Enforcing city codes takes a balancing act

In recent weeks, there have been a growing number of complaints from residents who received code violation tickets.
Some have argued that they should have first been issued a warning instead of getting a ticket and being fined. City officials insist that people do, indeed, get warnings first and then ticketed if they don’t comply.
The city has once again come down heavy on code enforcement.
And we’ve seen this before. People complain about how shabby some homes and yards look, and demand the city to crack down, and then when the city does, complaints flood in.
And, at some point, the city backs down, and then, it’s a matter of rinse and repeat: Crack down, and then back off and go easy. The game always plays out the same.
In all these years, we’ve wondered why the city can’t find a sweet spot in enforcement: neither heavy-handed, nor lenient.
That magic formula continues to elude one administration after another.
Everyone wants a neat and tidy neighborhood, but certainly there is a happy medium the city can reach.
Posted April 5, 2024