Effective Code Enforcement is... NICE

Code enforcement is one the essential services offered by our city. According to the City of Troy’s website “The Bureau of Code Enforcement administers the city's building construction, permitting and housing inspection programs. Under these programs the Bureau is responsible for the enforcement of all state and local codes as well as the city's zoning ordinance. Typical functions of the Bureau include issuance of building permits, performance of construction and housing inspections, vacant building inspections and issuance of certificates of occupancy and compliance.” In other words code enforcement keeps our city safe, clean, and orderly. As you can imagine it’s a tough task keeping an urban environment with numerous socioeconomically challenged neighborhoods. There are many reasonable influences that cause “code” issues. The list includes reasoning’s such as the current economic condition, a transient population, absentee landlords, and an aging housing stock.

The federal government through, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) facilitate the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program for local municipalities. The program's purpose is the development of viable urban communities for low-and moderate income persons through the provision of the following: 1) Decent housing, 2) A suitable living environment, and 3) Economic opportunity.

The City of Troy receives approximately $2.5 million annually from HUD. These funds are allocated to numerous citywide projects that fall within a target zone. The target zone is determined by the city administration through the development of a 5 Year Action Plan. The target zone must be within HUD’s qualifying census tracts which are determined through the census and based upon income.

One of the programs that is facilitated and paid for utilizing these federal CDBG funds is called the Neighborhood Improvement through Code Enforcement program (NICE). The approach this code enforcement program takes is aimed at achieve results in a timely manner. Over a specific period of time City Code Officers, whose sole responsibility is to conduct this program, will inspect the exterior of every property within the target area. If a violation is found the property owners will be notified instantly.

Once notified of the violation the property owner has 30 days to begin the repair, cleaning, or painting work that is needed for the property to be brought up to code. Property owners who fail to respond to City notices of violation will be ticketed after 30 days, brought to Code Enforcement Court, and be fined appropriately.

There have been 10 target areas from South Troy to Lansingburgh over the past eight years. Last year, our neighborhood group worked with Mayor Tutunjian to secure the NICE program for 2nd Avenue and 5th Avenue in Lansingburgh from 116th Street to Northern Drive. Personally, I believe the effectiveness of the program speaks for itself. Below are the statistics per target area, you can draw your own conclusions, however.

From the data shown below, for the total program history, there have been 3,526 properties inspected. Initially, just 42% of them where in code compliance (1,471 properties). Within the 30 day notification period 1,055 of those 2,055 found in violation started work to be come code compliant. At the end of the day, realizing that the data is still incomplete for the 2010-11 target areas, 72% of the properties inspected within the target areas are code compliant, a 71% increase from the initial compliance properties and this number will grow as the current programs expire. These are great results that will become greater!   

	Beman Park-Hillside	S. Lansingburgh - North Central
Year	2003-04	2005-06
# properties inspected	390	628
# initially comply	138	156
% comply	35%	25%
# respond or began work w/in 30 days	158	115
# court appearance notices sent	93	127
final # in comply	335	524
% final in comply	86%	83%
	5th Ave tgt blocks	South Central
Year	2005-06	2006-08
# properties inspected	44	530
# initially comply	18	291
% comply	41%	55%
# respond or began work w/in 30 days	16	134
# court appearance notices sent	10	45
final # in comply	34	477
% final in comply	77%	90%
	S. Troy Osgood	Burgh 2nd & 5th (104th -116th St.)
Year	2008-09	2008-09
# properties inspected	249	317
# initially comply	128	171
% comply	51%	54%
# respond or began work w/in 30 days	76	88
# court appearance notices sent	34	51
final # in comply	205	259
% final in comply	82%	82%
	S. Troy	North Central
Year	2009-10	2009-10
# properties inspected	511	334
# initially comply	193	156
% comply	38%	47%
# respond or began work w/in 30 days	132	107
# court appearance notices sent	113	90
final # in comply	433	263
% final in comply	85%	79%
	S. Troy Hillside	Burgh 2nd & 5th (116th St.-Northern)
Year	2010-11	2010-11
# properties inspected	261	262
# initially comply	97	123
% comply	37%	47%
# respond or began work w/in 30 days	131	98
# court appearance notices sent	33	27
final # in comply	TBD	TBD
% final in comply	TBD	TBD

Potpourri: Childhood Cancer Benefit, "Transport-a-Hero," Budget Public Hearing

I wanted to spend a moment to write about three positive initiatives I recently learned about happening in our own community.

