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Source: The Roanoke Times, Va.迷你倉出租Aug. 10--Just about the first thing Roanoke code compliance inspector Brad Wilson does when he gets into his maroon city Chevy -- "it's been in the shop seven times already this year" -- is roll down the windows."I like to hear things. If there's a jackhammer going, I can hear it, drive around and make sure they've got their permits, that everything's OK," Wilson said. "I even keep the windows down in the winter."He's one of Roanoke's 15-strong team of inspectors and supervisors -- just this week finally back up to full strength -- who enforce the laws that say buildings must be maintained so that they are safe to be in and that property has to be free of the junked cars, weeds and garbage that can shelter animal pests and disease.Wilson's turf is Hurt Park and a stretch of northwest Roanoke between Fifth and 18th streets, and Moorman and Shenandoah avenues. He spends several hours a day cruising the area's streets and alleys, checking out some 1,100 homes, businesses and vacant lots. He figures he hits every street and alley once every week to 10 days, and issues an average of about 20 notices of violation a week -- more in the summer, when people sometimes let the grass go too long without cutting.He's strict -- but you wouldn't guess it by the way one wheelchair-bound lady on 13th street in Hurt Park teases him about not working hard. A few days later, she was on the phone to say her efforts to ask a neighbor to clear a bush blocking the alleyway were fruitless. I know you'll get on it, she told him.Code enforcement is central to the city's efforts to make sure Roanoke is a safe and pleasant place to live and work, City Manager Chris Morrill said."They're the problem-solvers in the neighborhoods. They're dealing with the tough properties, the tough cases," Morrill said. Sometimes that means citations or taking people to court, sometimes it's simply steering people to the help they need.For many Roanoke property-owners, code enforcement inspectors are more of a pain in the neck."There's a car someone's working on, it's got a flat. They're out there cruising around and see it, they write the landlord a nasty letter and issue a citation. Is that the best use of time? ... It's insane, the petty detail they get into," said Andy Stowasser, president of Real Estate Investors of Virginia, which complains that code enforcement inspectors come down harder on landlords than on people who own their homes.Some Roanokers want the inspectors to be even more aggressive."I moved back to Roanoke in '96. The very first issue I heard from people over neighborhood problems was code enforcement, or the lack thereof. Seventeen years later it remains the number one, most often spoken issue at neighborhood watch meeting and neighborhood associations," said Southeast community activist E. Duane Howard."Just weeks ago a house on Montrose had growth 6 to 7 feet tall," he said. "It was like making a federal case to the city to get this eyesore cut. They said if it happened again they would notify the owner."The city's inspectors issued about 6,400 notices of violations last year. Some are in response to complaints, many because of problems they see as they patrol their areas or make their scheduled inspections of rented houses and apartments.Sometimes, when they check on a problem, a simple conversation with the property owner gets action without a need to write up a notice of violation. Sometimes, when a notice gets no action, they get a summons to bring the property owner to court.On one recent summer afternoon, Wilson focused on "re-checks" -- follow-ups on notices he had issued over the past few weeks.One of his first stops was to see if the out-of-state owner of a house at 14th and Moorman had made any progress clearing away a huge tree toppled by an intense storm nearly three weeks before. A trailer full of firewood and 10 feet of now-clear sidewalk were good signs, though there was still plenty of work to do."Yeah, he started there," a man called from a few feet away."Did he get those things fixed up in there," Wilson replied, nodding at the duplex house on the lot, which the out-of-state owner rents out. "It needed some cleaning up.""Yeah, it's real nice," the man said. "I've moved in."Across 14th, not far from where Wilson parked his Chevy, there's a utility pole with a wire wrapped tightly around it and taped into place. Wilson did that a few days earlier, when a neighbor pointed to the wire lying across the sidewalk. It caught her eye when some kids nearly rode their bikes into it.It can be easy to miss things -- which is why Wilson drives slowly, keeps his windows down, and stops a lot.Around the corner, down the alley for a couple of blocks, Wilson spots Angel Rodas, working on a house in the 1600 block of Moorman. Rodas, who rents the place, is helping the owner fix it up -- including dealing