Update: I guess this guy is waiting for his insurance claim before he can tear down and build a duplex. Stay patient 🙂
I get so many emails about this place by numerous citizens that I decided to post it, it is at 33rd and Duluth. It was knocked off it’s foundation by a car hitting it, not sure when it happened but Google took this pic in September. A retired city employee told me that when he worked for the city, this would have been remedied pretty quickly. A city backhoe could literally tear this place down in 30 minutes (save the tree!);
UPDATE: I started to think about this yesterday. If the owner of this lot had a half a brain he would LEASE the land to a developer and rake in the Federal Subsidies. This is a great lot for either business or housing because it sits in an OPPORTUNITY ZONE. When I found out that I am in the same zone, I researched what I could do with my property, but unfortunately I am in the middle of the block and zoned residential so it would be hard for me to use the zone, but the MX Liquor lot would be perfect for a project in this zone. Some peeps just don’t get it.
Many people have expressed to me today that I should be delighted that the city is finally cleaning up this mess. I am. I want to thank several councilors former and present who helped get this ball moving.
As you know I complained about this property over 10 years ago where I was reassured by then code enforcement manager, Matt Tobias, that they were moving ‘thru’ the courts on this property.
So if you do the math, that complaint would have originated well before 2017. According to Forum’s article this all started in 2017. So what happened to all the complaints and violations prior to 2017? Obviously thrown in the trash.
I have been researching different code enforcement cases and I have been finding an interesting trend. When management or officers leave code enforcement (especially management) past violations or cases they are working on disappear. The MX liquor property has been in disrepair for almost 20 years, so what happened to all the violations prior to 2017?
I know that the city hasn’t done anything until now because the owner of the property has skirted code enforcement for years! I think he still thinks all the properties were going to be saved. Even though the owner was noticed on September 30 he waited until the dump trucks showed up this morning to move his antique tractor collection from the building in which he moved to the backyard of one of his house properties (that will eventually get torn down to). This tells me the owner of the property has figured out how to skirt the city’s code enforcement office for years basically because they are incompetent and never thought they would show up this morning.
The good news is I won’t have to look at this property ever again and that Councilors Barranco and Sigette are actively working on making code enforcement better and more timely.
I also found it interesting that the city’s public works team is doing the demo. Obviously the property owner will have to pay for demo either directly or thru a lien on the property when it is sold but why is the city handling this and not a private contractor?
Well it did not take to long for a landlord to challenge the ordinance.
There was a public* hearing last week in which a landlord challenged the city over exactly what constitutes a vacant property and the hearing examiner judge ruled in their favor.
At issue is the definition of occupant, and the judge agreed with the defendants.
I am still awaiting a summary of the ruling and what that may mean for the vacant house ordinance and it’s recent change of a 30 day requirement. Either the city will have to repeal the entire ordinance and rewrite from scratch, or ditch the entire thing.
It’s unfortunate on some level, because there really are some places that need to be fixed up and rented out, but I do agree with the landlord that challenged this, as long as someone is using the property or working on it, technically it is occupied.
I was told a few weeks ago that their has been some investigative reporters digging around on all the vacant home rentals Sanford has hoarded and boarded up just east of Sanford between Grange and Minnesota Avenue. I rode my bike around the area and you could see dozens of vacant homes. I think one one block I counted three in a row.
I’m not sure what the happy medium is but if a landlord is actively trying to improve their property, leave them alone.
*The city has been telling people in the press that these code enforcement hearings are NOT open to the public unless invited by the defendants, but that is not true, anyone can attend.
And if you’re thinking your call will be logged, that may not be the case.
“Really, not every phone call that comes into our department gets logged,” said Kevin Smith, director of planning and development for the City of Sioux Falls.
So what is the protocol for documenting a complaint?
“It really depends on who took the call,” said Smith. “And did they have enough information on which address you’re calling about.”
City officials say if you want a follow-up call to your complaint, the responsibility is on you to ask for it.
I’m surprised they even make the code enforcement officers show up for work anymore.
I asked if they thought it may be because of the fear of Federal lawsuits? No. They said it is because of public perception, and if they pull the trigger they fear the blowback.
Which I find comical considering anytime we have a controversy like this in Sioux Falls the local media circle jerks around the story for about 3 days and everyone forgets about it.
Just ask someone who moved here a year ago what they think about the f’d up siding on the Event Center and their response would probably be ‘We have an Events Center?’
The city could tear down the place tomorrow, invite the media and food trucks and make a demolition party out of it and two weeks from now no one will care.
BUNKER RAMP HOTEL A BAD INVESTMENT
Last week I was talking to a local developer and joked that he should buy the Bunker Ramp. After saying he had no interest he informed me that building hotels on top of parking ramps across the country never works out well, and maybe he is right, Lamont couldn’t find the investors.
I go back to providing retail on the south side and building studio apartments above.
l3wis 
