Property of the Month (Part 2): "No Records On File"

Following up on my March 2nd article, titled Property of the Month, here is the latest to share with what Code Enforcement has been doing recently about that disgrace known as 210-212 State Street.  In short, it appears, NOTHING.

I FOILed for any and all correspondences to and from the property owner and Code Enforcement Office, as well as any code violations on the buildings, for 2022 and 2023.  Here is the response I got from the Code Office (CEO):  "no records on file regarding this request."  In other words, in the past 15 months, CEO has not reached out to the property owner, and the property owner has not reached out to CEO.  It also seems that CEO has not found any additional code violations in that time.  One wonders if CEO has even visited the site in the past15 months.

The barely readable notice on one of the front doors of the property once read ORDER TO VACATE, then DANGEROUS AND UNSAFE BUILDING.  All property owners whose properties have been issued an Order To Vacate (OTV), get sent a letter from CEO called an Order To Remedy (OTR), which is designed to get the violations remedied and return the building to habitable condition.  This effort at 210-212 State, made years ago by CEO (when, exactly, I don't know), seems like a big joke now.  The houses (being one property) continue to decay and be a danger to the neighborhood, as well as a huge eyesore, and CEO does nothing.  CEO hasn't sent the owner one letter in the past 15 months about their Dangerous and Unsafe house.

425 Columbia Street

The house at 425 Columbia Street is another vacant eyesore that warrants scrutiny.  I FOILed for all documents from CEO for the years 2021, 2022 and 2023.  All I received in response was a copy of the OTV notice and the OTR letter, both dated January of 2021.  Here is the text from the OTR letter, laying out the issues CEO found over 2 years ago:

27 months ago, CEO found this house to be in Dangerous and Unsafe condition, "uninhabitable due to multiple property maintenance issues."  Since then, it appears, Craig Haigh has not sent the owner one letter to remedy the unacceptable situation.  There is no CEO OTV notice anywhere to be seen on the property, but there is a flyer hanging on the door knob of the inside door to VOTE FOR ROB BUJAN at the upcoming 2019 Hudson mayoral election.  Soon, just as it has the past few years, the house walls will be covered in climbing weeds. 

  

425 Columbia is owned by someone named Randy Hunt, under the business name Four Two Five LLC, at 24 Fifth Avenue in New York City.  No one is ever working on his house.  It sits, and it rots, and there is no consequence for the owner.  It appears that no one at CEO is compelling Randy Hunt to do anything about his Dangerous and Unsafe house.  Or maybe CEO doesn't feel the need to compel Mr. Hunt to do anything.  Perhaps CEO has just given up on this house, too.

There are many other houses such as this in Hudson, seemingly ignored by CEO, and I will be featuring some of those soon.  Why?  Because this simply shouldn't be happening. 

Have you seen or read about the recent horrible fire at a plastics recycling plant in Richmond, Indiana that has displaced thousands of residents?  I couldn't help but be struck by the similarities to our situation in Hudson.  The Richmond Fire Chief said this about the enormous fire: "We knew it wasn't a matter of if, it was a matter of when this was going to happen."  In 2020, the recycling plant properties were found by the City of Richmond to "constitute a fire hazard; are a hazard to public health; constitute a nuisance; and are dangerous to people or property because of violations of statute and City Ordinance concerning condition and building maintenance."  The city, and, it turns out, many Richmond residents, saw all the warning signs, but either couldn't do anything or just failed to do anything about preventing the blaze.