Messy neighbors take note: City of Poughkeepsie officials are looking for ways to crack down on property owners who routinely leave trash on yards and sidewalks. Repeat offenders could get slapped with a $100 fine – regardless of whether they fix the problem.
City government want to stop landlords from taking advantage of city workers as de-facto property managers. “Lots of property owners don’t clean up unless we notify them,” said Stanley Merritt, assistant superintendent for public works. Unless violators get charged, taxpayers end up paying, as staff members make multiple visits to repeat offenders.
A small percentage of owners are responsible for most of the trouble, according to Merritt. This year, to date, 10 owners have wracked up 123 violations.
Trouble other than trash
In addition to garbage cans, which should only be placed on the street on pick-up days, other sanitation code violations include failure to shovel snow and keep sidewalks clean (owners are responsible for the sections of sidewalk in front of the premises); overgrowth of noxious weeds and litter and trash, including construction refuse, in yards or sidewalks.
After spotting a violation, a city worker posts a citation on the premises.
Then, workers generally allow a five to six-day grace period for the problem to be corrected. If not abated, the city performs the fix and sends the bill to the property owner.
Leniency has been the general practice, but the city could opt to enforce a rule that allows only 48 hours after posting three violations before the city performs the fix and charges property owners for the job.
In addition, anyone with more than five violations could get an automatic $100 fine – whether or not they abate the problem.
“I don’t see a problem with that,” said resident Ron Fernandez of stiffening penalties for untidy landlords. “If they’re not listening the first time, you have to get their attention. Bigger fines usually get their attention.”
Residents Raymond Mayo and Alicia Morgan said they were also in favor of tightening the sanitation code. Garbage cans left on the street, said Mayo, “make (the city) look tacky.”
Mayo and Morgan suggested a grace period of about a day and a half for taking in trashcans – “lots of people work,” she noted.
The Common Council is set to receive an update on measures to strengthen the sanitation code at its next meeting on Sept. 4. City officials are still considering various ways to add teeth to the punishments for sanitation code violations.
Common Council chair Brian Doyle (D-4th Ward) said that absentee landlords were often responsible for violations. The repeat offenders, according to Doyle, caused “a blight to neighbors.”
Does the department of public works currently has the resources to stay on top of citing and fining residents? Merritt said, “I believe we would.”