I used to live in Calipatria many years and I go there quite often because I have family there. Every time I go there the city looks worse as far as cleanup of the neighborhoods. It seems like there is no code that equally addresses all of the citizens. I see junk cars everywhere. If I was a newcomer to the city, I wouldn’t want to live there. Is there any group, or can the City Council maybe put some fire under someone so that this could be addressed, and then maybe the city would be liked by outsiders? Everyone I know that goes there tells me what a dump that city is, and I see it and I agree. — Concerned Outsider, Chino
Although he didn’t say it with the lack of tact the writer did, Calipatria City Manager Romualdo Medina wouldn’t disagree.
It’s a serious problem Calipatria is having right now. The combination of a lack of funding from the dissolution of redevelopment agencies by the state (which existed to take care of blight), city residents choosing not to water their yards because of water costs and the long and laborious process of nuisance abatement efforts, the city is having a serious problem getting a handle on the cosmetics of the neighborhoods.
Medina told us that 14 properties in the city are going through some stage of the legal process involved in nuisance abatement and abandoned vehicle abatement under city ordinances.
It turned out to be a two-year process on some properties, he said. The chief problem is many of the properties in question are either vacant or abandoned, and the city has struggled to locate the owners.
Even then, those familiar with the abatement process understand that the governmental entity involved must provide ample time for the property owner to respond, and even there that can be a back-and-forth process.
In the past some cities have simply sped through the process and cleaned up properties on the cities’ dime, and then billed the resident. But the city must have the money to do this from the start.
Medina indicated funding to remediate this blight was lost when RDA funding was lost, which previously saw a portion of taxes that went to the state redistributed to cities with designated redevelopment zones.
The added issue making the neighborhoods even more unsightly is the yellowing lawns and dying trees. Medina said residents aren’t watering for fear of hitting a second tier of pricing on their water rates from Golden State Water Co.
As it stands, Golden State is petitioning the California Public Utilities Commission to raise the water rates significantly higher in a city marked by poverty.
The bright side of all of this — if there is one — is the nuisance abatement process has seen at least one property addressed recently, a second is about halfway remediated and the hopes are the others will run their process one by one.
To comment on this story click here to be directed to Facebook.
