Delridge-area problem properties: A call for “quick demolition”

| Delridge | Safety | West Seattle housing | West Seattle news

We reported Thursday about a stirring of hope that some high-level city attention may finally be given to a problem that’s been plaguing the Delridge area in its redevelopment throes: Even as some of Delridge’s old homes make way for new construction – particularly townhouses – some houses sit abandoned for years, and become magnets for trouble — like the one above, which sits prominently over the northbound Delridge approach to The Bridge. While, as we reported last night, the city says it was cleared and “secured” a few weeks ago, the proprietor of nearby Skylark Club and Cafe (WSB sponsor) pointed out in a new e-mail discussion (including city councilmember Sally Clark, who promised to come tour the area) that it was also reportedly “secured” last year, too (after a small fire we reported here, attributed to transients). And North Delridge Neighborhood Council co-chair Mike Dady says he would like to see this lead to changes that can help areas beyond Delridge, too:

My hope is that we will see Council Member Clark and Diane Sugimura follow through and visit Delridge within the next couple weeks. But my greater hope is that we don’t just have a band-aid or quick-fix put on wound that is affecting not just Delridge, but many other parts of the city. These are properties that are in the hands of absentee property owners, speculators or developers who allow them to sit vacant, completely unattended or monitored, and looking like, well…..looking like a pile of you-know-what and attracting problems that are in some cases beyond the imagination.

It seems to me that the City Council and the Mayor’s Office needs to revise the Seattle Municipal Code to allow quick demolition and removal of problem prone structures as it is nearly impossible to keep trespassers out of vacant building, even if it is boarded up with plywood, lumber and lag bolts. Allowing houses without water service turned on and functional plumbing to become de facto shelters for transient or homeless people is not an acceptable solution to that very separate and difficult issue.

To allow these dilapidated properties to remain as is, for many, many years in some cases, creates a public safety problem, wastes citizen energy and is a drain on DPD, SPD, SFD and KC Public Health budgets and staff time.

Sincerely,
Mike Dady
North Delridge Neighborhood Council Co-Chair

It’s not just the vacant houses that he’s concerned about, but also the occupied ones that are literally trashed outdoors – like this junk pile spotted recently behind a multiplex in the 4800 block of Delridge (map):

The discussed city-involved tour of Delridge hasn’t been scheduled yet, to our knowledge, but we will continue to follow up. You can also bet this will be on the next NDNC agenda – the council meets the first Wednesday of each month, so that’s 6:30 pm April 1st, Delridge Library.

SATURDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE: A date for the tour is now set for early April, according to Mike Dady, and at least one citywide media outlet may be along, after reading about it here.

Tony March 21, 2009 (7:51 am)

Didn’t Rudy Guliani’s plan of fixing broken windows, removing the porn shops,grafitti & garbage in NYC to reduce crime, seem to work out pretty good? I wonder if thatmight work here in Seattle? Hmmmmmm……..

concernedneighbor March 21, 2009 (10:36 am)

I wish the city would also take in to consideration how to prevent illegal dumpings which is quite rampant in nearby neighborhoods off Delridge.

mike March 21, 2009 (10:54 am)

Depends on the type of crime you’re talking about. The kind that destroys economies… no, but it might have a little impact on a few drug addicts and bored kids breaking into cars.

vincent March 21, 2009 (11:48 am)

This is a interesting attempt to regulate behavior, so now its the responsibility of the person who owns a distressed property to keep criminals out of it at the threat of demolition? Seems like saying if your car gets broken into it gets impounded.

If your house gets broken into I can knock it down? Cause it obviously attracts crime. People need to think before they ask the government to fix everything for them. If you have enough time to go take pictures of other peoples trash, you can offer to help them get rid of it. Its called a community. I know its scary because they might be dark, foreign or poor, but starting with talking about it is a lot friendlier than trying to get a law passed that punishes them because you don’t like how their yard looks.

Dave March 21, 2009 (12:23 pm)

Right on vincent! Live and let live and lend a helping hand instead of a cursing eye

p March 21, 2009 (12:46 pm)

They way I understand DPD, you cannot just tear down a building without proper plans in place for the space. I know that there are some more specifics to this, maybe someone can ask DPD or Sally Clark for further clairification. I learned this because of a business we own in the U district and there is the same problem up there with a few known properties. We attended a neighborhood meeting where a SPD officer explained how he has to police the abandonded buildings.

Mike Dady March 21, 2009 (12:52 pm)

Hey vincent & Dave,

Come on out to the next North Delridge Adopt-A-Street and you can assist us in picking up litter and trash. Put words into action at 10:00am on April 25th at the Delridge Community Center.

When we are all done with the litter pick-up of Delridge Way, I’ll give you a tour of the vacant houses in question so you can get a better idea of what our community is dealing with and who the actual absentee owners/speculators/developers of these properties are. They are not from the cultures or economic class you perceive them to be from.

PSPS March 21, 2009 (1:11 pm)

That second picture of the trash cans looks like many houses on trash collection day. I don’t see the problem, unless the city isn’t doing its trash-collection job. It’s behind obviously new construction, too. If Mr. Dady is concerned that people are putting out trash for collection, he needs to find something constructive to do with his time. Its inclusion in WSB as an illustration of a “problem” is troubling too. What next? Stock photos?

