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Today's Poll!Officials working on code enforcement in wake of Saturday fires
Fire crews and investigators work Saturday at the scene of an early morning fire that gutted an apartment complex at the corner of Dunklin and Mulberry streets in Jefferson City. Photo by Deborah Cote.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Saturday’s massive apartment building fire on Mulberry Street is causing Jefferson City officials to step up efforts to correct problems in older structures.
Interim City Administrator and City Attorney Nathan Nickolaus said the city has been called on code enforcement violations at these apartments frequently.
“We had been planning a major sweep to take place after Thanksgiving, but we’re going to bump that up to next week,” he said. “There appears to be a lot of problems and that is not tolerable. They either correct them or they’re shut down.”
According to information from Cole County’s Geographic Information Systems (GIS), the owners of the apartments are listed as Glen and Nancy Rohrbach of California, Mo.
Nickolaus said the properties were in the process of being sold and the new owners had actually been operating the apartments for the past 30 days, but the title hadn’t passed yet. The deal was supposed to close in February.
Also online: earlier coverage of Saturday's fires
Cause undetermined for fire that destroyed JC apartment building
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Comments
JCLifer 1 year, 6 months ago
Uh, how about enforcing the codes BEFORE the places catch on fire?
Ready. Fire. Aim.
I hope city hall can beef up code enforcement around here. There are multiple apartments and rental properties in this town that seriously need to be remedied. Not only do these properties make the town look trashy, but they also put a lot of folks and their property in danger. Time to put out the word that slum lords will no longer be welcome in the Capital City.
JCLifer 1 year, 6 months ago
Don't forget to look at all the single-family residences that have been divided into two or three apartments too. That is where you will find some really neat stuff, like 18-guage lamp wire run inside walls, etc.
3blindmice 1 year, 6 months ago
response to jclifer, sorry java on my comp is acting up. dividing up into 2 or 3? try 6 or 7. munichburg is full of them. thats because I think section 8 requires at least 1 window and 1 door. so any room with a window the divide up into a apartment. jefferson city is full of these. wish there were a way to crack down on the slum lords in jefferson city. i know the current city i'm working out of has a law against diving homes up like this.
nwood2011 1 year, 6 months ago
I can honestly say that the apartments that are located on the 600 block of Mulberry are totally unliveable, roach infested and are unsafe in any condition. I know this firsthand, my ex boyfriend lived in the second building and is currently living in the 3rd building. The landlords are slumlords and will not care for the property. A year ago I know for fact, building 2 and 3 were on the cities condemed list. People are raising their children in a dangerous, roach infested and out of date building. The drugs are unbelievable, as well as the fighting and thefts that occour in these specific buildings.
momma34 1 year, 6 months ago
Glen is a decent man with a good heart, he cares about women and children and will do anything for them.... he rents places to families that Needed a place to stay.. and with 2 bedrooms for 335 a month with water and trash paid People find that convenient and Use that as a stepping stone to something better... they save money so they can get out... There was quite a few tenants over there that could care less if they pay their rent... and Those apartments were not fixed or taken care of... if the tenant couldn't take care of him and refused to get out.... he had no other option but to not fix their stuff and hope that made them move. He worked on the apartments and sprayed for bugs whenever his tenants asked him too.... it is roach infested but not because he did anything wrong, he could have done More... like have the places tented and fumigated . It does no good to spray one apartment tho because the bugs just hide in another apartment and wait til the fumes are gone and come back to party. I lived at Walker Apartments for 3 years starting back in 2000 and again for a year starting last November.... This time When I moved back things were cleaner than last time... Some tenants would go out and clean the parking lot so we could supervise our kids and give them a place to play and run..... Last time I lived over there we would go outside and find needles in the parking lot.... no not sewing needles either... Glen got rid of some of the rift raft but some never leave... if they start trouble over there they get kicked out, but they know someone else over there that will let them stay til they can find some place else to go. The people I made friends with had compassion and were wonderful hearted people,,,, I stayed away from the drunks, and drug addicted ones... (you can tell who they are)
I moved out of the apartments because I could afford to, and because Glen sold the apartments to a couple of Men... who wanted to raise my rent without fixing up what was still messed up inside the place... but also because it is getting winter time and the kids over there have to WALK to school and the bus wont pick them up...... and that hill up south school BITES!!! I feel for the new owners of the buildings because they came in and tried doing right with the apartment complex's but they are already so run down it will take years to get them perfectly livable again.....
NOT all of the tenants are drug heads or thugs... and I wanted to make that perfectly clear... just people like you and me that needed a place to stay and could'nt find anything better at the time...... Most are good people and move in because they HAVE to its not an easy choice to make for those that Love their children.. but its essential. Now stop being judgmental and have some compassion for the ones that Need it....
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