Losing Springfield

[strider]

Mr Lumb's letter is great and I hope it helps moving forward.  We still have a huge issue in that Ms Scott has already stated she does not have to listen to city council; she does not work for them. I fear another house will go before this ends unless the Mayors office takes this seriously and acts today.

None of this means we should stop looking into the NSP funding issues and the possible ethics violations.

[CityLife]

I received this minutes ago:
Gloria:

227 properties in Springfield have a combined $49 million in fines!

Wow. Anyone know what the assessed value of those 227 homes are?

[sheclown]

Kim Pryor kicked booty tonight at the council meeting.  i hope anyone interested in this topic had the opportunity to watch her.  She demanded Kim Scott be "stripped of her duties" and the council was not opposed to this one bit.  Dr. Gaffney, Robin Lumb, Lori Boyer strongly supportive.  Warren Jones doesn't like the city maintaining private property (at which point, Robin Lumb schooled him about historic districts and then Kim emphatically stated it was the DUTY of the city to stabilize them.

She told them "MCCD is committing a crime."

(And I didn't hear anyone defend them.)

[sheclown]

Bill Bishop wants a meeting and all of them agreed to "deal with this."

[Cheshire Cat]

Kim Pryor kicked booty tonight at the council meeting.  i hope anyone interested in this topic had the opportunity to watch her.  She demanded Kim Scott be "stripped of her duties" and the council was not opposed to this one bit.  Dr. Gaffney, Robin Lumb, Lori Boyer strongly supportive.  Warren Jones doesn't like the city maintaining private property (at which point, Robin Lumb schooled him about historic districts and then Kim emphatically stated it was the DUTY of the city to stabilize them.

She told them "MCCD is committing a crime."

(And I didn't hear anyone defend them.)

Wow, I missed that.  I can only watch Council meetings for so long these days before I experience an overload of the regulars rantings.  lol  I am glad to hear that some of the members of council are also concerned about the functioning of MCCD.  I wonder if they are aware of how the demo jobs are awarded?  I bet that will surprise and worry many of them as well it should.  It is time Kim Scott is shown the door and made to realize that she is still just an employee of the taxpayers.  We need a person in that office who does not suffer from any type of self aggrandizing behavior.  No more "Off with the Heads" type of judgments made when it comes to historic structures.

[Springfield Chicken]

It was great to hear Kim Pryor last night as she laid things out in such a way that there could be no misunderstanding of the way Code has interpreted the ordinances to do things their way and that it's an abuse of power.  She was articulate and passionate.  Don Quixote himself couldn't have done it better.  And I believe that enough Council members got on board that this won't just fade away.  This will go down as a turning point in saving our historic homes. Thanks, Kim.  And thanks, as well, to Gloria and Nicole and countless others who have also fought the good fight.

[JaxUnicorn]

Thank you Springfield Chicken for your kind words.  I am hopeful that my personal passion for historic preservation will benefit all of Jacksonville's historic districts, as well as other historic homes that lie in areas that are not yet protected.  It is truly all about SAVING THE HOUSES!  Please don't think I do this all alone - I am proud to say that I am part of PSOS.

Here's the link to the 06/25/13 Council meeting video.  The discussion on historic demolition starts at 2:42:15.

http://media.coj.net/City_Council/Council%206-25-13.wmv

And in case the video itself won't open, here's the link to the webpage where all the 2013 council meetings are archived:  http://www.coj.net/city-council/city-council-meetings-online/2013-council-video-archive.aspx

[sheclown]

thank you for posting this.

I was so proud of our city council for responding so earnestly.

[sheclown]

This is why I love historic homes.

Today, in a great house we are working on, the homeowner asked "can we look in the holes that the plumbers made and see if we can find the pocket door?"

"Of course!!!"

The plumbers, instructed by us, cut minimal holes in the walls to enable them to do their plumbing work.  The original plaster is on the walls (complete with horse-hair aggregate) and will remain as much as possible.  The wood lathe is there as well.

When we peeked inside, we saw the six foot paneled door -- some of which may not have even been painted -- tucked nicely in there just waiting for discovery.

We jumped around, climbed the ladder, peeked for ourselves.

This is why you work on a scary house and you save them all.

For the moments you find pocket doors behind the walls.

[sheclown]

QUESTION:  Why do you keep a bulldozer on a cleared Springfield lot for a week?

[JaxUnicorn]

QUESTION:  Why do you keep a bulldozer on a cleared Springfield lot for a week?

so everyone can see how big it is, and respect the size of your tool, obviously.

  Stephen that was funny!

But on a serious note, me thinks it is because you plan to USE said bulldozer in the general vicinity AGAIN.

[AngryCitizen]

The mentality of Code Enforcement in COJ is the problem here.  Reminds me of a sad session before the Code Compliance Board Magistrate a couple of years ago.  An elderly widow [60ish] was cited for a failing single car garage roof.  She had been victimized at least twice by repairers who took her money and ran.  The City attitude [via Code Enforcement] was she either find a way to repair the roof or the City would hire a contractor to tear down her garage [and of course put a lien on her property to repay the cost].  Wouldn't it have been more beneficial to use those demolition funds to repair the problem and keep that property on the tax rolls?  The City could still have placed a lien for the repairs.  That is the real problem here.  The City doesn't care what is better for the long term health of Jacksonville. 

[KuroiKetsunoHana]

QUESTION:  Why do you keep a bulldozer on a cleared Springfield lot for a week?

so everyone can see how big it is, and respect the size of your tool, obviously.

  Stephen that was funny!

But on a serious note, me thinks it is because you plan to USE said bulldozer in the general vicinity AGAIN.

i saw that big ugly thing there, and i was thinking what a shame it'd be if something happened to it...

edit:  fixed typo.

[John P]

The mentality of Code Enforcement in COJ is the problem here.  Reminds me of a sad session before the Code Compliance Board Magistrate a couple of years ago.  An elderly widow [60ish] was cited for a failing single car garage roof.  She had been victimized at least twice by repairers who took her money and ran.  The City attitude [via Code Enforcement] was she either find a way to repair the roof or the City would hire a contractor to tear down her garage [and of course put a lien on her property to repay the cost].  Wouldn't it have been more beneficial to use those demolition funds to repair the problem and keep that property on the tax rolls?  The City could still have placed a lien for the repairs.  That is the real problem here.  The City doesn't care what is better for the long term health of Jacksonville.

You said it! This is a great example..

[Carolyn]

Wow just wow
I can't believe that someone shares my EXACT feeling about pocket doors!! lol

This is why I love historic homes.

Today, in a great house we are working on, the homeowner asked "can we look in the holes that the plumbers made and see if we can find the pocket door?"

"Of course!!!"

The plumbers, instructed by us, cut minimal holes in the walls to enable them to do their plumbing work.  The original plaster is on the walls (complete with horse-hair aggregate) and will remain as much as possible.  The wood lathe is there as well.

When we peeked inside, we saw the six foot paneled door -- some of which may not have even been painted -- tucked nicely in there just waiting for discovery.

We jumped around, climbed the ladder, peeked for ourselves.

This is why you work on a scary house and you save them all.

For the moments you find pocket doors behind the walls.