A multifamily building at 387 Capitol Avenue was condemned today by the City of Hartford as unfit for occupancy.Apparently the property has been the subject of numerous code violations recently.
The property appears to be owned by a Christopher Whilby of Canton. City sources have confirmed that at least 23 city residents, 9 of them children, have been displaced from their homes. The Tax Collectors website shows delinquent tax bills for the last couple of years still unpaid.
The property is being overseen by Hartford Police officers at this time and preventing residents from re-entering the building to retrieve any items.
At the time that I visited the property not a councilperson was in sight, maybe they should focus on situations like this rather than national issues. The photo above shows people, including children, sitting on the porch with no idea where they will be sleeping tonight.
19 comments:
thanks for covering this--these types of important news would not be covered if it weren't for hyper-local media.
the landlord and the city should be shamed for letting this happen. i am sure he has been collecting rents from these people... and now the tenants are suffering.
Actually, the councilperson you are referring to was there yesterday while everything was happening. It might be worth getting all the facts before making such statements.
Kerri:
A bit harsh. I don't know what happened there yesterday, but I ran by there this afternoon (Wed). Cops were there, personal possessions on the sidewalk, channel 3 news truck...
The place was rumored to be a problem. I would hope authorities would shut it down with minimum disruption to residents.
If Cotto was there, then what did he do for them? Cotto is just a grandstander anyway.
"kerri" is probably Kerri Provost, a close friend of Councilman Cotto....she would be always interested in carrying his water or his luggage.If she does a good job at it maybe he can find her a city job like he did his wife and 2 sisters.
Kerri,
You may need to be the one to get your facts together before you comment.
I'm not sure where you saw me name a specific Councilperson in the posting. You may be referencing a Councilperson who may feel the comments were intended for him because of his recent grandstanding, but the entire Council is accountable. These are exactly the type of issues that the Council should be focusing on and how to correct them. Instead of laying Housing inspectors off, the Council should be finding a way to increase their numbers and address the poor living conditions many Hartford residents are forced to endure.
Maybe we should ask who is praying for the people forced out of their homes as well as the others living in rodent and insect infested buildings because the Council clearly isn't doing their part.
Maybe by posting this I can take a page from the Cotto handbook and say that I am only trying to start a conversation about Hartford's slumlords.
problem is--the city will foot the bill for relocation, and probably demo of the building with no $$ available in budet for this. Landlord will get away scott free;
demo of the building
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Let's hope not.
send the homeless residents to Luis' house on Park Terrace.Im sure he would accomodate the,even the "lily white" ones.
Cotto and Winch:
Please call the Imam to pray for these homeless people.
I live near this building and serve on the Frog Hollow NRZ Property Development subcommittee. Cotto is one of many local residents who have been following up on the deteriorating state of this property for years. Absentee slumlords are a big problem in our neighborhood and others. If you (commenters) aren't working to make things better here, please do us the favor of keeping your bluster and other worthless distractions to yourselves.
I met Mr. Whilby and spoke with him many months ago while inquiring about locating my business in one of the long-vacant storefronts in this building. I found him to be completely untrustworthy, unable to keep his story straight within his own paragraph.
I hope this building can be saved from the doomed fate of his continued ownership.
If you (commenters) aren't working to make things better here, please do us the favor of keeping your bluster and other worthless distractions to yourselves.
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Hard to see how our bluster would distract anyone, especially someone so righteous as Senorita "interstatement." Absentee landlords a problem, but drug-dealing, bastard-producing, unemployable tenants worse one. Good luck to you, interstatement. Hope you get your well-deserved merit badges.
Interstatement said:
"Cotto is one of many local residents who have been following up on the deteriorating state of this property for years."
This is NOT a trick question: How many years does it take to remedy a situation. Instead of dipping into issues that have no direct bearing on Hartford, Cotto et al should spend less time "following up" AND more time actually doing something constructive, pun intended.
Jim,
I agree. It is very easy for anyone to say they "looked into" something, but who cares. What matters is what you did and here are the solid results.
What original ideas has Cotto come up with that have produced results?
His latest claim to fame is his brilliant "Adopt-a-median" idea. For anyone who follows this blog or Hartford Council meetings, I have been going before the Council for eight years asking for an "adopt-a-spot" program. Luckily for us, we have "leaders" like Cotto who can come up with ideas and claim them as their own.
Good job Luis!
So, who assumes any liability issues should any of the volunteers injure themselves while caring for the medians? Will the city make them sign a waiver/release?
Who knows. When I originally proposed the idea several years ago I researched how other cities worked and provided Hartford with the applications other towns used for people to "adopt-a-spot" as well as the forms for release of liability.
Note though that my proposal was for "adopt-a-spot", as it is called in Waterbury. Councilman Cotto's proposal is for "adopt-a-median" so there may have to be some changes in the forms to facilitate Cotto's brilliant and apparently original idea.
Embarassing situation - to have to say "didn't know about, or would have acted sooner" - and now to find about it through this helpful exchange in absence of a more reliable process of city administration dealing with such violations promptly AND notifying Council and public regularly. This councilperson - Deutsch - doesn't mind identifying himself, and how he and constituents had to threaten calling outside authorities (e.g., in case of a restaurant with ADA-violations with lack of handicapped ramp, then improper fixing). Maybe with re-organization 311 will be better functional and accountable. And we now need also to create (re-create?) such a regular notification mechanism for Council and the public in general.
Larry Deutsch, Council, Sept. 18, 2010, 4:48am
How about this idea? Maybe the head of Licenses & Inspections should have a professional degree in architecture and/or engineering instead of an MSW. I could never understand why the former dishonorable Mayor would appoint one of his former aides to a position in what other municipalities call the building dept when said individual has a masters in social work. Maybe Eddie's dyslexia had him confused. He should have instead sent the guy to work in HHS. Just my opinion.
Rumor:
Building re-occupied.
Cops called 4 times last night to deal with noise, presumably that of icky tenants not icky landlord.
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