Tracy Press

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written by Dave Hardesty , May 07, 2008

Gene

While I agree City Hall can do more on this, perhaps we are blaming the wrong people here.

The last time I really sat down and looked at this particular problem it's the citizens of our City that are causing the problem. Even more, they don't do it in secret and virtually all of their neighbors know what's going on as well.

Yes the City could go around and issue citations on every sign appearing, but you and I both know many citizens would only complain about the heavy handed approach of our government in this respect.

So just perhaps we all should be a little more proactive in this and mention this problem to ourselves and our neighbors who are doing this instead of taking the attitude "well everyone else is doing it so why can't I?"

You also need to consider that every time you rely on the City to take care of these problems that it is you and the rest of the tax paying public that will be paying for it. Let's put the entire cost back on the people who are really causing the problem instead of waiting for the City to do it and charge us for the effort and if you are like me you don't want to end up paying higher taxes.

Dave Hardesty

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written by d , May 07, 2008

Dave,

The city of Tracy has Police Power and only they can legally inforce the code. That is the Law and how it works!

I say to the department head of Code Enforcement, get out there and do the job you and your staff are hired to do. No excuses!

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written by Dave Hardesty , May 07, 2008

d

What you say is true.

Now if you are warm to the idea of hiring more code enforcement officers to pound the pavement, and wish to pony up the taxes necessary to pay them a living wage, go right ahead, it's only money.

I don't know about you but in the current economy I don't think raising everyone's taxes to get more code enforcement is going to be accepted by the American voter any time soon. But I could be wrong.

So just perhaps there is another approach we can all take.

You might want to take the approach and help your neighbor to clean up the mess. If everyone did that we wouldn't need code enforcement except to deal with the important issues a neighbor can't handle for one reason or another.

In those cases I would be warm to jail time for the person who had to be "reminded" to be a good citizen to others by the city.

Now if you know factually the Code Enforcement officer/s are not doing their job, I will be more than happy to discuss that aspect of the problem. However, considering how short handed they are to patrol some 81,000 people; I believe they really are doing the best they can with the resources they have at their disposal. Now if you factually know different then let's discuss that and perhaps we can correct the problem.

Dave Hardesty

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written by d , May 07, 2008

You dont have to be from out of town to notice the sad shape of the neighborhoods. Blight is everywhere!

Dave, if you want to defend a Code Enforement Agency who has a serious job to do dont waste your time!

If this department had good managment and the coreect amount of employees this would not be an issue. This problem affects all of us. The value of your home goes down even more bing next to a blighted or unsafe home. That is a fact!

No, you cant just trot over to your neighbors home to clean or remove anything. The Policing agency is the Code Department...

They need to ramp up this department and provide the dervice our Tax dollars are paying them to do!

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written by amy , May 07, 2008

Dave H., since you have clearer idea of the inner workings of the city government and how they do about it in Tracy.

Is there a policy in place that prevents the City from sending out their "authorized staffers" to go out and collect all the long expired signs...

AND then the staffers could return the outdated signs to the Code Enforcer to send out citations to addresses provided by offending homeowners.

Perhaps, if they were "notified" by the newspaper or however the information gets to them that the longer they leave it up the more it will cost them....Is there such a policy?

I bet resident will make sure they WILL take them down if they knew of this policy? Just a suggestion, it may not be first time it was thought of, but just the same, just a suggestion.

Have a good rest of the day!

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written by d , May 07, 2008

OOPs I should have checked my spelling.. Sorry

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written by amy , May 07, 2008

It sure would bring revenue to the City?

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written by d , May 07, 2008

Yes, it would be a revenue generator!

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written by Dave Hardesty , May 07, 2008

amy

Believe it or not I actually tried to volunteer to do exactly that. Even though I was basically an unpaid city worker, as a former Parks and Community Services Commissioner, I did have authority to drive City Vehicles. But that was about it.

Unfortunately the laws are written such that the officer, be he or she a police officer or a code enforcement officer, have to personally see the violation before they can issue a citation.

Simply taking the sign to the code officer, by a City Staffer or anyone else, is not enough.

Now people like d obviously think there are a lot of these officers here in town when there are only one or two at most. And code enforcement goes a lot further than just hunting down signs as well.

It involves things like fences, trees, sidewalks, cars parked out on the street, and a number of things you and I can't even imagine.

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written by Dave Hardesty , May 07, 2008

amy cont.

So it really comes back to the question, do you want to pay higher taxes to hire more code enforcement people to write more citations?

While there are some management problems around, as they occur in every other place in the world today, most of the City's problems stem around money necessary to hire full time employees to do work like this. Like it or not that equates to taxes.

Perhaps they could do a better job at allocating money to the various departments and cut out waste, but that is a subjective issue and until you have been in those departments and worked with those people to gain an understanding of what they have to deal with, you don't really know.

Before I got involved more proactively with the city I also felt they were doing a very bad job in just about every respect. But it occurred to me that the view I saw might not be the total picture.

