minutes-10-17-12

Oakwatch: The Oakland Code Enforcement Project Meeting Agenda October 17th, 2012 Mission: Oakwatch: The Oakland Code Enforcement Project seeks to improve the quality of life for residents, employees and visitors by enforcing codes on negligent property owners, housing violations, parking violations, disruptive behavior, excessive noise and underage drinking in the Oakland neighborhood.

I.

Introductions; Brief new members (5 minutes) a. Liz Style announced that the City is getting out from under Act 47, debt has been reduced, and we are on better financial footing. Still receiving some guidance and oversight;, she will keep us posted. b. OPDC staff reminded group about upcoming Oakland 2025 Release Party c. Wanda Wilson briefed group on West Oakland Portal Project proposed between Forbes and 5th at Blvd of Allies. There was a public meeting about the project, which includes three office buildings that would include hotel, retail and public open spaces. Issues around traffic and parking to be discussed at future meeting. OPDC will be receiving more detail about traffic circulation at Fifth and Robinson. d. The owner of the building at Zulema and Coltart is proposing to add onto his building and the community is opposing it at ZBA tomorrow at 10am. OPDC has retained an attorney to work on the case. e. Development is in the works for higher-end condos in the former St. Hyacinth school in Oakcliffe next to the old Cadillac dealership. Potential issues include parking and noise of HVAC systems, how landscaping will work. OPDC is coordinating community process with Oakcliffe Housing Club, planning commission meeting on Oct. 30th at 2pm at 200 Ross Street. f. CVS development in North Oakland will go before planning commission on Oct 30th at 2pm. g. Liz Style announced there is a city-wide public safety meeting this evening at Market House in South Side on 12th street off Carson. Meeting starts at 6pm, feature speaker is from Center for Victims, police will be there to answer questions along with City dept. heads. h. Pittsburgh Promise now has over 3,000 students who’ve received Promise funds.

The graduation rate is now at 71% and coincidentally, the organization is at 71% of its funding goal. Real estate agents are putting Pgh Promise signs in their yards to further attract investment in city houses. i. Liz Gray announced that Pgh Today announced that there is an increase of retention of college graduates in city of Pgh. j. Tara announced OPDC’s new Frazier West housing development project. Homes are now for sale and under construction.

II.

Pittsburgh and University of Pittsburgh Police partnership detail (John Wilds, 5 minutes) a. Pitt Police and City of Pgh Police work together in many ways. Oakland cars now do an overtime detail (called an “impact detail”—is currently funded through a grant—

they are unsure what will happen when grant funds are exhausted) every Thursday, Friday, Saturday night. A number of cars are dedicated to Oakland depending on demand in other precincts, usually between 2-3 cars. They stay in Oakland only and work hand in hand with Pitt Police. Officer White stated that there have been multiple arrests both physical and non physical each night that they’ve done this, so far. Nonphysical arrests result in a summons—the offender doesn’t go to jail that night. In the case of a physical arrest, which happens in cases like if person refuses to ID themselves, if arrestee is being deceptive, the offender goes to jail that night.

Cars cover all four sections of Oakland. CMU Police have an initiative for Beeler Street. b. Pitt Police will soon have increased jurisdiction pending the DA’s recommendation for UPMC. c. Geof asked how vulnerable “impact detail” is to the perception that peak demand is not enough. He emphasized need for residents to continue calling 911 to continue “driving the statistics” to keep “impact detail” going—keep calling 911, remind your neighbors. d. Geof asked what coordination there is with Carlow and if Point Park has a police force that leaves campus, Officer White said no. Point Park’s mandate (per Liz Gray) includes Playhouse. Officer White does not know if Point Park police has a car or not. Officer White thinks involving the Judicial Board from Point Park could be more effective if Point Park is limited by jurisdiction. Officer White stressed that Point Park Police is a new department that is still experiencing “growing pains.”

III.

Magnet Distribution, Evaluation forms: (Tara Sherry-Torres, 5 minutes) a. Tara reviewed statistics from the magnet blitz/good neighbor program and requested community members fill out evaluations, and submit feedback.

IV.

Oakland Property Progress Report (City of Pgh, 20 minutes) a. 29 Lawn street—per Officer White: significant drugs bust earlier this year, placed on Disruptive Properties list. Oakwatch coordinating with Disruptive Properties to see if property has shown up on their end yet. Regarding building violations: they’ve now secured building permits. Ricciardi threatened fines of $100k. Work being done is subpar. b. 301 Coltart—per Officer White: multiple party complaints, placed on Disruptive Parties properties list. Oakwatch coordinating with Disruptive Properties to see if property has shown up on their end yet. c. 3101 Niagara—received continuance from Judge Gallo at appeal. d. 3109 Forbes—fined $600,000 by Judge Ricciardi. We will await news on appeal. Dan Gilman recommended letter from OPDC to solicitor Reegan showing how they’re dragging their feet. Susan ZBA is expecting call. Email to solicitor reegan that we don’t want continuance. e. 3732-3738 Dawson Street: BBI never received engineer’s report due by 9/30 which we need to use when testifying in court. Next hearing is November 29th. f. 53 Lawn Street—owner is in talks with OPDC, coming into town to abate problems.

g. 253 North Dithridge—BBI hasn’t been able to get in. ACHD went in back to take pictures and knocked on door, tenants said they told landlord. ACHD is coordinating with BBI on inspection date. h. West Oakland traffic—Public Works installed signs on top and bottom of street. VA Police said they would step up efforts, residents said it has quieted down a bit. Liz Style confirmed she spoke with VA who said they made contractors aware.

