Friends of Millville

Dale Finch was elected to city commission in spring of this year. He ran on a platform of increased vigilance and diligence in the code enforcement departments. He has not only kept his promise, but attacked the problems and addressed the concerns with an unexpected enthusiasm.

The Daily Journal this morning ran an editorial lauding his success.

Rundown properties lead to more rundown properties. That’s why it’s encouraging to see Millville City Commissioner Dale Finch follow through on has campaign promise earlier this year to crack down on code enforcement in the city.

The new focus on code enforcement seems like it’s being handled in a reasonable way. When city inspectors find code violations, they give the owner a certain amount of time to correct the problems. The infractions could be cosmetic — trash on the property — or could be more serious problems like unsafe structures.

We have advocated stronger code enforcement for years, and we are happy to support Dale. There have been code enforcement sweeps in prior years, but none of them had ever been effectual. Why? There was never any follow-up. After the initial sweep of summonses, the sweep ended whether or not the home owners followed through.

Dale Finch has taken this on as his own personal mission. He not only joined “Little Dottie” Wilkerson on her weekly Center City Neighborhood walks, he made every code enforcement official walk the same streets. He shook up the way the departments did business, requiring accountability and follow-up.

We at Friends of Millville are confident that with Dale at the lead, we will continue to see great strides and improvement in our neighborhoods.

There was a nice article in the Daily Journal this morning regarding the City of Millville cracking down on code infractions in the city.

Public Works Director Dale Finch said the city has placed 20 to 30 liens a month since spring. The practice has been done before in Millville, but Finch, who was elected in May after running on a campaign of code enforcement, said the city has been more aggressive with it recently.

After city inspectors find infractions, such as chipped paint, a broken fence, an unsafe structure, trash or damaged windows, they notify the owner, who has a certain amount of time to make the repairs.

If the work isn’t done, the city’s staff performs the work or hires an independent contractor, Finch said. The city then goes to Municipal Court, which places a lien on the property for the cost of the work, he said. The owners also are billed a $50 administrative fee.

Good job, Dale. The city has to start somewhere, and fortunately it has been aggressive in helping the neighborhoods reclaim the blighted areas. Between the multi-pronged attack including enhanced code enforcement, the excessive use of city services ordinance, the various programs to assist homeowners in rehab and maintenance, and landlord training we are seeing giant strides forward.

Do we have a way to go? Most certainly; but as has been said many times before, the neighborhoods didn’t become slums overnight, and they will not be fixed overnight.

An interesting article in the Press of Atlantic City today:

The city on Thursday revoked the mercantile license for a “rowdy house” on Glenwood Avenue for at least nine months.

Hearing Officer Anthony Harvatt ruled that Nila Castro, owner of a house on the 200 block of East Glenwood Avenue, must forfeit a $3,000 bond she had to post in 2008 for previous complaints about renting her rooming house to rowdy tenants.

Harvatt also revoked the mercantile license on the property for nine months, which means she will not be able to rent the property again until at least June 6.

The case marked the first time that Wildwood took this step of revoking a mercantile license for a rental property over noise and alcohol complaints, said Brian Neill, the city’s building maintenance inspector.

The Friends of Millville have long advocated this move in the extreme cases of landlords that absolutely refuse to clean up their nuisance properties. Couple this with the excessive use of city services ordinance, and the city would have a powerful tool to permanently shut down nuisance properties.

The various neighborhood groups will have their monthly meeting at the Riverfront Renaissance Center for the Arts, 22 N. High Street tonight at 7pm.

There is a lot of good information to be shared. Please attend, speak up, and meet your city leaders.

As a rental tenant, did you know you have rights? You have the right too a safe and clean dwelling. The windows on your rental unit MUST have screens. You have the right to a safe sidewalk. These are all obligations of your landlord.

One obligation that landlords might not know about, and most tenants certainly don’t is the right to have an approved trash receptacle supplied by the landlord.

Section 307 of the International Property Maintenance Code (the default standard code used by the City of Millville) Rubbish and Garbage paragraph 307.3.1 states:

Garbage facilities. The owner of every dwelling shall supply one of the following: an approved mechanical food waste grinder in each dwelling unit; an approved incinerator unit in the structure available to the occupants in each dwelling unit; or an approved, leakproof, covered, outside garbage container.

For most Millville residents that means that your landlord is required to provide at least one covered garbage container for every unit.

