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South, west Phoenix lead in code violations By Dustin Gardiner The Republic | azcentral.com Wed Nov 14, 2012 12:00 PM The south Phoenix home could be described as a neighbor’s worst nightmare — three cars are parked on what was once a lawn. Trash cans have been knocked on their sides, spilling litter onto the ground. In the backyard, construction materials are stacked as high as the fence. Out front, only a few swatches of green grass remain and the shrubs look like shriveled weeds. To top it all off, Christmas lights hang from the front of the house, months after the holidays. Although the house is among the more prolific offenders, such eyesores are all too common in certain parts of the city. Phoenix code-enforcement officers deal with violations involving overgrown weeds, trash and illegally parked cars on a daily basis in some areas. An analysis by The Republic of a year’s worth of code-enforcement data shows that of the 84,625 violations reported during the last budget year, many were concentrated in the same neighborhoods. The data includes all reports of violations regardless of whether the property owner was ultimately cited. Because the city takes an education-first approach, many cases are resolved without a penalty. West and south Phoenix appear to have the most problems. Of the top-10 ZIP codes with the most blight-ordinance cases, nearly all are found in those two areas. The Maryvale area, which stretches west of Interstate 17 between Camelback Road and Interstate 10, had an especially high number of violations, according to the data. [So it looks like the messy yard cops are targeting Mexicans to shake down for messy yard violations] The neighborhoods in question tend to be lower income and include many older homes. [And of course more brown skinned Mexicans!!!!!] But city officials say there’s more to the numbers. Tim Boling, deputy director of the Neighborhood Services Department, listed several likely reasons for west and south Phoenix’s higher rates of code-enforcement violations. For starters, he said the city is far more aggressive with its enforcement efforts in those areas, working in tandem with larger community-revitalization programs. [translation - his messy yard cops target brown skinned folks!!] In west Phoenix, code inspectors are assigned to patrol certain areas on a regular basis and work closely with neighborhood associations and the Police Department to deal with repeat offenders. [So the messy yard laws are selectively enforced in west Phoenix against Mexicans???] “It’s just making conscious decisions on where you need to apply those resources,” Boling said. “We go proactive in those particular areas.” In much of the rest of the city, code enforcement is complaint-based. That means that residents are responsible for bringing potential blight issues to the notice of city officials. Such is the case in areas with relatively few code violations, including Ahwatukee, northeast Phoenix and parts of central Phoenix. Boling said housing density is another important factor to consider. Maryvale, for example, has many tract homes and thus the highest number of homes per square mile. With more potential offenders, the violation numbers are likely to be higher. By contrast, residents in Ahwatukee, north Phoenix and Arcadia often live in homes on larger lots. Such areas could also see fewer violations because many residents live in homeowners associations that already police for blight issues, Boling said. Code violations by ZIP code |
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