Editorial: More teeth needed in Fresno code enforcement

A house fire Sunday that killed five people and injured a sixth has exposed the lack of teeth in Fresno’s code-enforcement regulations.

Not only was the boarded-up abandoned house near Cedar and McKinley avenues well known to code-enforcement officers, but the city had levied fines against its owners, Brian H. Rosene and Randy L. Cunningham of Denver, since 1996 without collecting a cent.

Those fines, reported The Bee’s Rory Appleton in a story Monday, totaled $19,521.

“It is an absolute tragedy,” Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin said the day after the fire. “It is something that was totally avoidable had the property owner complied with the city’s vacant building ordinance.”

The mayor’s statement raises an obvious question: What are the next steps to prevent similar tragedies in a city battling large numbers of homeless people and vacant buildings?

We ask because it is clear that the city’s tactics are ineffective against some negligent property owners.

The strategy behind the fines, which if unpaid become liens against the property, is that they must be paid before the house or building is sold. Rosene and Cunningham apparently weren’t interested in caring for the property in a responsible manner – or in selling it. Thus began the cat-and-mouse game at 1444 N. Archie Ave. of the city boarding up broken windows and squatters tearing them down to gain entry.

Anti-slum activists want the city to take criminal action against property owners who ignore code-enforcement citations and fail to pay fines.

In addition, last year when Fresno’s Code Enforcement Task Force was considering strategies, the activists suggested a “private attorney general” rule that would allow citizens – with City Hall approval of each specific case – to pursue criminal action against negligent property owners who routinely thumb their noses at citations and fines.

These avenues deserve further exploration, especially in light of the five deaths and the costs to taxpayers of fighting fires at abandoned properties. On Wednesday, fire engulfed an abandoned southwest Fresno home late in the night. It was the fourth working fire of the day for a busy Fresno Fire Department.

The Swearengin administration and the Fresno City Council have much on their plates these days: economic development, the reopening to vehicle traffic of the Fulton Mall, a plan with local school districts to share green space and this long-pursued effort to make slumlords clean up their acts.

In light of the five deaths at 1444 N. Archie, and the Summerset Village Apartments crisis, in which many hundreds of residents were without heat and hot water for about a month because of unsafe conditions, finding better ways to hold property owners accountable must be a priority.

We know that this is a complicated issue – one fraught with consequences that include higher rents and the likelihood that some renters might end up on the streets. But the blight and the deadly dangers created by irresponsible property owners must be confronted and overcome.

This story was originally published December 17, 2015 at 9:00 AM with the headline "Editorial: More teeth needed in Fresno code enforcement."