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Dunkirk: Proposal brings typical excuse

Mayor speaks, veterans honored at theater

Leave it to Allan Zurawski to put a damper on the upbeat spirit regarding a plan in Dunkirk to hold landlords and tenants more responsible regarding properties.

Zurawski, whose office has a history of selective code enforcement rather than citing the real eyesore properties in the city that often get handled by the county Land Bank, gave the typical response you would expect from a government official when discussing an idea to better the city. If the law happens, he said, his department will need more employees.

Ugh.

As proposed, the law would identify and register rental properties, provide a means to contact property owners, allow for inspection of properties, ensure maintenance, alleviate substandard housing and blight and outline landlord and tenant responsibilities. In addition to the registry and inspections, the law would also require out-of-town landlords to appoint a local agent or point of contact that can be called and held responsible for violations.

“Basically we have to make it a crime to rent property without registering,” city attorney Sean Connolly explained. “Our enforcement as code violations is limited to adjoining counties; criminal jurisdiction goes worldwide.”

Dunkirk and its government have done little except watch as properties have deteriorated for three decades — most of it during Zurawski’s watch. Adding employees is a burden the city cannot afford at this time — and it does not change the longtime mindset of the office.

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