In the past 22 months, Utica landlord Timothy Klotz has been charged with a few dozen codes violations on more than 25 properties he owns. To date, Klotz has paid fines on 17 of the violations for problems including structural damage, rat and roach infestations, and garbage and weeds, City Court records show. Total fines he paid: $600, or barely $35 per violation. And therein lies the problem, according to city officials and neighborhood advocates who say stronger codes enforcement is needed in a city with a low median income, a significant amount of pre-World War II housing stock and a soaring arson rate. “This codes issue, this is a cancer in this city,” Utica Fire Chief Russell Brooks said. “I think that every problem that they have in this city – from crime, to animal abuse, to arson fires, to basically any kind of fires – starts with codes problems.” Nearly a decade after the O-D spotlighted ineffective codes enforcement in Utica, little has changed. Numerous landlords in Utica’s poorer neighborhoods own properties that are not consistently clean or safe, and lower- income tenants struggle to cope. The Codes Department considers itself understaffed with 10 inspectors to cover the entire city. Debbie Patterson moved into a 1620 Oneida St. apartment owned by Klotz in May. She discovered a dead cat in her back yard. The apartment had no heat, the interior was not painted and the carpet was so worn that her vacuum cleane ...
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In the past 22 months, Utica landlord Timothy Klotz has been charged with a few dozen codes violations on more than 25 properties he owns. To date, Klotz has paid fines on 17 of the violations for problems including structural damage, rat and roach infestations, and garbage and weeds, City Court records show. Total fines he paid: $600, or barely $35 per violation. And therein lies the problem, according to city officials and neighborhood advocates who say stronger codes enforcement is needed in a city with a low median income, a significant amount of pre-World War II housing stock and a soaring arson rate. “This codes issue, this is a cancer in this city,” Utica Fire Chief Russell Brooks said. “I think that every problem that they have in this city – from crime, to animal abuse, to arson fires, to basically any kind of fires – starts with codes problems.” Nearly a decade after the O-D spotlighted ineffective codes enforcement in Utica, little has changed. Numerous landlords in Utica’s poorer neighborhoods own properties that are not consistently clean or safe, and lower- income tenants struggle to cope. The Codes Department considers itself understaffed with 10 inspectors to cover the entire city. Debbie Patterson moved into a 1620 Oneida St. apartment owned by Klotz in May. She discovered a dead cat in her back yard. The apartment had no heat, the interior was not painted and the carpet was so worn that her vacuum cleane ...