By DUNCAN THIEME

On the evening of March 23, a panel of city officials visited a meeting of the Roosevelt Neighborhood Association and unveiled a series of new proposals intended to improve and accelerate enforcement of the City's Housing Code laws.

This issue has long been a hot topic in the Roosevelt community, where neighbors have complained for years about certain properties that have been in persistent violation of the housing laws. Complaints have included illegally overcrowded rental houses, dangerously decrepit structures, the accumulation of unhealthy trash and noisy late night disturbances.

Local interest in the topic was underscored by the large turnout Tuesday night at the "Slam the Slums" workshop held in the cafeteria at Roosevelt High School. Officials from many branches of the City were on hand to answer questions during the workshop, including representatives from the Fire, Police, Health and Law Departments, as well as the Department of Design, Construction and Land Use. City Councilman Nick Licata joined the meeting later in the session.

Most vocal during the workshop were Will Hariston from the Department of Design, Construction and Land Use (DDCLU) and Mark Sidran from the City Attorney's office.

Both emphasized that the problem of chronic housing code violations stems from the lenient process by which code violations are prosecuted. Generally speaking, established procedures are designed to encourage property owners to comply with the codes voluntarily, allowing generous periods of time after notice of a violation before any penalties are assessed. Both men noted that this policy is successful in the large majority of cases, since most property owners cooperate with city officials.

The problem, they say, comes from a small minority of owners, some with many properties in the city, who persistently resist correcting code violations. Such a property owner can potentially stall for years before a court order compels compliance with the code.

Hariston opened the meeting by presenting a series of policy changes at DDCLU that are intended to hasten the enforcement process under existing law. These proposals initially concentrate on the problems of the Roosevelt neighborhood, but may be extended to other parts of the city if they prove successful.

He announced the formulation of an inter-departmental committee that will meet regularly to discuss complaints from Roosevelt, with the hope of identifying those properties with multiple code violations.

He also unveiled a large map of the neighborhood with notations on every property with evident code violations. The map is the result of a detailed survey of the area performed by his staff as a proactive step to identify problem properties.

Hariston committed to act on the results of the survey by sending out notices of violation early in April, and promised to pursue the violators to correct the problems as quickly as the law currently allows.

Sidran took the floor after Hariston and announced that the Law Department is currently drafting new legislation to send to the City Council which will, if passed, dramatically change the city's process for dealing with housing code violations.

Following the lead of cities like Everett, Tacoma, Portland and New York, Sidran's proposal is to empower city officials to issue "tickets" for code violations when they are first noticed. Similar to a traffic ticket, the citations would carry fines, and would also allow the recipient to meet with a magistrate to contest the charge or to "explain the circumstances."

Sidran emphasized that his proposal in no way undermines a citizen's right to due process since the tickets could still be contested. The advantage of the proposal, he says, is that it will bring chronic code violators into the courts more quickly, and thus force speedier compliance with the law. He also noted that accidental code violators won't be penalized under the new system, since magistrates will show leniency when it is clear that effort is being made to correct violations.

Sidran said that he planned to introduce the proposed legislation to the City council soon, hopefuly within the next two months. The proposal does not yet have a sponsor on the Council, but he says that a number of its members have expressed their support.

Councilman Licata joined the meeting in progress, and spoke out in support of the new policies announced by Hariston and Sidran. Saying that the City "needs to do more" to address the problem of housing code violations, he pledged his support of Sidran's proposed legislation, and encouraged him to introduce the proposal to the council as soon as possible.

Duncan Thieme is a Roosevelt resident.