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Support gathers in Dunkirk for the ‘Rose Floramo Plan’

OBSERVER Photo by Nicole Gugino About twenty members of the public attended Tuesday's Common Council meeting in support of regulating and inspecting rental properties.

Over time the city of Dunkirk has changed and it hasn’t all been for the better. In an effort to clean up the city’s housing stock, about 20 people attended Tuesday’s Common Council meeting, with about a half of dozen vocalizing their support.

“While I am in no way suggesting that all owner-landlords engaged in property rentals in the city are negligent of their responsibilities regarding their property, it is evident that there are some owners both local and non-resident who are interested only in monetary returns through constant occupancy with little regard to either physical infrastructure of properties or the health, safety and well being of their tenants. In a community that contains some of the oldest housing stock in the nation, much of it not owner occupied, some manner of regulation is an imperative,” Steve Reese of Dove Street said.

Reese pointed out two goals — make a register of landlords and empower the building inspector to go inside rental properties and enforce the codes already in place for the safety of the tenants and the community.

Amanda Straight of King Street said it will not only improve the tenants’ living environment, but also help landlords avoid liability.

Nicole Waite of Washington Street said now is the time to act on this.

“The unkempt ones are unsafe for inhabitants, they drag down our property values and they destroy the beauty of our community. Out of towners purchase property in the city at dirt cheap prices and they don’t maintain them. This must be discouraged. They need to be held accountable, but our current zoning laws are outdated and inadequate. Now is the time to act. The list grant that the city secured will allow the city to conduct a survey of the conditions of all residential properties. This baseline data can be used to compare current conditions with future ones resulting from this change in policy,” she said.

Judy Hollander of Swan Street and Ruth Antosh of Central Avenue have lived in their neighborhood for decades and said they have seen them change.

Others also spoke up for the so called “Rose Floramo Plan.”

“Other towns and cities manage to register and inspect such properties. Why can’t we?” Skeeter Tower asked.

At a previous meeting, council members said they had not received copies of the plan. Citizen’s Advisory Committee Chair Mike Civiletto made sure to bring in a digital copy for each member at Tuesday’s meeting.

Third Ward Councilman Adelino Gonzalez, who sits in the late Floramo’s previous position on council, said he is interested in moving the plan forward by having the attorney and building inspector meet with a presentation tentatively scheduled for the April Economic Development Committee meeting.

Fourth Ward Councilwoman Stacy Szukala remembers having worked on the plan before and seeing it go no where. She also said she will work on it, but warned the city may have its hands tied in some matters.

“This isn’t something we’ve ignored, please understand that, if it was as easy for the council to make up a plan and put it in the minutes and move forward with it, it would have been done a long time ago, but you’re talking about needing help from the county and the state of New York,” she said.

After the meeting, Mayor Willie Rosas called the Floramo Plan a good first step to addressing this issue, but he said it should also be paired with having the city attorney look into other options and lobbying the state legislature to speed up foreclosure proceedings.

“The city of Dunkirk is not the only municipality dealing with this issue. This is a statewide issue. … I don’t want to leave any stone unturned. I want to address this issue. I think that their concern is valid because we have development coming to our city. We have a lot of new developers coming and expecting that there are going to be people looking for homes. We would like to make sure we’re prepared to keep these people coming in and moving to our city. So this is something we definitely need to followup on,” he added.

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