Write a commentOswego Mayor Billy Barlow has announced over the next two weeks the Oswego City Code Enforcement Office and the Oswego City Police Department will team up to conduct a "code enforcement sweep" on the West side of the City of Oswego from State Route 104 to Lake Street in the first and third City wards.
The sweep comes just as the Spring college semester concludes and students begin to move out of their homes and apartments. The Oswego Police Department will be patrolling the area to prevent trash and furniture from accumulating in front of rental properties while the Oswego Code Enforcement Office will be focusing their resources on the blighted and dilapidated homes specifically in the designated "sweep" area.
"During our Code Enforcement Sweep we will have a zero tolerance policy for multi-day stockpiling of garbage and furniture and I have authorized the Code Enforcement and Police Departments to immediately take necessary enforcement action as needed to gain compliance from property owners. We will also focus our Code enforcement efforts on blighted properties in our targeted zone and keep the pressure on rental properties and Section 8 HUD Housing registered properties in that area", said Mayor Billy Barlow adding that an organized "sweep" will bring additional code enforcement resources into a smaller targeted area in an effort to mitigate against trash stock piling during college move out week and allow code personnel to better focus on specific problematic properties in an effort to gain compliance and provoke mandated improvements to rental properties. "We've made serious progress City wide with our code enforcement program and I believe if we relentlessly focus and emphasize our efforts on a smaller area for a set time frame we can achieve visible results", Barlow said.
Code Enforcement Director Susan Gentile Deary said the Code Enforcement Department will be spending considerable time in the "sweep" zone over the next ten days including coverage on the weekends. "Mayor Barlow has made code enforcement, specifically in this area of town a top priority of his administration so we will coordinate and consolidate resources with the Oswego Police Department and focus on the worst properties in the area", Deary said. "We hope to have the cooperation of landlords, property owners and property managers as we try to keep our neighborhoods clean and attractive. Additionally, there has been significant investment from homeowners in that area recently and to have a property owner not maintain their property for extended periods of time is unfair to those who take pride in their home and care for their property", Deary concluded.
Property owners and tenants are encouraged to make prior arrangements for garbage removal from their property and may be issued appearance tickets for any trash and debris left visible from the street for an extended period of time. The "sweep" will last for ten days starting on May 10th through May 20th including patrols on the weekends. Mayor Billy Barlow and the City of Oswego has issued the following expectations to property owners:
- As a property owner/manager, please develop and adhere to a plan of prompt garbage/debris management and removal particularly between May 10th and May 20th.
- There should be NO multi-day front yard, curbside stockpiling of garbage, debris or furniture. It is unacceptable to wait until the next garbage pickup cycle.
- Property owners/managers should take an active role in managing this process. Past experience has proven that this responsibility cannot and should not be transferred to tenants.
- Should property owners fail to comply with the above expectations, Mayor Barlow has authorized the Office of Code Enforcement and the Oswego City Police Department to immediately take necessary enforcement action as needed to gain compliance.
Mayor Barlow has sent courtesy warning letters out to property owners in the area as a proactive measure to help make the transition from the end of the semester into summer seamless and prompt property owners to take initiative and ownership on their properties.