WSB March 21, 2009 (2:05 pm)

Sorry, that wasn’t the best angle. Subbing out a different one. As for new construction, 2006, according to King County property records – TR

alki_2008 March 21, 2009 (2:31 pm)

The trash pic doesn’t bother me. Maybe the residents were doing some spring cleaning, or someone was moving out? What day (relative to trash pick-up) was this picture taken?
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The dilapidated house seems like a separate issue. Not sure how long the owner has had the house, but I’m sure the options to sell/rent the house evaporate when the freeway on-ramp is so close to your property. Does anyone know when that on-ramp was constructed? The house was purchased in 1989, so just curious if it was built before the on-ramp was there.

alki_2008 March 21, 2009 (2:32 pm)

Oops, I meant ‘purchased’ before the on-ramp was there. Sorry.

Mike D. March 21, 2009 (3:28 pm)

PSPS – The garbage pile is not from new construction as you suggest. It was also not being put out for garbage collection day. In fact, it had been in that state for at least a month, and more garbage arrived later that was piled on top of the existing heap and it then blew around in the windstorm(s) for the next few weeks. Can you not see the rat/public health issue here? Hell, maybe next time it happens I could load it up, haul it to your alley and give it the old heave-ho if you think it is such a non-issue. I dunno….

If the garbage stayed on the private property and didn’t impact anyone but the building occupants that would be one thing, but it doesn’t stay put. It piles up and then spills across the public dirt/gravel alley. The next thing you know it is attracting illegal dumping that includes tires, auto engines, mattresses, tee-vee’s, bags of trash, dirty diapers and everything else under the sun. You know what happens then? You and I get to pay for Seattle Public Utilities to send out a crew to pick up all the junk and haul it to the transfer station.

This particular property is a constant source of garbage that neighborhood citizen/volunteers pick up at nearly every one of our quarterly Delridge Way Adopt-A-Street actions. I have tried to encourage the tenants of the building to assist…..they shrug. A woman who lives nearby uses the alley as a route to All Star Fitness and is amazed at how quickly the alley gets trashed, yet she diligently shows up at nearly every Adopt-A-Street and cleans it up.

The owners of this apartment building are known downtown at the Department of Planning and Development as ‘Frequent Flyers’ due to all the housing and building code problems their many apartment buildings and rental homes have had over the years. Many people call them slumlords, not a term lightly tossed about I might add. Needless to say, these owners don’t live near their rental properties and seem to have no maintenance/management people on hand to look after their properties. They reside in a very quiet culdesac near The Highlands in North Seattle.

As most any crime prevention expert will tell you, and it is what I have been told over-and-over again in meetings with SPD, a good place to start for neighbors who give a shit about where they live is to work on the not so glamorous things like abandoned stolen cars, graffiti, illegal dumping, litter pick-ups, etc. It’s a good first step towards improving the public safety and quality of life in neglected neighborhoods.

The term tossed around is called Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design or CPTED:
http://www.sngi.org/cpted/ppt/page1.html

After seeing it put into place by caring neighbors here in North Delridge I can personally say that CPTED has achieved great results for our neighborhood.

WSB March 21, 2009 (6:21 pm)

Perhaps a coincidence, perhaps not – I went by this afternoon and the amount of junk behind that particular address is greatly reduced. But in addition to Mike’s documentation and photos, I had also checked it out recently myself before writing about it, and saw the same pile of junk … TR

WSB March 21, 2009 (6:22 pm)

Alki 2008, we reported in our previous story (linked within this one) that the house was built in the late ’20s.

hahnuts March 22, 2009 (8:10 am)

“so now its the responsibility of the person who owns a distressed property to keep criminals out of it at the threat of demolition?”

Actually it’s always been the responsibility of the property owner to maintain and protect their property. Just like if somebody slips and falls on ice in front of your house, YOU are responsible for keeping it clear of dangers and the person who fell can sue you and will win in court… why? Because it’s your responsibility as a property owner to maintain it according to LAW.

With the luxury of owning property comes responsibility. Can’t handle it, sell it.

Mike D. March 22, 2009 (9:46 am)

p – You are correct. A couple years ago Nickels and the City Council did put in place something that was called Clean-Up-Your-Act: http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/Enforcement/Clean_Up_Your_Act/Overview/

As I understand it, Clean-Up-Your-Act was only a change in the penalty or fines that could be applied to a property owner who was found to be in violation of the various Building and Land Use Codes. There was was no actual change made to the Codes themselves. This is the nut of the problem.

Gleaned from both first hand experience in dealing with this crap and from what I am hearing from people within the City itself, the Vacant Building Code is in need of revision by the City Council. Apparently the Vacant Building Code hasn’t been updated or revised since the mid 1990’s. It is time for some tweaking so we don’t have situations like what we are experiencing in North Delridge, or in other parts of the city like Ballard or the U-District, or this case in the Central District: http://www.centraldistrictnews.com/2008/11/11/lawless-vacant-property-shut-down-near-pratt-park

alki_2008 March 25, 2009 (5:31 pm)

Thanks TR – yeah, I found out the build date a bit later as well. I guess I was more wondering if the current owner of that house bought the house before the on-ramp was built. If so, then I could see how he might be having problems figuring out what to do with it…since I’d imagine few, if any, people want to live in a house located that close to the on-ramp. If he bought the house after the on-ramp was already there, then he just made a bad choice in buying that piece of property. location, location, location. ;)

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