CORPUS CHRISTI, Tx — KRIS 6 News Westside neighborhood news reporter Naidy Escobar has an update on Morris and Harmon Street on two properties residents have been complaining about.
Earlier this month KRIS 6 News reported on safety concernsregarding two properties that were in need of maintenance, they are located right across the street from a headstart facility.
Just a day after KRIS 6 News aired the story, the city cleaned out one of the properties but the other one was left with a blue notice from the city.
KRIS 6 News did a little digging and found out that the property that is still needing maintenance is not owned by the city.
Naidy sat with the Corpus Christi Development Services Department and Spoke to the assistant director of the Code and Compliance Tracey Cantu. She said there is a process that code enforcement has to do to be able to move forward with cleaning out a property that isn't owned by the city.
“Code Enforcement will go out in and do a site visit they’ll inspect that property to verify if there is a code violation, so the officer confirms that they come back they do a little bit of property research to find out who owns it," she said. "Then a notice of violation is sent to the owner."
Ernesto Arriaga has had his appliances business near Port and Morris for 30 years and said the upkeep of the property next door just keeps getting worse.
“The homeless people they live in here, they do drugs and the trash and everybody comes and throws trash in here," Arriaga said.
He added that this problem has affected his business but one of his other concerns is the kids.
"They see all this kind of stuff and that’s not good for the daycare because they are little kids (...) that’s not good for them,” Arriaga said.
He said his customers get scared because they see a lot of homeless and they don’t feel secure and that’s a big issue for the business.
Cantu said that after the owner is given a notice they have a timeframe to be able to clean or work on violation.
"If the owner fails to comply and resolve or secure that violation to mow the property if it's tall weeds, that’s where the city steps in to take care of it for public health and safety," she said." You know we want to make sure that that we’re taking care of it for all of the neighbors who have to live around that property.
Cantu said that since 2012 seven lein have been placed on the property meaning the city has notified the owner and has cleaned it out several times.
We tried reaching out to the owners but didn’t get a response.
As for the headstart facility, Cantu said the status of the clean-up is a top priority.
“If we can expedite that and get it cleaned up because yes, definitely we do take an account where and what’s nearby the property," Cantu said. " Certainly with the daycare that’s close by we wanna make sure that that we keep that that area clear."
Cantu encourages residents to call 311 to report any concerns you may have.
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