In the Daily Journal today”

A 13-year-old girl reportedly was knocked out Wednesday when soaked ceiling tiles fell on her in the kitchen of a house on the 200 block of West McNeal Street. City Inspector Milt Truxton later advised police the owner of the property had not made repairs to the rental property as directed and that the house was not currently registered with the city. The owner is identified as Raymond M. Tuorto, 55, of Rockaway.

I generally do not encourage wanton lawsuits, our court systems are overburdened with frivolous suits such as those brought by certain so-called watch-dog groups. However, we would hope that this landlord is sued by his tenant. He is the epitome of slumlord.

Raymond and Joanne Tuorto of 5 Cherokee Wat, Rockaway, NJ 07866 have an illegal slum rental at 209 W. McNeal Street. The house has been carved up into aprtments to maximize profits for this absentee slumlord that evaded code enforcement and inspection by failing to register the unit with the city.

In addition, this slumlord refused to bring the apartment up to code, endangering the lives, health and safety of his tenants. It is people like Raymond Tourto that give the good landlords in the city a bad name, and who destroy the property values of the neighbors.

We urge the city to refuse to issue a rental certificate, as this villain has proven that he is not going to abide by city statutes unless forced to do so. He is a bad neighbor, and he needs to stay in North Jersey.

New Jersey Secretary of State Nina Mitchell Wells was very impressed with the Arts District.

“This is the kind of project we absolutely support,” she said. “It makes for a great town to live in. People want to be here, and businesses want to be here and expand.”

Wells, whose office oversees the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and Division of Travel and Tourism, said this was the first time she has visited the Arts District, although she has been well aware of its reputation.

“I’ve been a fan of Millville for quite some time. I know it is one of the unique cities in the state,” she said. “The great towns and cities have exciting downtowns with arts and galleries and performing art centers. “

The News had this to say:

New Jersey Secretary of State Nina Mitchell Wells used words such as “breathless,” “fantastic” and “spectacular” while on tour through the art galleries along High Street Tuesday afternoon.

According to Wells, arts and music, combined with the shore, make up a $39 billion industry in the state, with 500,000 jobs and garnering $8 billion in state grants and funding.

“Having a healthy public-private collaboration is the secret success in arts communities,” said Wells. “In these places, you need a unified vision that people can work around.”

That unified vision is what Friends of Millville is all about.We are happy that Trenton is finally realizing that we exist.

NBC40 did this short story on the Millville Airport. Very interesting excerpt on the weather equipment.

Dave tells us what each instrument does: “the first piece of equipment we see here is the tipping bucket. It gathers rain so that they can measure the rainfall here.” There is also a device to monitor temperature and dew points, a ceiling height indicator, and visibility sensors. Dave explains the reason for their interesting location out in the field, “its set here so that it’s close to the aim point on the ILS runway.” That way, pilots can see exact weather conditions for their precise landing point.

The location of the instruments also explains why Millville’s temperature is usually so different form the official temperatures in surrounding areas when you watch the evening news.

NBC40 had this segment on the Village on High in Millville’s arts district.

Tucked away along the five hundred block of High Street is an eclectic group of cottages. Village on High owner, MaryAnne Cannon, explains, “it’s a nice mix of artist studio galleries, retail, and of course the award winning gardens.”

Not surprisingly, Millville First came out strongly against this great addition to the arts district, partially funded by a UEZ loan. The village provides affordable studio/retail space to more than a dozen artists and entrepreneurs. The anti arts district group of course wants to destroy the progress that has been made in making Millville a destination.

The Daily Journal had an article about the upcoming Landlord Training offered by the city. First, a correction. The DJ is about as acurate as usual.

The online version says the location is TBA, it will be held at the Millville Rescue Squad on Cedarville Avenue. According to the article:

The event, scheduled for Sept. 12, is part of Millville’s new emphasis on cleaning up neighborhoods and holding landlords more accountable for maintaining their properties, city Planning Director Kim Ayres said. Inspectors are now more vigilant in touring the city’s residential communities and issuing fines for code violations, she said.

Friends of Millville fully supports the landlord training, and the emphasis the city is placing on code enforcement.
At the seminar, the city will give landlords information, such as a prospective leases, copies of city ordinances, contact information for local officials and a copy of a checklist of what inspectors look for. The city also will talk with landlords about proposing a crime-free provision to their leases that would allow landlords to evict a tenant who is arrested by police.

“It’s a day to give landlords the tools to help them,” Ayres said. “A lot of people get into investment properties without much experience and unrealistic expectations. They may not know what to do next.”

Millville has about 10,000 rental units, Ayres said.