But I also felt these people were not stupid, despite the fact a lot of people feel so. In reality they are just like you and I, they just happen to work for a City is all. Some might even be your neighbors.

So, with the feeling there might be other issues not apparent to me, I got involved and made it my business to find out what some of their problems are, and there are many.

Dave Hardesty

Why is it that today most people don't talk to or even know their neighbors? America was not always this way. Perhaps that is the source of many of the problems we have today.

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written by d , May 07, 2008

Dave,

Replace the current Department Manager. Hire an experienced Manager, hire and train the correct amount of employees to fully staff a department that can service our population properly.

Problem solved! No our Taxes will not go up. Half the employees at city hall sit on their hands and do nothing all day, shift and train staff!

Address a glaring and obvious problem!

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written by mall shopper , May 08, 2008

It's sure hard NOT TO MISS the house that has been demolished for about a year to two. This dump is located on Corral Hollow across the street from the mall. CLEAN IT UP!

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written by maybenotdumBcommenT , May 08, 2008

Gene, You need to go to Forums and look under anything and everything-"Ugly Advertising and Abandon Grocery Carts". I started it in February, knowing full well what Tracy would look like right now. It may appear Celeste has started a capaign on this but I did. There is excellent information in there that could better inform you of some of what is going on here in Tracy and why.

City of Tracy has a hiring freeze. We have 2 Code Enforcement Officers. We need three or 7 more.

d, Code Enforcement CAN and does enforce the codes. Dave, what d said is not true, they have limited staff and limited time.

Code enforcement is enforced on buildings, drug houses, cars into buildings, they work with the police and fire dept. They help with neighborhood watch meetings, sometines they have to go to court, They are managed down to the last second and more of their day. It is not management. It is lack of help, just like the police dept. "they just happen to work for a City"? Interesting comment, in my opinion.

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written by dj , May 08, 2008

To Dum to comment,

The city has plenty of employees that they can train and move to the code enforcement department.. They choose not to so we as a city are underserved. The manager of this department was moved from a Secretary - (Anna C) to Department Head without any past managerial or code experience.

More excuses from the propoganda police that troll the blog!

We deserve better than what the Powers that be at city hall are willing to provide!

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written by ccl , May 08, 2008

One of the biggest problems we have here is lack of strict ordinances in Tracy. Our neighbors have 4 families living in their home, and because the home is big enough, they are not breaking Federal law, according to code enforcement official I spoke with. Other towns have stricter LOCAL ordinances (which go beyond basic federel health/safety laws) regarding how many cars on the street per residence, how many people can live in the home, etc. Tracy is VERY lenient when it comes to local code. So now I have 8-10 cars on my court all the time. I moved here from Livermore 4yrs ago and can't wait to be able to sell my house and get back out. Tracy is quickly becoming a ghetto!!!

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written by maybenotdumBcommenT , May 08, 2008

dj, You may be right that you are to dum to comment or you are making a stupid statement, did you even bother to read the forum I started? Anna C. was given a lot to work with and a certain City manager forced out a very good one prior to it. She did not leave because she wanted to. You may think you know some things but you don't know the whole picture. Give me all the negative votes you want, it is the truth. I wouldn't give you a negative vote for your opinion. They work the best they can with what they got.

Just because they can't get what City Hall needs to give them it is no reflection on their work performance.

All I can say for you cci is that you should have checked out your new home at different times of day and you would see what was going on. Code Enforcement is short staffed and maybe they are lenient. I suggest you go to a city council meeting and state your case.

Oh ya. I'm not the police, dumb.

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written by ccl , May 08, 2008

to: maybenotdumBcommenT

I DID ck out my home at all hours. That was 4 yrs ago. It was a beautiful neighborhood at that time...southwest Tracy, near Wanda Hirsch School. All it took was one or two sales to change that, 1-2yrs later. Local ordinances could have taken care of this problem. Others in this area are concerned about the same thing. Basically, it is watching a good neighborhood fall into neglect, disrespect and disrepair. AND, do know that it can happen very quickly where you least expect it. I work at the Lab in Livermore and Tracy is getting a BAD rap. Everyone says I live in the slums. That is public opinion, whether you like it or not. Public opinion influences purchases and prices in the area. If homeowners want to have value for their Tracy homes, it cannot be seen as other areas as a "slum".

THAT'S IS WHAT EXACTLY LOCAL ORDINANCES ARE FOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DUHHHHH!

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written by maybenotdumBcommenT , May 08, 2008

Geez, I live right down the street from you. Do you all take care of each other, watch out for each other, suspicious activity? We do and we have no problems. Got rid of the pot house and all.

You still didn't answer my question, did you read my forum I started back inn Feb, 2008?

OK, one more time. Ordinances we do have. The people to enforce them. we do not. Blame city council, not code enforcement. They work with what they got and darn hard.

