Font ResizeIt's one thing to read about run-down, foreclosed homes dragging down other people's neighborhoods and property values.
It's something else entirely when one — or more — of these eyesores invades your street.
I live in East Oakland, in the Las Palmas community.
Las Palmas is right next to what is being called the epicenter of Oakland's foreclosure crisis, an area that runs from 73rd to 90th avenues and International to MacArthur boulevards.
Technically, Las Palmas isn't at ground zero because it doesn't start until 98th Avenue.
Small comfort. There are easily dozens of foreclosed homes within walking distance of my street.
We all know why a glut of foreclosed houses has saturated the market. Either through greed or ignorance, people got into mortgages they couldn't afford. DataQuick Information Systems, a real-estate research firm, reported Tuesday that 63,061 houses were lost to foreclosure in the second quarter of this year — the highest level in 20 years.
The result is that some communities, mostly poorer ones, are drowning under the weight of neglected, abandoned homes.
Many have weeds growing knee-high in the frontyards and backyards. Graffiti on the walls. Paint peeling off the foundation. Fliers advertising everything known to man spilling onto the front porch. Homeless people breaking in. Kids sneaking in to have sex. Drug addicts using the houses
They aren't just painful reminders of the misfortune of former neighbors. These abandoned homes eat away at the spirit of the residents left behind, who in spite of tough times are doing the best they can to keep up their homes.
Most of these houses and apartments are owned by banks. Now that these financial institutions have seized so many properties for nonpayment, they clearly don't have a clue what to do with them.
The city should be holding financial institutions' feet to the fire and making them bring their properties into compliance with city code, but they're not.
There is supposed to be a complaint process. A resident calls a hotline to report that a neighboring property is a fire hazard and an invitation to rodents. The city's Building Services Department dispatches an inspector to verify that indeed the grass does come up to a tall man's neck.
The city is then supposed to notify the property owner of the violation. He has 21 days to appeal. After time runs out, he is required by law to fix the violation. Otherwise, the city is supposed to put the job out to bid to a contractor, which often costs a minimum of $1,000. There are supposed to be fines levied. That is not what is happening, which is why you see so many dilapidated houses out there.
Take the house in the 103rd block of Longfellow Avenue, the bane of my neighborhood.
The former occupants lost the house and moved out last fall. Citigroup owns it now. In November, a neighbor called the city's complaint hotline. The inspector verified that the place was a disaster. But eight months later, the weeds in the frontyard are still knee high, fliers spill onto the porch. All of this screams out that no one lives here, making it an invitation to criminals and the criminally minded.
Someone jumped over the back fence and robbed the man living next door. Angry neighbors called the Realtor, who had the grass cut twice. That's twice in eight months.
"You've got all these people trying to keep up their places and then you have this," said Kenny Burns, 54, who lives across the street.
The grass in front of his house is so well-tended that it would be hard to find a blade out of place.
Another neighbor said he's fed up with the "junk place." He thought if he took care of his house, he could sell it and move to Georgia. Now, he says, he's stuck.
The City Council recently voted to put yet another parcel tax measure on the ballot to pay for hiring more police. This, when they haven't even spent all of the Measure Y funds for more police.
A couple of weeks ago, Councilmembers Desley Brooks and Larry Reid went on a foreclosure bus tour through Oakland with Rep. Barbara Lee.
What the council ought to do is come up with a proposal for forcing owners of foreclosed houses and apartments to fix their properties.
In case you hadn't noticed folks, these purveyors of blight are part of the city's crime problem.
Tammerlin Drummond's columns run Wednesdays and Sundays. Reach her at tdrummond@bayareanewsgroup.com.