Residents’ consensus is to keep it on list for one more month. i. 100 Oakland ave—Pitt has also sent letters regarding this property. Problems continue. j. 3421 Parkview—Solic filed appeal this past week. No work done on house. k. 2852 Blvd of Allies—Per BBI, has done some cleaning, but his old permit allows him to use lot for storage. Liz Gray has been documenting storage of dirt and broken equipment. BBI says only option is to appeal permit to ZBA. l. Maria announced Zone 4 has turned in a number of new DR properties for Oakland because of alcohol related issues.

V.

Add, Reposition, and Remove properties (Blair Kossis, 10 minutes) a. Oakcliffe residents mentioned suspicions about the building on the corner of Hamlet and Lawn. Property has broken windows and black bags hanging. Officer White will drive by to take a look.

VI.

Chief of Staff, Office of Councilman William Peduto: Explanation of the over occupancy legislation, guidelines to report offence, and how to build a case (Daniel Gilman, 40 minutes) a. Dan gave history and background on two successful cases in past. Two high profile cases were: Centre Ave house next to Pgh Parking lot—Judge Ricciardi fined her $750k, she cleaned up property, had full inspections, evicted all tenants, and house is now under sale agreement to be razed for new development. The original complaints came in thru BACA and Peduto’s office visited site and had Zone 4 police accompaniment. Perfect example of partnership: Pgh Police were involved in behavior issues, Peduto’s office waited there for BBI inspectors and Bill Klimovich, CJ Liss from City Law dept. prepared case. He emphasized to always get your council office, BBI, Envir. Services and City Law dept involved as well as the press. This sends a message to other landlords. b. Another big case in Squirrel Hill on Beeler and Wilkins surrounding CMU. Keith Bailey, a landlord from California owned five properties on block, all were overoccupied, no major police or building issues, but over-occupancy was the major issue. Complaints came through the Beeler Street community group—they took pictures of mailboxes, took pictures of number of mailboxes, encouraged residents to watch properties, noting what cars with what license plates were coming and going. CMU was involved, student life staff visited homes to help students with moving arrangements. USPS workers said they wouldn’t deliver mail unless names were on mailbox. They subpoenaed postal workers to testify. Police arrested student at one of the sites on Carnival weekend which further showed message to judge. They testified all of this to Judge McGough as evidence. They won, and the owner was fined $12k; he appealed to Judge Gallo and lost, and is now going to the

c.

d.

e.

f. g.

Commonwealth Court. His properties are now for sale and the Post Gazette is running story on this case soon.

Dan emphasized that the City can’t do these things alone—they need witnesses and resident help. Write observations down to testify in court. When done together, these cases are successful. These are two of the biggest victories in city history on over-occupancy. Postal workers can testify on who they deliver mail to and how frequently. Abundance of circumstantial evidence has been effective. The City Law dept. now has relationship with postal supervisors. For example, Sean Clemmons at Post Office helped solve string of burglaries. Build positive relationships with postal workers. Cases would not have been won if neighbors wouldn’t have come to court.

Blair asked about first step in identifying and reporting case. Step one is calling 311 and calling counsel office. Ask them to come out and walk street with you. Dan visits 95% of calls that come into office unless it’s an issue like a pothole, encourages residents to keep their counsel offices accountable. Maintain paper trail—save emails and photos.

Wanda talked about focus on R1-zoned neighborhoods in South and West Oakland as focus and encouraged Oakwatch coordination. Blair added to communicate with tenants themselves—reminder that more than 3 unrelated people in one unit. Dan said one house he knocked on door with BBI inspector, student wouldn’t let them in but did answer about how many tenants were living there and Dan and BBI documented this for testimony.

Resident asked about anonymity. Gilman said counsel protect anonymity. He sends in lots of 311 complaints on behalf of residents.

Hanson asked about Health Dept coordination. ACHD needs complaint from tenant to be most successful. Also protects anonymity.

VII.

Community Announcements & Events (Rebekkah Ranallo, 5 minutes)

VIII.

Next meeting- December 5, 6:00 pm, Oakland Career Center, 294 Semple St use Louisa Street entrance

IX.

Meeting Adjournment

Remember to keep flooding 311 with calls about the nuisance properties in your neighborhood, and let Oakwatch know when you do! You can submit reports to our email account at oakwatch@opdc.org or call us at 412.621.7863 ext. 27. Thanks for keeping us in the loop!