In 2003, the City of Richmond rolled out what was supposed to be a new effort to effectively enforce codes and abate nuisances in the City. A new page on the City’s website was introduced, and City Council members were invited to participate in a high profile play to the media with a day long “Blight to Bloom” extravaganza. See

http://www.ci.richmond.ca.us/Public/enforcement/. 

Well, like many good ideas, the splash has turned out to more show than substance. Dora Perdue/Stivers, Richmond Community Service Abatement Section, whose office can be reached at 510/965-1543, is making a Herculean effort to stay on top of abatement requests, but the effort has been severely challenged by having the abatement crew cut from 30 employees to 8 employees who work only 6 hour days.  After 1:30 PM, there is a crew of a crew of 4 to cover the entire city. She is taking the brunt of civic mismanagement by receiving numerous abusive, foul-language phone calls from citizens who feel the trash they reported should have been picked up. Her frustration is understandably high. 

This makes no sense because all abatement costs are eventually recovered through liens on real property, which is the best security available. If the administration of the City of Richmond really wanted to run an effective code enforcement and abatement effort, a way would be found to have cleanup costs fronted by financial institutions and secured by real property liens. The cost of interest would be added to the abatement cost when then fees are eventually paid. 

The Richmond Redevelopment Agency (RRA) is spending millions trying to attract businesses and residents to our City. One of the best ways to do this is to make Richmond clean and attractive. Several weeks ago, the RRA pledged to transfer $600,000 to code enforcement to pay for equipment and technology to make the code enforcement and abatement effort more effective. Tools would include not only trucks and loaders but also portable computers with GIS and GPS capability and a wireless connection to the City’s SAP system to write administrative citations and clean-up orders on-site. Currently, it’s all being done by hand. But somehow, the $600,000 disappeared into what City employees have come to refer to cynically as the “black hole.”