The Atlanta Journal Constitution has had a year long investigative report on Dangerous Apartment Complexes in the Atlanta metropolitan area and this week they released their list of the 272 most dangerous apartment complexes. Unfortunately the City of Dunwoody had four complexes listed in the report and they were listed because of crime risk, murders, code enforcement compliance issues, fire risks, and because a gas explosion leveled a building.
The series is well written as it shows the pitfalls of being a renter in a State where leases favor the owner and the lessee has little legal ramifications without bringing suit. It describes the lack of code enforcement in some jurisdictions and no minimum State standards requiring owners to maintain their rental properties, much less to keep them decent, safe or habitable. The series highlights complexes that are Unsafe, Unhealthy, and Unlivable because of lack of regular maintenance and crime that happens in these areas.
I will admit that Dunwoody has a few complexes with questionable reputations but crime has taken place in every complex in town but the Dunwoody Police Department is aware of criminal hot spots and is monitoring issues with both patrols, cameras and other technology. The residents living in these complexes are hard working families with children living in the most affordable lodging they can find, in a school system that will offer their children a better opportunity then their parents had. Much of the crime (and murders) happen because of outsiders traveling into the complex that are up to no good. Dunwoody Police's manpower issues are improving and City Council continues to invest in our Department which hopefully is providing proper coverage ensuring everyone a safe place to live.
Dunwoody seems to be doing better that some other jurisdictions on code compliance oversight as in 2010, just two years into incorporation we set minimum standards, visited every apartment complex to educate management as to expectations and law; then we started to code compliance sweeps bringing them into compliance. This year, we just increased the staffing level from two code enforcement officers to three in order to escalate the frequencies of these apartment inspections.
The Dunwoody City Council believes that every resident living within our borders should have a safe and livable home therefore our Multi-Family Code Compliance program does a regular comprehensive inspections (both exterior by City
Staff & interior by certified inspectors) to evaluate code and life
safety compliance.
City Council reviews the findings of Apartment Sweep's as completed by our code enforcement staff and I won't attach it in this blog post in case there is on going enforcement matter related to the report, but one of the complexes above had two code enforcement specialists there for close to a week and the final report is 90 pages long, 11 Mb in size with numerous code compliance issues documented with photos. The violations identified were cited and required to be repaired with our code enforcement following up with citations to be handled by Dunwoody Municipal Judges if issues were not corrected in a timely manner. We do this to every apartment complex in the city limits, no matter the age, demographics or price point.
About a month ago, the City Council was provided a briefing by Code Compliance which highlights our apartment sweep program, vacant property maintenance, and short-term rental enforcement.
Code Enforcement Introduction and Overview (Shane Peeples)
I questioned whether I wanted to post this story, whether I wanted to name the complexes named (as there are others I am also concerned about) but in the end it is about transparency and self corrective behavior. I want better oversight from the owners (that is why I tagged them in the title for Twitter to notify them of this post). I want self reflection from the City of Dunwoody Administration both Police, Code Enforcement and City Council to ask what more could we be doing. Finally I would like the State Legislature to review the laws that sometimes allow anonymous LLC's to take advantage of the most vulnerable segment of our society.
I am hopeful that the issues identified at troublesome apartment complexes are addressed & the quality of life improves as no one deserves to live in an Unsafe, Unhealthy, and Unlivable apartment complex.
John
PS: I am still not endorsed by the Atlanta Board of Realtors or any other trade organization.
Dunwoody Glen
6800, 6750 and 6806 Peachtree Industrial, Dunwoody
Dunwoody Village
2311, 2313 and 2325 Dunwoody Crossing, Dunwoody
LaCota Apartments
6664 Peachtree Industrial Blvd. and other addresses from 6646-6698, Dunwoody
The Heights at Dunwoody, formerly Arrive Perimeter
2000 Asbury Square, Dunwoody
AJC’s Politically Georgia podcast, host Greg Bluestein is joined by the reporters Alan Judd and Willoughby Mariano, who led the Dangerous Dwellings investigation. They discussed how this project got started, what thye found, and potential laws that could improve the situation.
Thank you Johns for the comprehensive, compassionate, and complete analysis of these multi-family apartment home deficiencies.
ReplyDeleteDunwoody Code enforcement has a long history of going after substandard, unsafe apartments starting with the work of Mr. Tom LaPenna, and many others.
I am glad to see we are keeping up with that initiative - Nobody deserves to live in unsafe or unhealthy homes.