The Observation Deck

For a while I thought to myself "oh, how nice it is to have dedicated people working for the City of Lakewood" but now I completely understand the frustration that MANY residents have had with the City of Lakewood for years.

We've owned our home for 5 years now and we never had a problem with inspectors, they come and go, no big deal.

But we received a letter in the mail not too long ago saying that upon inspection, our sidewalk is a tripping hazard, it's defective, it's got a bad grade and now it has holes in it, so we have to fix it so that "this repair only improves the quality of life for all the residents here in the 'City of Homes'".

Here's what makes me frustrated. The part that they marked off is right at the end of the driveway. The curb is chipping off because the city had to dig 10 foot holes twice (or maybe three times?) since we've lived in our home right in front of our tree lawn and on the tree lawn itself, damaging the very spots that are "defective, bad grade, etc.". On top of digging up the tree lawn and street, they re-paved the street last summer which lowered the level of the street. Our driveway isn't that old, I'm assuming that the one previous owner (who built the home in 1953) re-did the driveway. Again, nothing has changed since we moved here, so where did all of these "infractions" come from?

Our taxes are already high, we can barely keep our home, and now we have to pick up the tab on the mess that the city workers created themselves?

And I should add that this is not the first time City Hall has tried to pin things on us (the home owners).

Two summers ago, we had a hole that had an opening as wide as a softball and went a few feet deep in the tree lawn right along the curb. Apparently a garbage collector claimed that he saw a rat that was "bigger than a cat" run down the hole.

So even though the hole was on the tree lawn, where it's city property, we still had to "maintain" it meaning we had to pick up the tab on city workers coming out to set traps and exterminators putting poison everywhere. But nothing happened, no 40 pound rat or any animal.

That following spring (this spring) we had heavy rains which flooded three houses. City workers came out and started digging their 10 foot trench in the tree lawn and the street in front of our home. Turns out that the "rat hole" was actually the cause of a clogged and rotting water pipe which made the soil wet and erode. (but still, no signs of that darn monster rat).

They dug up the tree lawn and part of the driveway and then just patched up the street, not the end of our driveway which they destroyed.

So what I don't understand is why does City Hall like to pin all of the mess that their sloppy workers make on the poor homeowners who are still sticking around and hoping things do turn around?

By the way, City Hall, here is that rat that you were looking for.

That does indeed seem unfair, Ivor. Good luck finding that magical place where bureaucrats are not petty. When you find it, drop us all a line, would you?

Brian,

Thanks for the wishes.

After reading the post over, I realized that it sounded a bit too negative.

I guess it's just a number of things that have been disappointing me lately. My biggest concern is when and where does this all end?

The people of Lakewood are wonderful people, and yes, they make Lakewood ...Lakewood. But my second concern is shouldn't City Hall and the residents be on the same page?

Lack of public comment = lack of public interest. How can City officials be aware of what is on the residents minds when they take our chances away and limit our voices?

You can argue that they take away or limit public comment for the sake of "damage control" or hushing the negative vibes and thoughts, and comments (like mine above). That can be true. But City Hall continues to bring that upon itself. Again, where does this hiding and nit-picking end and when does healing, positive progression and getting results begin?

I can picture members of council sitting in their chairs with their fingers crossed and thinking to themselves "oh, lets hope we picked a good comment today" before they open the floor for concerned residents.

There are many ways to resolve my issue, and I can only plead my case. But what can the City do to resolve the things on its plate?

It's all worth pondering over.

find out which members of city hall are most responsible. Then throw eggs at their houses. at night. when it is dark. It is the best thing to do. never mind. Eggs are up to 2 or 3 dollars a dozen. don't waste food!

Your only legal recourse is to thumb your nose in their general direction.

Hiring a lawyer would cost more than buying a few sacks of concrete at the hardware store.

I guess I'm naive about these things, but since when is sidewalk repair the homeowner's responsibility? What length of sidewalk is assigned to each homeowner? Just the driveway? 5 feet on each side? 10?

Brad,

from the Diagram that we were given it looks like everything from the beginning of the driveway to the beginning of the neighbors driveway/the end of your yard.

Brad Hutchison wrote:I guess I'm naive about these things, but since when is sidewalk repair the homeowner's responsibility? What length of sidewalk is assigned to each homeowner? Just the driveway? 5 feet on each side? 10?

The sidewalk and treelawn have always been the homeowner's responsibility.

Ivor,

I feel ya.

Two years ago when they had the city inspector making "recommendations" on necessary home repairs, someone marked our sidewalks for needed repairs. I walked out to talk to the person looking at the sidewalks and asked what was going on. He said that we needed to fix certain parts of our sidewalk and my neighbors as well, because they were a hazard.

I looked at the decrepid road (Bunts) and then my slightly raised sidewalk slab section and said "Um, you first" and walked away.

I received a call from one of the inspectors a little while ago.

I explained the situation to him and he said he's going to come out and check it again.

He marked "routine check up" as the reason he wrote us up, and I asked him exactly what is "routine". Check it every spring? Every 3 years? 5? 10? Nah, when a street is repaved that's the only time they check sidewalks unless someone complains.

The sidewalk isn't really the issue, it's the apron of the driveway. That should be the city's responsibility because they had to remove the part that we fixed when repaving our street.

And when I told the inspector the story of the "rat hole" he explained that we never should have paid for the exterminators, that should have been on the city's tab. Same situation, just a different circumstance this time around.

Colleen,

What ended up happening with your sidewalk?

I think they are still waiting to go "first".

Ivor Karabatkovic wrote: By the way, City Hall, here is that rat that you were looking for.

It is impossible to catch Master Splinter!

I have a slightly different take on this.

What if everyone just ignored the building codes?

How long would we last?

I think we need to be stricter on the enforcement of our codes, from side walks to house painting to tall grass.

I know that when I was running for city council 2.5 years ago I intentionally left one side of my house stripped and I never got cited for it and it was like it until the next spring when I had the whole house painted.

I have been in the middle of getting my basement waterproofed and I had a ping pong table on my front porch for the last 2.5 months or so and I have not received a call on that either.

I know my neighbors don't want to be the ones to turn me in, but we need to be willing to have these conversations. We also need to have a building department with the resources to find the problems before they get out of hand. (Maybe I will add a couch and a working TV once the weather breaks)

Our homes are the focal point of the city to many perspective home buyers and no one wants to live in a neighborhood with lots of deteriorating homes.

Unfortunately in a bad economy people cant afford to invest as much but we need to do our best and look for alternative options.

We need to work together and hold each other accountable to keep this city beautiful.

We shouldn't need the city to get on our backs to keep up to code, but it seems like some need it.

When my car falls into the sink hole at the end of my driveway, I hope the city will be quick to issue me a parking ticket.

I am sure they will tow you within the hour, then make you drive 20 minutes out of the city to get it.