HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-18-2014 CS B AcordGoodwin, Heather
From: Mejia, Anthony
Sent: Monday, November 17, 2014 12:14 PM
To: Goodwin, Heather
Subject: FW: Neighborhood Blight
11/18/14 Closed Session Item B
Anthony J. Mejia, MMC I City Clerk
City of San Luis Obispo
990 Palm Street
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
tel 1 805.781.7102
- - - -- Original Message---- -
From: Loren Acord [mailto:placord @sbcglobal.net]
Sent: Monday, November 17, 2014 9:34 AM
To: Mejia, Anthony
Subject: Neighborhood Blight
NOV 18 2014
COUNCIL MEETING: I �� 1 p 1
ITEM NO.: [Qy 5ee gn l
Dear City Council Members,
My wife and I live at 2567 Santa Clara Street, near Sinsheimer Park. We are writing to you regarding the property at
1179 San Carlos Street. For the last 4 plus years, this property has become, and remains, an eyesore. For a year or so,
there was a portable toilet on the property which, judging from the number of wine bottles lying in the grass, was a
regular facility for other than tradesman working on the property. There seems to be a predictable sequence to the
handling of the mess which is Mr. Petetit's property. Things will get worse than usual (piles of trash, weeds over 5 feet
high, &c.); a complaint is filed; an inexpensive cosmetic fix is applied (e.g. the weeds are cut, only to grow again, the
trash is picked up, only to be replaced with more); another complaint is filed and the sequence is repeated, apparently
with no consequences for Mr. Petetit. We are currently in the "post- cleanup" phase, following a notice attached to the
chain -link fence surrounding the property. This sequence has happened roughly annually, and has been going on for
over four years.
I understand that Mr. Petetit is merely trying to maximize the profit he will realize when he finally does something
reasonable with the property, and this is an understandable goal for any developer, but this eyesore is lowering the
property values of those of us who live here and gives the impression of a decaying neighborhood. For those of us who
live here, it is a blight. I am sure that if the same thing were happening in Mr. Petetit's neighborhood, he would be
complaining loudly.
We love San Luis Obispo, and we love our neighborhood. It has taken me so long to write to you because I continued to
expect the appropriate city department to take meaningful action. Each time the sequence started, I thought that this
time it would make a difference. Sadly, it hasn't. It seems to me that the city could, and should, do something to force
Mr. Petetit to clean up the property and leave it in at least a neutral state, rather than the mess it will become in the
new year. The current practice of saying, "You shouldn't do that." followed by, "I'll fix it." only to be repeated within the
year is a poor policy. It leaves a beautiful neighborhood in San Luis in a state reminiscent of Tobacco Road. Surely, the
city council can do something to require the appropriate city department to remove this neighborhood blight. We are
writing to ask you to please take some action which will actually restore the beauty of our neighborhood.
Loren and Pat Acord
2567 Santa Clara Street
785 -0699