3-13-07

Lakewood Neighborhood Group
3-13-2007



Tom W: Began the meeting with a prayer.

Officer S: Led the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance.

Beth W: Thanked Alderman Bryant for the signs to announce our meetings. Abandoned houses remain a concern. There was an article in The Times about the McAlmont area problem with abandoned houses. Sam Baggett of the Neighbors United for Levy stated they have discussed this problem in their area and are having a Levy Meeting Monday April 2nd @ 7pm at the Glenview Recreation Center at 4801 Allen. He is also on the Planning Commission.

Larry E.: Code Enforcement—Will bring up the issue of abandoned houses. Larry
will also attend the Levy meeting.

Officer
Sorrells: North Little Rock will probably incorporate McAlmont area west of the railroad tracks eventually past Sherwood to the city lines.

Tom W: Research of other cities regarding vacant houses was informative. One web site www.vacanthouses.org has a lot of information. Examples were given of fines (See web site). One definition of an abandoned house was “deteriorating single family homes”

Beth W: We need a definition for our city. Beth asked Officer Sorrells to repeat his broken window theory and how it can ruin an entire neighborhood.

Officer
Sorrells: These meetings are about how a community can get back together and let city officials know about problems. If a crime is committed in an abandoned house, NLR can abate the house but, dilapidated houses falling apart are just as much a problem but take longer for anything to be done about them. Code can go in and tell the owner to fix up the house or tear it down or the city will, and bills the owner.

Larry E: Condemnation can take up to year. Cedric Williams and Felisha Henry do abatement and condemnations in the Code department. Rental property can be a big problem; landlords’ not checking on property to make sure it is ok.
Please call code enforcement with any problems.

Officer
Sorrells: Warmer weather means an increase in lawn mowers and yard equipment that is stolen. If you see someone driving around door to door asking to mow or trim trees 95% of the time they are casing houses. People have to have a permit in NLR to go door to door. There was a house broken into on Crestline yesterday and on Kent recently. Lock your doors and cars, leave lights on outside at night, take property inside or lock in the trunk.

Next meeting is April 10th. Please bring a neighbor.