Northwest Indiana Discussion

The process to demo a derelict house is lengthy and expensive. The city has to document that the property presents a public safety hazard. Once that happens,
a judge has to approve a court order to enter the home and assess how much it will cost to repair the property. If the repairs exceed 50% of the appraised value of the property,then the demo process moves forward. At every step of the process, the property owners can contest the findings or have their attorneys
ask for continuances.There are several attorneys who specialize in representing owners of derelict properties. Their names appear in the minutes for the BOPW hearings every month. They are probably friends of JCMT, which is why he will never print their names on the boards.However, other posters who actually care about Hammond may choose to publicize the names of these attorneys, who are on the same level as ambulance chasers. Frequently, once the property is put out for bid to demolish, "new" owners appear out of nowhere, claiming they just bought the house and didn't know it was on the demo list. In the meantime, people like Mary Ellen who are honest and pay their taxes have to live next to these dumps.[/b]

Expensive, as the one specific attorney handles these cases and is paid by the hour.

As to concerns regarding public safety.... absolutely a concern, shame the McDermott administration didn't find this golden egg earlier.... more on that later.

Spickles speaking on someone else's legal representation , I guess due process is only afforded to spickles, let's say as in a bankruptcy.

As to people like tiger living next to these dumps, tiger can do only so much in keeping her neighborhood safe, and clean. It is the city's responsibility to assure both of those challenges occur and obviously they are failing in this responsibility.

It is very time consuming to demolish private property.Most of the time the demo process starts in motion because of excessive police calls or complaints from neighbors. Research has to be done to find out who the legal owners are. Code enforcement inspects the exterior of the property, looking for signs of illegal apartments and safety hazards . If the owners refuse code enforcement entry to inspect the inside of the property, a judge must issue an order to inspect once CE has documented why an inspection is needed. That is just the start of the process. Owners can use their attorneys to delay the process for months or years, collecting rent the entire time. Frequently, the owners aren't paying their taxes, so the city must spend tax dollars that could be better spent elsewhere going after deadbeat landlords. When hearing about the properties occur, neighbors have the legal right to testify about the impact those derelict properties have on them. Feel free to attend one, Lefty. I'll be there

Well, if that word is true, Spickles may be the new Chief Electrical Inspector in Hammond, then it explains Spickle's re appearance here. Congratulations Spickles, you are now in a real pickle!

Then maybe Spickles can look into some of the quality of work done by some of the contractors hired by Hammond's Redevelopment Commission. See, the Redevelopment Commission hired "approved contractors" to work on specific homes purchased by HDC.

In fact some of the contractors requested additional payment on some of these projects, some of these payments exceeded 25% of the contract bid, the additional spending request, which were approved, not by the Redevelopment Commission as required by Indiana Statute, but by one of McDermott's appointments in the Redevelopment Commission. This was part of a HUD Inspector General Finding, which resulted in Hammond losing Federal Funding.

BTW, Spickles, the following pictures are of work done on a couple of Hammond's abandoned properties, purchased by HRD and rehabbed by favored contractors. Neary $70k was spent on this one. I am sure someone had to inspect their work and sign off on it...

Spickles would this be safe for a family to move into? Or was the intent, never to really see a family in this, but to have have someone make some gravy on HUD funding?

Shouldn't Hammond be going after the contractors to recoup some of cost?
Shouldn't the preferred contractors be barred from doing business in Hammond?

Mr. Mayor? Ms. Kantar?

Hmmmm.



Now in this picture, the electrician I consulted said it appears the wires should have been enclosed in conduit/or spring green metal sheathing and a gang box anchored for the fixture.


According to the electrician I consulted, the electrical tape securing the wiring to the 2x4 is illegal, along with the metal cable not having a gang box on the end of it.


According to the electrician I consulted, In this picture, I just love the electrical tape securing wiring... and the metal cable should have gone into a gang box.


What the electrician said, what is unique about this picture, is the pigtails are connected to old knob and tube wiring, which should have been replaced in the remodeling project.

Opps!

I guess I am going to get another visit by code enforcement. Bad JCMT, Bad JCMT!



43107

Several contractors have recently lost their licenses to work in the city of Hammond. I wonder if your buddy is one of them?

Sorry Chuck I am calling Boll Sh!t on this one.

Now this is a picture of a Hammond Re Development Commission rehabbed building's crawl space...hmmmm?

This is what Tom McDermott has rehabbed, using federal tax dollars, and then expects a family to move into this.

College Bound as an incentive?

No wonder under McDermott's leadership, Hammond is losing population.

Seems like the only ones making out on this are the $90,000 a year consultants who get $30,000 in expenses each year.