What the L? 431 North L St.

If you have followed my “Nightmare on North L St. posts”  you know that the outbuildings located behind the apartment building at 431 North L St. have been a source of problems. More detailed information regarding the city owned property at 431 may also be found at Wes Blackman’s site (Click here for a link).

A while back I had heard that the outbuildings were slated to be demolished. The main apartment building is designated as a historic structure (see Wes’s site) but the outbuildings, which were apparently built later were not. After some effort we were able to get the apartment building properly secured. However the out buildings remain an unsafe eyesore that attract drug users.

Last month I met Mayor Clemens at a neighborhood association meeting and brought up the subject of the demolition of the outbuildings. He kindly offered to find out what the status was.  I followed up with an e-mail the next  morning. I never heard back, so I inquired again in person and once more sent a follow up e-mail the next day.

Superbowl Sunday I heard power tools being used at 431 and headed out to investigate. I found the company who boards up structures for the City working on the smaller of the two outbuildings. They were in the process of securing the smaller of the two outbuildings. They do very good work that results in a much more secure and infinitely more attractive result than the slapdash nailing of old boards across the windows and doors that the City has authorized for the outbuildings in the past.

While I was concerned that the securing of the outbuildings indicated that they were not slated for demolition (why would the city pay to have them boarded if they were to be razed anytime soon?). I took a few photos and left them to their work. I was happy that at least the buildings would now be secured and the unsightly and non code compliant hodgepodge of wood and debris nailed to the building would be replaced with secure, white painted plywood.

Imagine my surprise the next day when I took a look at the outbuildings again. The crew had secured only one window and one door on the smaller of the two buildings. Yes they are secure and yes they are attractive. But the larger of the two buildings was left untouched.

Well, this morning I sent another E-mail to the Mayor detailing what had transpired last Sunday. I just received a reply that indicates that perhaps the other building was to be secured as well and that he would get back to me this afternoon. Thank you Mr. Mayor, your help is appreciated!

Hopefully I will be able to update this soon with a positive result.  In the meantime you can see the current conditions at 431 N. L as well as some of the drug paraphernalia I found around the area.

Explore posts in the same categories: Uncategorized