You may remember that I’ve described my neighborhood in glowing terms. People help people. It has a relatively quiet nature. Albeit, one of our houses was used to cook meth, but that was taken care of by our local police, and after the house was gutted and cleaned, another family lives comfortably in the house.
Within the past six months, another of the houses has changed ownership. The house is to my immediate east. It is a corner house and faces the corner in a somewhat catewampus fashion. Faces neither one of the streets nor the other. Just faces the place where both streets meet.
The previous owners took their funds from the sale of the house and ran. It is clear that they cared nothing for the neighbors who live in the area. Neighbors who had, I believe, helped to nurture their three sons. Neighbors who tolerated the boys playing in the street, in the path of cars. Boys who were constantly on a skate-board-like structure designed for the boys to ride their bikes up and down, up and down, making lots of noise for their neighbor to the south. Because of the way my house is situated against the way the back of their house is situated, I rarely heard the noise from the boys, the bikes, and the boards. It saddens me that these parents who were well liked and respected have lost all of the neighbors’ appreciation because it is clear that, as my mother used to say, money speaks loudest of all!
After the former owner moved out, the current owner had larger windows installed in the basement – on a weekend. I’m sure that no permits were let to insure that the windows were correctly installed.
The new owner paid a hefty price for the house. He lied when he told us – the neighborhood – that it was his plan to rent the house to a family. It seemed to be his plan, all along, to install several renters in the house to recoup his extremely large payment and mortgage. The renters arrived on a Friday evening, close to dark. We’ve been told by the owner that five people signed the lease; with the number of cars in evidence, we think it is more likely that six people are living in the house.
We are an R1A zoned area. Our city permits two unrelated people to live in a house in our R1A zoned neighborhood. The current use of the house is clearly in violation of this city code. A neighbor talked with the new owner and told him that the zoning only permitted two unrelated people to live in the house. He clearly is ignoring this rule by the city.
It, also, seems probable to me that it is also being used as a bed and breakfast. The cars are not always the same. This is also a clear violation of a city ordinance. While short-term rental (bed and breakfast) is allowed in my city, the owner of the property must live in the house. He does not.
What all of this means is that we, the neighbors, must now work with the city to attempt to get the situation rectified. We have already had three incidents with arguments in the night, police having to be called, screaming, and vehicles tearing away from the premises with tires screeching. We have children in our neighborhood. These behaviors with cars definitely are not good for our children.
We have been in contact with an employee of the city. He made a visit during the day to observe the house and the number of cars parked there. During the day is a poor time to visit the house. To learn how many cars come to the house is best seen at the end of the day. Today is Friday. there are six cars parked at the house. Actually, five cars and a truck. Photographs of the cars are included with this article. Next week, the city worker will receive another e-mail; this time from me. An e-mail with license plate numbers and photographs of the cars. And, now, the residents of the house are “hiding” the cars on other streets to prevent discovery of the numbers are there.
If we as a community do nothing to get the problem resolved, this will not be the only house in the neighborhood that will fall victim to this stuffing of renters into a rental house. Can we get this clear violation of city ordinance taken care of. Anyone you talk to will probably say it cannot be done. But, only time will tell.
Life gets teejus don’t it!
Be safe and well.
The Cranky Crone
If you have thoughtful feedback or questions, please let me know with a comment below.
5 replies on “My Neighborhood”
So sorry. Not good. Rentals in a stable neighborhood are frustrating. We have one on our cul-de-sac but so far those who are renting are wonderful neighbors.
Boo hiss! What a world!
It breaks my heart! Go after them!
Keep up the fight, relentlessly. It is a good thing that you live in Englewood because this is, now, acceptable in Denver.
All that you have stated is spot on, and I am grateful that we are working on this together Marj. Since moving into this neighborhood 18 years ago, we have enjoyed the peace and comradery of this unique mix of people whom we call both neighbors and friends. I refuse to let a GREEDY ‘investor’ disrupt our lives with his casual disrespect for rules designed to support the consideration the rest of us show for one another in this neighborhood. Hang in there – kindness & consideration will prevail!