Wednesday, August 6, 2008
City lets residents stay in building nearly condemned
MIAMI (WSVN) -- Residents of a condo complex will be able to stay after code enforcement nearly condemned their building because it was too dangerous to live in.
Residents were given an indefinite deadline Tuesday afternoon to fix the building if they meet some conditions. "They can either fix their fire alarm, hire a fire watch to come here, like a security guard to make sure and watch over the building or they'll have to vacate the premises," said Kelly Penton spokesperson for the City of Miami.
Only 17 residents remained in the 51-unit Cedar's Point building along Northwest 15th Street and 16th Avenue after the housing market went bust, and those living there were left to try to manage the building on their own.
After Tuesday's near forced evacuation, only 10 remain (the others will stay at hotels with aid from the Salvation Army until they find some other form of shelter).
Before the scant few were left to fend for themselves after the dismantling of their homeowner's association, many tenants were foreclosed on leaving those few that remained unable to afford to keep the building up.
"Actually, it was a beautiful place," said Danny Toledo. But that beautiful place quickly soured when it was cited for violating fire codes and failed to meet a Tuesday deadline to meet code requirements.
"Trash is one major problem. That trash goes all the way up to the fourth floor," said Miami Fire Rescue Lieutenant Ignatius Carroll. Garbage trucks and crews were able to clear the mess of garbage before the end of the day.
But the trash, which had piled up in a garbage chute of the edifice, was just the beginning of these homeowners' problems. "The elevator is shut down. The garbage was not picked up for like four to five months. The water was not paid, it's going to be turned off any minute now," said Toledo a day before the building was officially condemned. Even part of the building had no power whatsoever.
Residents sent letters to city and state agencies for help, but now they have no choice but to leave.
Carroll said the wiring in the building was rigged in a dangerous manner, not to mention there was no working fire alarm system. "They have wires that are exposed, meters that are not properly fitted and some that were even damaged and they had some that they were tying in power from other units, and that right there is definitely unsafe, and the main thing is that the fire alarm system is not working at all."
Wilson Burgos had hoped he was making a good investment in purchasing a unit in the building. "When I first saw the building I thought it was a really nice place. I thought I was making a good investment," he said.
Burgos moved into the building a year ago, and he said it was thriving then. But then people started having trouble paying their mortgages and let their condos go into foreclosure. Then came the problems,
Empty units had their appliances stolen and homeless people broke in and began living in abandoned units, vandalizing the building. The homeowner's association could not afford to pay the management company with so few residents paying maintenance for the building.
Toledo blames the mortgage crisis for his and his neighbors having to move out. "This is just the banks and the lenders and the realtors," he said. "If you have very low standards, and you approve all these condos to everybody to whom they are approving these mortgages, and if the people aren't able to afford their mortgages, why would you approve it?"
City of Miami Commissioner Angel Gonzalez said he expects to see other communities suffer similar fates. "This is going to be happening all over Dade County pretty soon, with the foreclosures and people not being able to pay for their mortgages," he said.
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