A reader passed along a news release issued today by Mayor Mark Stodola and City Manager Bruce Moore regarding housing code enforcement.  According to the new policy, City Hall will place a sign on the property of a house cited for code enforcement.  Once the enforcement action has been concluded, the sign will be removed.

If you take a drive around Little Rock Central High School you will see dozens of houses with roofs that have caved in; front porches that are crumbling and walls that have been burned out.  Property owners, for the longest time, have avoided any kind of penalty - public or otherwise - that would force them into action.

The issue with these houses (and they exist in other parts of the city as well) is that the property owners are rarely compelled to fix the problem.  In some instances, the owners are no longer around.  Tracking them down through title searches is tedious.  So the vacant, crumbling houses sit idle, and serve as a haven for illegal activity.

As a member of the Central High 50th Anniversary Commission, I’d long hoped that we could take some positive step towards rebuilding that once popular and thriving neighborhood.  That never happened.  But several non-profits are in that area cleaning up houses and restoring what they can.  But it’s a long and expensive process for the private sector (and because of the low property values, securing bank financing isn’t as easy as you might think).

Code enforcement is a good step, yes, as is public acknowledgement that the enforcement is taking place.  Still, I wish the sign would contain the name(s) of the property owner so they too could be held accountable by their neighbors who have, most likely, lived with the nuisance a lot longer than they deserved too.

The release isn’t up on the LR city government website, but here’s the link for you to check back.