First, a neighbor of mine, Don O’Brien, is raising funds for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. Don’s goal is to raise $500 that will go to benefit childhood cancer research. The funds raised and granted through St. Baldrick’s is 100% volunteer driven through people like Don. Once Don reaches his goal he will be shaving the hair from his head during a celebration at the Park Pub at Frear Park on March 27th. To learn more or to donate please click here! As of this writing Don is $96 shy of his goal!

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Secondly, the Commission on Economic Opportunity has recently launched their “Transport-a-Hero” program. Through this program local veterans will receive free transportation to their medical appointments. The transportation service is provided on an as needed basis by community volunteers. CEO is currently seeking individuals who would like to volunteer their time to transport “Our Hero’s” to these appointments. Click the image below for more information.

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Finally, this Saturday March 19th Senator Roy McDonald will be hosting a Public Hearing to discuss the 2011 New York State Budget. The hearing will be held at Knickerbacker Middle School in Lansingburgh from 10am to 12pm. This is a unique opportunity to discuss and learn about the financial situation of the state’s budget with the Senator and senate finance staff. Click the image below for more information.

Police and Schools

Many thoughts and opinions circulate around this topic. When anyone questions or poses change to the “school districts” it normally sparks a fair amount of debate and rightfully so. If there is any one single item in society people hold dear to them, it’s the education and safety of their children. Everyone wants what’s best for their children; my parents did and so did yours. The recent announcement of the Troy Police Department reducing the presence of the School Resource Officers (SRO) at the schools sparked such debate. My wife and I do not have any children and I cannot speak from that perspective, but I can speak as a person who has been involved in the community, served as a member of several school/community forums, and as a graduate of the Troy School District.

When I first learned of the SRO program a number of years ago I could not believe what I was hearing. Really, you need cops to patrol Troy schools? I wondered what happened from when I graduated, which wasn’t that long ago, to now, that requires the presence of uniformed, armed, police officers. I was stunned. But as I learned more, took stock of the changing social climate in the city, and became more involved, it began to make sense. From then on I became a believer. I personally know a few of the current and previous SRO’s. I hear the examples of how their intervention has positively impacted the at-risk youth and the community as a whole through educating kids and parents, and preventing incidents. I personally support this program.

When I was first learning about SRO’s, I asked how this program was funded and what is the relationship between the school districts and the City? I was told that the City was reimbursed with grant monies for the officer’s time while they are in the schools. However, the grant had an expiration date and over the life of the grant the reimbursement monies decreased until the grant is exhausted, thereby placing the burden of the expense on the City. The grant is now exhausted and has been for a period of time. Three Troy Police Officers work, while school is in session, at Lansingburgh, Doyle, and Troy High. Many people have said to me, “How can anyone put a value on the children’s education and safety, by saying we can’t afford police in our schools?” That’s a valid question, but what about my previous question of, “What is the relationship between the school districts and the City?” What happened to the school security service and the “no nonsense” administration policies that were in place when I was in school? We pay more in school taxes every year than we pay in city and county taxes. What does or should this afford us? There are administrators in our schools that earn a great deal more than our mayor and for the most part we have no say in who governs our schools. Yes, there is an elected school board of education, but honestly what level of influence do they hold? Isn’t it fair to say that our schools are not performing at a desirable level? Doesn’t anyone see an issue with both schools districts rushing bond votes through worth tens of millions of dollars and the majority of these projects, at each school, revolve around renovation of the athletic fields, converting them to artificial turf? What happened to priorities? What happened to public accountability? If the education and safety of our city’s youth is top priority, I believe it is incumbent upon the school districts to get their house in order.

This isn’t a political issue, currently all sides are calling for reform, and Governor Cuomo is calling people to task. Just like any business you can’t fix the problem just by throwing money at it, which has been the practice far too long. We created a governmental agency, the NYS Lottery, to assist in the subsidization of the public school system. All that was created was a beast of a public entity and all that has been achieved is furthering people’s gambling addictions.

It would be a shame if these officers were removed from the schools. It would be a shame if the school districts didn’t take the bull by the horns and say, “How can we make this happen, together?” Rather than play the victim. People should be tired of school districts playing the victim, tugging at the strings of the public’s heart; all while rising our taxes by three or more percent a year on a regular basis, constantly underperforming. It’s time for them to step up to the plate, clean up their act, and act accordingly. The school administrators should be held to the same standard we hold our elected officials on the city council, our mayor, and administrators such as our police chief. Work together and resolve this issue.