POLL: Do Salem's Loud/Disorderly Homes Affect You?
The city is working to implement a new disorderly homes ordinance. Do disorderly homes affect you?
The City Council is working to crack down on neighborhood residences with chronic noise/disorderly issues in Salem.
At a committee meeting on Ordinances, Licenses & Legal Affairs and later during the regular City Council meeting Thursday, councilors discussed the creation of a disorderly house ordinance.
The council made a first passage of the disorderly house ordinance, which calls for fines of up to $300 for repeat violators.
The issues of noise and disorderly households was brought to the council's attention by Sgt. Harry Rocheville of the Salem Police Department's Community Impact Unit.
In a letter addressed to Mike Sosnowki, chairman of the committee, Rocheville recommended increases in fines to the city's noise ordinance and enforcement tools for disorderly homes.
According to the draft of the ordinance, a disorderly residence is "any building, or part thereof, which the police department has identified as a disorderly house after having responded to multiple calls for service to the property" for activities that "have a tendency to unreasonably disturb the community and affect the quality of life of the neighborhood."
The draft references "loud music, boisterous parties," loud noise or fights and intoxicated people in pubic ways as qualifiers for a disorderly designation.
Councilor-at-Large Arthur Sargent expressed concern that some landlords who have good intentions to "make things right," could be negatively affected by the ordinance.
Other councilors assured him that the Salem Police would use discretion.
Ward 5 Councilor Josh Turiel said there are some homes in the city that have been "long-standing" issues. Turiel said he hopes "one thing the ordinance will hopefully do is motivate landlords" to rectify a situation. Oftentimes, landlords have continuously paid modest fines instead of getting to the root of the issues, Turiel explained.
The ordinance wouldn't just target college houses. Sosnowski said the ordinance could also impact sober houses. The city is working on regulations for rooming/lodging houses after a controversy earlier this year.
Chris
2:08 pm on Friday, May 11, 2012
The fines/penalties should be levied on the residents of the house or apartment in question instead of the landlord. Oftentimes the landlord has little or no control over what his tenants do.
gene
2:13 pm on Friday, May 11, 2012
both should be fined. It is the landlord who chooses the quick buck over tranquility in the neighborhood.
CarleaSkunkrawk
6:33 pm on Friday, May 11, 2012
But then how does the landlord judge? Don't be judgmental of people...
gene
10:34 am on Saturday, May 12, 2012
You do credit checks, CORI checks, and call references. I live across from an multi-unit, abstentee landlord owned building and it can be unbearable at times. If the landlord wants to collect the rents then he or she has to be responsible for what goes on there.