On February 4, 2004, the Richmond City Attorney”s office won a Contra Costa Superior Court judgment in favor of the City for $601,000 plus $25,000 in attorney”s fees against a Florida Avenue property owner for illegal storing of “vehicles, cars, motorcycles, trucks, boats, trailers, trash, cast off materials, garbage and other objects.” The court also ordered that the City, after cleaning up the property, could sell it to recover costs, with any balance to be split between Code Enforcement and the City”s General Fund.

The City”s Code Enforcement officers had been seeking a clean up of the lot since June of 2002, but the owner had remained unresponsive. In September of 2003, a fire partially destroyed a building on the property, which is surrounded by homes, and exacerbated the blight.

This victory is indicative of Richmond”s new “get tough on blight” program that has been on a roll since the code enforcement effort was consolidated and reorganized last year and assigned to the Police Department. Under the leadership of Chief Charles Bennett and Sgt. Ron Berry, the code enforcement team has new procedures, new equipment and high morale that have made it both efficient and effective. Acting City Attorney Wayne Nishioka has also provided the necessary legal support to make the program work.

The effort to regroup code enforcement started with the City Council Public Services and Public Safety Committee in 2002. After several hearings by the committee, it became clear that the code enforcement effort was ill-equipped, under-funded, fragmented, intimidated by recalcitrant property owners and demoralized. Moving it to the Police Department provided both authority and safety for code enforcement officers. The City Council amended several existing ordinances to provide for cost-recovery, making code enforcement not only self-supporting, but also a revenue generator. A new administrative citation ordinance was also adopted by the City Council to provide the same type of fines against violators that are used for parking or traffic violations, thus accelerating the prosecution time compared to the former procedures that often required lengthy administrative procedures.

The code enforcement and abatement effort not only improves the appearance of Richmond, reduces crime (the “broken window” syndrome) and stabilizes property values, it also provides significant revenue. In another recent court victory, the city won a $70,000 judgment against a violator, and the Planning Department, which had logged less than $10,000 of costs in the matter, tried the intercept the check and get the bulk of it into Planning Department coffers before Code Enforcement and the City Attorney”s Office got their share. Such revenue has become a much sought-after prize in the current budget crunch.

3221 Florida Avenue, Richmond, CA