with citations for overgrown vines on儲存倉the back fence and needed repairs to the outside walls, trim and windows."Cleaning up this fence was bad," Rodas said. "I didn't see the poison ivy."He had such a severe case, he had to go to the hospital, he added."Whoa," Wilson said. "You gotta watch for that. Spray maybe. You know, it's got those three leaves."Wilson walked down the alley while Rodas followed on the other side of the fence, seeing if he could point some out since Rodas wasn't sure he knew what the plant looked like. He spotted some -- right by the tomato patch Rodas planted.Wilson said the back windows on the house look new, and asked what Rodas planned to do about the foam caulking that has bubbled out between the window frame and the wall. Both agree it looks bad."I'm gonna have to cut it away," Rodas said."Maybe a trim board?" Wilson hinted.Rodas nodded.He's going to get going on the back siding in a couple of days, now that he has installed a proper facia and soffit under the roof, Rodas continued. There was no point tearing off the gray, waterstained siding below until he stopped the steady leak of water that risked rotting the structure beneath."Going good," Wilson said. "It's going to a real nice place to live."Nobody likes getting a notice, and many bristle at a code compliance inspector's less formal suggestion that they do something about an overgrown lot or a junk car in the yard. Wilson said the point, though, is to start a conversation about how to fix a problem.Turning the Chevy up 12th street, Wilson spotted the Rev. Cecil Scott and Edward Jones on the side steps of Truevine Church of Christ, peering at a length of insulated wire."We're not working, just trying to figure out if this was after 1985," Jones quickly said.Wilson had come by a few days before to remind them that they needed a building permit for the repair work after one of July's storms blew off a chunk of roof. Knowing if the rear part of the church was built after then will save the hassle of getting an asbestos report to get a permit."I know you're working on the permit," Wilson said. "I know you, you know me, don't worry about it. I don't have a problem."Jones tells him the church is doing a fundraiser, selling donuts, to finance the repairs.Wilson said if they need to stretch their money they should get in touch with volunteer groups Rebuilding Together or World Changers, for help with the repairs.Heading back to his Chevy to fetch some information about those groups, he spots the front porch sagging next door, then sees how, where it separated from front wall, the wood beam at the bottom of the front wall has been almost completely eaten away by termites.It's a serious problem -- basically there's no way to tell what's holding the wall up any more. Wilson puts some caution tape up and gets started on a condemnation notice.Back on patrol, he turns down Gilmer Street, checking on a house in the 1300 block that he condemned as unfit to live in a month ago, after checking the tenants' complaint that several inches of standing water in the basement wasn't draining. The thick layer of mud in the basement and mildew upstairs pointed to a continuing problem -- one that could mean a chance of rot in the house's wood frame.Wilson's unhappy to see no signs that the building owner has done any work yet. It's another place he'll have to keep an eye on.Just like a house in the 700 block of Loudon that's in foreclosure. Wilson had to condemn it a few months ago -- when nothing happened, he had a contractor in to shore up the collapsing rear foundation. He regularly checks on the boarded-up houses in his territory, to make sure nobody's breaking in and using them to sleep in or as a base to deal drugs.Rodney Randolph, who's been busy cutting the grass at his late father's home two houses down, stepped over to complain about how the foreclosed place's front hedge is blocking the sidewalk.Wilson nodded. There's not much he can do, since the foreclosure is in process and the bank hasn't formally taken possession."I'm doing my yard, and my neighbor's and then we've got this," Randolph grumbled. "Got groundhogs and skunks living in there. I'm sick of skunks."Back around Memorial Day, he said, there were a bunch of people hanging around the back, maybe even getting inside. He was pretty sure they were up to no good.Wilson -- like many in city hall -- is a believer in the broken windows school of public safety, the idea that neighborhoods that are looked after, even in smaller matters like overgrown yards and junked cars, tend to discourage criminals from trying their luck.He's trying to figure out what to do about the hedges."Tell you what," he said. "If I can't get someone to do 'em, I'll come out on the weekend and do 'em myself.""I'll help," Randolph said.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 The Roanoke Times (Roanoke, Va.) 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