And by the way, as far as Anna C. is concerned, she is a hard worker, and you have the uncooth to name names and not name yourself. If you know her so well you would know she is the backbone of many a places at city hall. You, my friend are so angry about something else it sounds like you are lashing out personally. What did you do, get caught doing something wrong?

Your knowledge of the ins and outs of CE is very poor. Read the above mentioned.

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written by CMS , May 08, 2008

Instead of attacking other's opinions, it'd be more productive to air concerns and suggestions to the ones who can actually make a difference - the elected officials. Whether it's for more staffing, stricter ordinances, or to vent the obvious, citizens of Tracy need to give direction to these officials.

While Mr Hardesty sounds to have a pretty good knowledge of local government, it has been my experience that getting citizens involved in volunteer cleanups of neighborhoods on a regular basis on their own is just not going to happen. Conversly, taxes do not have to go up just to fund additional staffing.

Some agencies self-fund to support their code enforcement programs. One way is utilizing fine/abatement monies from violating property owners. The City of Alameda is poised to reach $500K (!) in revenue-generation by July 1.

Some cities utilize volunteers spending a few hours per week performing 'simpler' code enforcement tasks to free up paid officers to address more serious issues/cases. These tasks include collecting illegal signs, tagging abandoned shopping carts for pickup, and calling in illegal dumpings. For their safety, they never issue citations or even warnings - that is strictly left to the code officer to handle.

The state senate just passed a bill (SB 1137) which gives cities more enforcement 'teeth' to go after lenders who allow foreclosed properties to degrade - fining up to $1000/per day.

I grew up in Tracy and loved it. Though Tracy has experienced it's share of 'growing pains', it is a wonderful community with huge potential. If all concerned citizens on this matter focused their frustration in the right direction, mountains could be moved - including the mountain of trash/junk/debris which was once an old house off Corral Hollow (to the rear of the mall) which can be seen by thousands of passing motorists on I-205 daily.

Celeste

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written by maybenotdumBcommenT , May 09, 2008

How about before you open you moth CMS, read what my forum says. I've done the extra 'dump your garbage' days. Me and my significant other were the only two to show up at a house a couple years back that was so stuffed with things, it was raining, we must have filled 4 large dumpsters. Don't lecture me on critisizm. Why do you think I started this campaign back in February. I knew the b*%@&#xin;g and moaning would start. I'm on your side believe it or not. I am campaigning for more code enforcement and the police dept. You may take it wrong. But when you are wrong, you are wrong and I point it out.

As I said, go to city council and start up something. I'm only one person. To see everyone attacking one entity, as far as code eforcement or the police dept is unfair. If they get tht $$$$ to hire more, thats great. For the last ten years this dept has never changed with the times, as the city grew enforcement did not.

The bill is good, collecting and the paperwork is another, finding the owners is another thing. I hope it helps.

We all know the junk house across the mall. It is practically a landmark, on the ugly side. Put any type of fence up when asked to do so doesn't have to be a beauty unfortinately.

Go to Forum and under Anything and Everything is my forum called Ugly Advertising and Abandon Grocery Carts and some info in garage sale signs. I have done a lot od research on what is happening here and posted it there. I am in the thick of it and if I sound frustrated it is because of people not properly informing themselves.

City of Tracy web site also has the municiple code so you can look for your self like I did.

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written by dj , May 09, 2008

We have a municiple code that is POORLY enforced!
Two code officers to service 82,000 people. Come On!

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written by maybenotdumBcommenT , May 09, 2008

The codes are not poorly enforced. There are only two code enforcement officers for all of Tracy, 82, 85 thousand and going up. That is my point. They do as best of job they can with the limits that are put on their time. We need more C E O's. Who has the power to get Tracy more of them?

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written by ccl , May 09, 2008

I have nothing against our local code enforcement people. The woman I talked to on the phone in code enforcement was frustrated herself. SHE'S the one who told me that we need to go to city council to get tougher codes passed. There is no code on the books about a single family residence having multiple families living there.. code enforcement TOLD me that. Only the Federal laws regarding health and safety. Also, there is no local code for one residence having too many vehicles. As long as the vehicles are legally parked and registered, you can fill up a court and prevent all your neighbors from having a parking spot. you just have to move the car every few days.

I do not blame the code enforcement division or the police department. I agree we do need more C E O's for a town of our size. But my point is that I believe we also need tougher codes passed.

I did actually talk to a city council member about this- Evelyn Tolbert. She told me that tough codes were difficult to pass because of personal-rights legal issues. However, I know they DO exist in other American towns. One example is a city in Florida, which I cannot recall the name at present, that only allows 3 or 4 cars to be in view from so many feet away, at each residence, at any point in time. That includes the driveway as well. That sounds really tough, but it has majorly cleaned up the town. People have to use their garages for cars (what a novel idea!) My point is that such ordinances DO exist in the country, and are perfectly legal.

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written by maybenotdumBcommenT , May 09, 2008

Yes we need tougher codes but Evelyn is right. I have talked to her many times about this and we don't want to infringe to much on peoples rights and private property. It seems a catch 22.