FD council OKs demolitions
Begins work to clean up Pleasant Valley neighborhoodBy BILL SHEA, Messenger staff writer
POSTED: May 20, 2008
Article Photos
Council members, acting as the city’s Board of Health, also decided to demolish the vacant Sandy’s Market in the same neighborhood as soon as they’re assured that the owner has been notified.
Those demolition orders are expected to be the first of several in a renewed focus on cleaning up that southwestern neighborhood.
City Manager David Fierke said the push resulted from the efforts of the Rev. Madai Taylor, who took to the streets of Pleasant Valley last month to preach against drug dealing there. Fierke said Taylor and his supporters asked if the city could tear down some of the vacant houses there.
Topping the city’s hit list Monday was a house at 1402 10th Ave. S.W.
The house has been vacant for about five years, neighbors have said. It is filled with rotting furniture and other items. The staircase has collapsed and pieces of first floor ceilings are falling down. Neighbors say that during the summer, a foul odor comes from the house.
The property is owned by the estate of a former resident. In 2006, the city received a request from a former owner of the property, who asked that it be leveled and the costs added to the property tax bill. Officials were uncertain Monday why that was never done.
Councilman Dave Flattery was absent from the otherwise unanimous vote to demolish that house.
Down the block at 1008 10th Ave. S.W. sits a two-story building that once was the home of Sandy’s Market. The windows on that structure are broken and it appear to be full of debris.
‘‘Sandy’s is one we really want to get down,’’ Fierke said.
The owner of the building is believed to be Lester Dungy, who lives in Texas, according to information presented to the council.
Council members voted to knock down the old grocery store after they’ve been assured that Dungy has been notified.
A contractor will be hired to handle the demolitions.
Contact Bill Shea at (515) 573-2141 or bshea@messengernews.net
Member Comments
View Comments: | 1-10 | Post a comment
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justwords
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05-21-08 3:19 PM
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Paladin..I think people have given you lots of good advice. From one landlord to another-READ IT and don't take it personal!
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scubadude44
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05-20-08 8:02 PM
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I don't feel sorry for any landlord. Your are a business owner, run your rentals as a business. You should have enough common sense to know you run the risk of bad tenants. If you don't have enough sense to set aside a rainy day fun for remodels, sell the rentals off. I do not and can not accept the, "Oh woe is me. I own 4 houses and can't keep them up". SHUT UP! There are people losing happy homes daily in these fiscally tough times. You can check references, check credit ratings, check past rental history. If you don't, you are begging to be scammed and you deserve it. This isn't New York, there isn't rent control. If you set prices to keep riff-raff out, you won't get any. As much as I don't feel sorry for you, I blame the city as a whole for the problems. I have lived in this crime infested crap pile for 10 years. You people need to elect/hire officials that will crush crime. Until you do, the place will never improve. Thank God, I'm out of this dump in a week
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CommonSense
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05-20-08 6:39 PM
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Throw these bums out on their rear ends. You don't have to have money to keep a house clean. You just have to have self respect and a little work ethic. If you can't kill the virus, you won't stop the disease from spreading.
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CommonSense
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05-20-08 6:38 PM
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Then if they get behind on rent, it takes an act of Congress to get these losers out of your house. The law protects the tenant, not the landlord. Most times before you can get them out, they have ruined your property. You can sue them but you cant' get water out of a rock!! These people often don't have much money. That's why they are renting! They either don't have the credit or can't afford to buy a house. By the time you fix the property back up and find another renter, you are out thousands of dollars which can take years of renting to recoup. You can set into the rental agreement all the provisions you want, but if the people don't follow them, it takes forever to get them out. By the time you go throught the court system, they have long been aware that you are throwing them out and have your house trashed and there's nothing you can do. The one thing I do agree with the FDMayor on is when he say's that we should address the scum problem before it infects the neighborhood!
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CommonSense
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05-20-08 6:28 PM
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Couple of things I'd like to say here. If you have driven behind Fareway in the last few years it only looks about 10 million times better than it used to. Anyone who would criticize the progress there has a very poor outlook in general. Fort Dodge needs clean affordable housing in these neighborhoods. If you can afford a mansion, you can live anywhere you want. I do agree however that if you evict these people, they will more than likely just move to the next spot and ruin that house as well. You have to harass these people into either keeping their property clean or leaving town. In my neighborhood, if you don't have the snow scooped off your sidewalk within 24hrs it's like the world is coming to an end. In response to FDMayor. Have you ever owned a rental property? It can be very hard to make money by the time you pay the payment yourself, keep up the property, and if you want to do an inspection, you have to give the tenants notice.
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Paladin
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05-20-08 2:54 PM
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For the record, I am very, very happy for the new ordinances relating to nuisance property and the new inspections being done by the city. I look at them as an opportunity to improve and for peace of mind. I understand the relationship between improvements and property values. I also will undoubtly be assessed three times or more if that is the route the city takes to improve streets. Again, I see the good it can bring me and the property I own. Finally, I am not rich or close to it. I am a working person who scrambles every month to get my bills paid.
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Paladin
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05-20-08 2:47 PM
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Big talk coming from an anonymous person FDMayor. How would you do it? I've spent over $15,000 just painting properties in the last two years. The tenants I have had do not care about anyone else's property, they trash it, leave in the middle of the night. I have to replace carpet, windows, screens, and take out the trash they leave behind. Many times what they leave behind will fill a dumpster, yet I get called a scumlord. I take pride in the buildings I own and want them to look good, but tenants have to cooperate and many times they don't. It is a two-way street, so watch where you throw around names and words. I've had many tenants embarrass me with their living conditions and behavior. It takes time and money to evict them. Then to get a judgement. There is no law that says they have to pay me after I get a judgement. I end up resorting to garnishing wages, then they just quit their job rather than pay. It is time you identify the real scum.
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justwords
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05-20-08 2:15 PM
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FDMayor...I believe that is why inspections are now expected and people are being fined for their trashy property!
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BornInFD
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05-20-08 10:41 AM
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"Officials were uncertain Monday why that was never done." Why don't they find out why it was never done? Imagine the lawsuit filed had someone been injured by going in there and then it becoming public knowledge that the former owner asked it to be torn down and the cost of such added to the property tax. Start holding people accountable for passing the buck and watch it happen less often.
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Curlymoptop
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05-20-08 8:19 AM
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What a good thing!!! There is a lot more rotting buildings that could be torn down around fort dodge!!
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