Code Cites Kids Garden for Bolted Head of Lettuce

[BridgeTroll]

http://members.jacksonville.com/opinion/premium-opinion/2014-01-14/story/long-term-challenges-fighting-urban-blight

[libertyloft]

Our house was coded and we live here and take care of our house and yard.  Thanks for the nice picture though!   I guess the neighborhood is unsightly to Code Enforcement.  What a waste of MY and YOUR tax dollars.  These guys need to figure out how to get to the people who really don't take care of their property and get them-not those of us who do take care of our homes and yards.

[iloveionia]

One of the houses that was cited for "not boarded properly" they boarded themselves and placed a lien on it for the work done.
The one for "limbs in the back yard" or something along those lines, really reaching.
Course they pick Ionia, a street of many long time residents with limited income, and more vacant lots than any other street due to the excessive demos.

[Lunican]

I walked through the area last night and what they did is ridiculous. They tagged well maintained empty lots and since it rained the signs are now strewn about.

[mtraininjax]

The city of Jacksonville is its own worst enemy.  I sorely REGRET my vote in the last Mayor's election and I regret even more that the other candidate was worse.  That is really all this city has??  ANYONE who supports this kind of harassment within a two block radius (more than 40 citations!!!) isn't a public servant and Kim Scott's hands are all over this.  PROMOTING her to a higher position would be evidence of incompetence on the Mayor's part.  She has overseen the mis-use of federal funds and this is her way of getting back at Springfield for highlighting it.  PROMOTING her to a higher position would be evidence of incompetence on the Mayor's part

LOL, I'm with Alvin! How duped were the people who got him elected? All because they were afraid of the GOB mentality, goes to show you that the only change that occurred was the color of the person elected, the machine stayed the same.

If you want real change, you need to throw out all the crap in the city and start over. Planning and Development is worse than it was under Peyton. They constantly lose plans between themselves, the fire marshall's office and zoning. Its a wonder they can tie their own shoes. How prepared are they for when the economy REALLY starts humming along and they are crushed with permits and projects? Jacksonville won't be able to get out of its OWN way then, for sure!

[sheclown]

 from an email thread on DART funding, we found this in an email from Kim Scott to her boss dated Aug 2013:

"At this rate, MCCD will have no funding, excluding lien revenue utilized by regular nuisance abatement (cutting/clearing) to support board-ups and demolitions in the City of Jacksonville."

To see the entire email thread go here: (reply 24)

http://www.metrojacksonville.com/forum/index.php/topic,20164.new.html#new

[avs]

Yes, this is the crux of it all.  Again, this was targeted by MCCD.  It is an abuse of power and a waste of tax money that we all pay.  We pay their salaries - they work for us.  The MCCD office in Jax is run by utter incompetence.  The code is written for certain protections - not bolted lettuce in grant funded Kids Gardens or grass in the yards of citizens that are just starting to grow as the cold season breaks.  The lack of common sense and the waste of TAX MONEY and the waste of FEDERAL MONEY is grounds for release - not promotion!!! 

[Debbie Thompson]

My neighbor was cited, and NONE of his grass was as high as the citation said.

[sheclown]

An east Springfield woman received a notice last Thursday for trash in her yard --debris she is cleaning up from a fire which recently destroyed her home. She is working in getting estimates from contractors and slowly cleaning up the interior. 

So imagine her surprise when contractors hired by code enforcement began cleaning up the yard.  And to do so, they knocked down a portion of her fence to get the equipment in.

She called JSO.  Three cars showed up.

After much heated discussion, the contractors and the city left, but not before returning a wheelbarrow full of trash to her front yard.

"The letter said I had 15 days and I only received it last Thursday!" she said.

As the contractors drove off she yelled after them "I"M NOT PAYING FOR THIS"

[sheclown]

She said "it wasn't the greatest fence, but it is MY fence."

[Springfielder]

The city needs to pay for the damage to the fence, that's for sure. This vendetta via citations is ridiculous, and without a doubt is the work of Kim Scott and her team of spiteful morons. Mayor Brown is a disgrace, which is evidenced by wanting to promote Scott into a higher position, the very department head that misused federal funds and blatantly shows her vindictive side.

Heavens forbid some of the people who live here get "told" they need to tighten up their properties.  New Springfielders got them too.  Trust me, for every one head of bolted lettuce, there were 10 weeds growing on stairs, trash accumulating, paint peeling.  I applaud the efforts.  A certified letter is sent to the property owner and a 15 day period to correct the problem or risk getting fined starts.  15 days is  over 2 weeks.  Plenty of time to pull that lettuce, paint that railing, pick up that garbage.  It has made a no ticable difference in the area I live.  BTW, I got one, too.

Really? Kim Scott's code enforcement and her bulldozing frenzy have left gaping holes within the neighborhood, aka lots where historic houses once stood. Instead of having code enforcement do what they are supposed to do, including mothballing homes, she'd rather triple the costs and use funds illegally to take them down. The city owns many of these lots and does not mow them. Yet they continually harass those who are fighting to make the neighborhood a better place.

When's the last time you mowed something than your own yard? When's the last time you walked further than your own yard and picked up trash? People with the mindset you speak with, are not neighbors, they're part of the problem

[mbwright]

Lettuce can't be 'overgrown'.  It is doing what it does naturally, and that is produce flowers, for reproduction.  I am sure the IFAS extension office would be happy to clue them in.
I am most sure this is retribution and harassment at its finest. 
They should cite the city for all of their properties that are not properly kept?

[kln1323]

COJ code enforcement has always sucked.  they have always been out of control.  Oh and,  they are asshole.  Right Joel and Martin

[twojacks]

Really, 2 weeks ago the citations were issued.  Now, when nothing has been done to abate the cited condition, you're incensed they follow through and decide to clean up the mess they cited two weeks ago.  Vendetta??  I understand that historically code enforcement has played the villon role and buldozed houses (not homes). That's not the fight today, but know that the citations are not just written in the Springfield Historic District. Oh, the cleverness!!! they write the all over just to conceal their targeting efforts.

[strider]

I believe this was a result of the Mayor's latest anti-blight initiative.  It is, like all things done by MCC in the urban core, misguided as it is punitive based rather than trying to be positive in any way.  They had MCC officers, being paid by us tax payers, drive around in cars paid by us taxpayers, and write official violations that must be properly followed up on at a great expense, all paid by us taxpayers.

It seems to me that this type of initiative would not only be embraced by everyone, it would have been more successful if they had printed up special flyers and gently reminded everyone that it was time to cut the grass, pick up yards and reign in that wayward head of lettuce. The result would have been most would have complied and the few that didn't could have then been written up that two weeks later.  This way would have saved the city tax dollars, not alienated citizens and started MCC down a path of being helpful to the city, not just hindering progress at every turn.  Unfortunately, that is not how the management at MCC wants to be, helpful, they are very much into the hindering ways of doing things. 

Some of us keep hoping that will change.  Some of us want new management at these departments so that they can actually start helping the city rather than mowing it down. The recent actions by MCC officers, often writing up proprieties that were in that gray area,  issuing official citations that cost us tax payers thousands upon thousands of dollars just to monitor and properly process is a symptom of a much larger issue that includes the illegal use of funds, the ignoring of laws and the tramping of tax payer rights on the part of the department chief and upper management.

Is it too much to simply want a MCC in this city the helps not hinders?