OSWEGO – Oswego Mayor Billy Barlow has announced the Oswego City Code Enforcement Office and the Oswego City Police Department will collaborate to conduct a “code enforcement blitz” on the West side of the City of Oswego from Utica Street to Lake Street in the first, third and fifth city wards.
The code enforcement “blitz” has become an annual event in the City of Oswego under the Barlow administration, but typically is conducted in the spring when off-campus residents begin to move out of rental units and other residents conduct spring cleaning.
Due to a sudden end to the spring semester because of COVID-19, the city held off on the annual blitz until now, using the opportunity to educate new off campus residents of property-maintenance rules and expectations.
The Oswego Police Department and Code Enforcement Department will both be patrolling the area to prevent trash and furniture from accumulating in front of rental properties and focusing their resources on the blighted and dilapidated rental homes specifically in the designated focus area.
“Our code enforcement blitz will help to inform both landlords and tenants of our rules and expectations when it comes to the appearance and behavior of a rental property in Oswego,” Barlow said. “During our Code Enforcement Blitz, we have a zero-tolerance policy and I have authorized the Code Enforcement and Police Departments to immediately take necessary enforcement action as needed to gain compliance from property owners, including immediate ticketing with fines. We will also focus our Code enforcement efforts on blighted properties in our targeted zone and keep the pressure on rental properties in that area.”
Barlow said an organized “blitz” will bring additional code enforcement resources into a smaller targeted area in an effort and allow code personnel to better focus on specific problematic properties in an effort to gain compliance and provoke mandated improvements to rental properties.
“With off-campus residents returning for the fall semester, it’s important to educate tenants and landlords on rules and expectations for property maintenance and our code blitz demonstrates just how seriously we take violations,” Barlow said.
The Department of Code Enforcement and Oswego Police Department will be conducting Quality of Life and Neighborhood engagement patrols this week, including evenings and over the weekend, identifying and enforcing code violations.
Property owners and tenants are encouraged to make prior arrangements for garbage pickup, and removal from their property and may be issued appearance tickets for any trash and debris left visible, or any other violation, this week including:
-Vehicles should not be parked on grass or obstructing a sidewalk
-Interior furniture, appliances or trash may not be on an exterior porch or in the yard.
-There should be no multi-day front yard, curbside stockpiling of garbage, debris or furniture. It is unacceptable to wait until the next garbage pickup cycle.
-Property owners/managers should take an active role in managing this process. Past experience has proven that this responsibility cannot and should not be transferred to tenants.
Should property owners fail to comply with the above expectations, Barlow has authorized the Office of Code Enforcement and the Oswego City Police Department to immediately take necessary enforcement action as needed to gain compliance.
To anonymously report a code enforcement or property maintenance violation, call Oswego Code enforcement at 315-342-8120.
Discover more from Oswego County Today
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.