By Cathy Ingalls
Albany Democrat-Herald | Posted: Thursday, May 21, 2009 12:00 am
Before Saturday's "Big Pickup," 11 residents in the Willamette River neighborhood received police citations giving them 30 days to clean up piles of junk or face a $2,500 fine.
This week the city planned to see how far the cleanup went.
"We won't decide what to do about the citations until we've checked things out," city spokeswoman Marilyn Smith said.
Those with court dates have until then to clean up their property. To get their property rechecked, they should call Community Service Officer Jerry Morris at (541) 917-7680.
One option for the city is to send a team in to clean up a property and then put a lien on it, Smith said. Another is if a "substantial" amount of work has been done, then the city could consider forgiving the fine.
One of the properties is at 2209 Front St. N.E. and is owned by Ken Akin, 74.
The state of Akin's property has been reported to the city's code enforcement team several times over the past few years.
The site contains lumber, small appliances, furniture, rugs, purses, an exercise bike, a sewing machine and piles of junk. There is a shed in the backyard that lacks a roof and siding.
Akin said some of the junk was left on his property and he acquired other things intending to sell them or use them for projects. He complained that a utility pole in the backyard tipped over a couple of weeks ago, landing on his shed, exposing the contents to rain.
Neighbors Dala Rouse and Alice Fitzpatrick offered to help Akin transport his metal for recycling during The Big Pickup Albany Community Action Day but in the end, they said, he did not want to let go of it.
Mayor Sharon Konopa also tried to convince Akin to let volunteers remove items from his yard.
"I knew he would not part from his collection without some sort of payment," she said. "I told him I would give him $100 for his weathered boards to go to a private campground owner to use for campfires."
Konopa hopes to remove the wood from Akin's property this weekend.
Konopa and Rouse are trying to work with Akin because of help he gave them earlier.
About 10 years ago, the mayor said, the two were standing in a city street taking photographs of a potential code violation in the neighborhood when "Mr. Akin assisted us during a physical confrontation."