secure such real estate or to make it safe and sanitary” at 136 Rosette.

The lien specifies that it corresponds to the cost of yard cleanup that the city paid for on June 4.

According to city land records, 136 Rosette has been a problem property for years.

An April 2013 notice from the Building Department identified the property as unsafe and uninhabitable due to extreme deterioration of the roof, widespread water damage from the second floor to the basement, exposed electrical wiring, and no evidence of a working sanitary system.

LCI filed an anti-blight civil citation against Miller in December 2015, charging him a $100 daily fine for a variety of code violations at the property, including a dilapidated building exterior, broken windows, piled up trash and debris, and the presence of unregistered vehicles.

In April 2017, LCI put a lien on the property for unpaid fines totaling $46,300, or 463 days between January 2016 and April 2017 during which the violations in the December 2015 anti-blight citation were not addressed.

A visit to the property last week found the front door boarded up and the yard largely clear of debris. But an upstairs window was open, as was a back door to the cellar.

“That’s the haunted house,” said a small child playing with his siblings in the front yard of a neighboring property. He pointed out that someone still comes and goes from the property on occasion, and that there was a blanket lying in the backyard.

Natalino said he is still doing research into Miller’s estate, trying to figure out who is responsible for the property now that Miller has passed away.

The two-story, two-family brick home at 68 Barclay St. is owned by Lena Guarino. According to Natalino, Guarino also passed away within the past few years.

On June 19, LCI put an anti-blight lien on the property for $567.60. The liens certificate says that the lien amount corresponds to the cost of yard cleanup and securing the property as contracted for by the city on June 1.

This is not the first lien the city has put on 68 Barclay. In July 2016, LCI put a lien of $618 on the property for the cost of securing the home from trespass. In September 2016, it put a lien of $1,206 on the property again for the cost of securing the home. In February 2017, the department put another lien on the property, this time for $943.20 for the cost of yard cleanup and the cost of securing the home. And in July 2017, LCI put a fourth lien on the home, for $629.40, for the cost of yard cleanup.

The three-family home at 159 Spring St. is owned by Daryle Dolphin. According to Howard K. Hill Funeral Services, Dolphin passed away in July 2016.

The June 19 lien applied by LCI is for $355.80 and covers the cost of yard cleanup completed on May 29. There are no other liens or anti-blight notices in the city land records associated with this property.

Relocation Expenses

The two-family home at 75 Sherman Ave. is owned by Abdullah Soliman. For the past two months, the home has been at the center of an ongoing legal battle in city housing court in which Soliman’s attempted eviction of his groundfloor tenants for non-payment of rent quickly turned into a referendum on the city’s and the landlord’s failure to protect a child tenant from lead paint hazards.

The tenant, Maajid Muhammad, and his family have been relocated to the New Haven Village Suites hotel on Long Wharf for the duration of the court case. The first few weeks of the family’s relocation to Long Wharf was paid for by the landlord. For the past several weeks, the city has footed the relocation bill.

According to the June 19 lien, the city is looking to collect from Soliman for whatever hotel expenses the city has covered for the continued relocation of the Muhammad family.

The lien does not specify how much the city has paid in relocation expenses thus far. D’Amore said that number is with Corporation Counsel and that it will continue to accrue as the case continues.