City of Rochester to Reacquire House on Bartlett Street
By: WROC-TV
Updated: July 7, 2012
The city of Rochester has taken the rare step of reacquiring one of its properties. The city announced Friday that it has an agreement to buy the home at 33 Bartlett Street, but the home's former owners still want to live there. They hope the city will choose to work with them.
However, the city of Rochester says the home at 33 Bartlett Street is a mess.
"The property has been out of code for probably about 12 years and for whatever reason the owner could not or would not keep the property up," said Gary Walker, the spokesperson for city of Rochester.
It has taken the unusual step of agreeing to purchase the property from a lien company which presently owns it.
"We're just trying to be a little proactive here and, frankly, the neighborhood has suffered enough," Walker stated.
Walker says the city's actions will clear up legal questions concerning title and access to the property. The purchase must first be approved by city council.
"Once we have the title then we're going to go in and see what we have there. We don't think it's a safe place for people to live, and we don't know if the property is even salvageable at this point," Walker continued.
Lee and Mary Windom Bey lived at 33 Bartlett Street for decades and still consider the property home. They're confused by all that's happened, and are being assisted by take back the land, a group which helps families fight foreclosure. Their hope is the city will work with the Windom Beys to resolve years of code violation fines and help them move back into their former home. One way or the other, the city saw no better outcome than to act.
"What we didn't want to do is keep the neighborhood in that state for much longer. It was going to have legal issues anyway and at the end of the day the city would've had to take responsibility one way or another. We'd rather be proactive," Walker concluded.
The Windom Beys wouldn't comment for this story. They're planning to release a statement through take back the land tomorrow.
However, the city of Rochester says the home at 33 Bartlett Street is a mess.
"The property has been out of code for probably about 12 years and for whatever reason the owner could not or would not keep the property up," said Gary Walker, the spokesperson for city of Rochester.
It has taken the unusual step of agreeing to purchase the property from a lien company which presently owns it.
"We're just trying to be a little proactive here and, frankly, the neighborhood has suffered enough," Walker stated.
Walker says the city's actions will clear up legal questions concerning title and access to the property. The purchase must first be approved by city council.
"Once we have the title then we're going to go in and see what we have there. We don't think it's a safe place for people to live, and we don't know if the property is even salvageable at this point," Walker continued.
Lee and Mary Windom Bey lived at 33 Bartlett Street for decades and still consider the property home. They're confused by all that's happened, and are being assisted by take back the land, a group which helps families fight foreclosure. Their hope is the city will work with the Windom Beys to resolve years of code violation fines and help them move back into their former home. One way or the other, the city saw no better outcome than to act.
"What we didn't want to do is keep the neighborhood in that state for much longer. It was going to have legal issues anyway and at the end of the day the city would've had to take responsibility one way or another. We'd rather be proactive," Walker concluded.
The Windom Beys wouldn't comment for this story. They're planning to release a statement through take back the land tomorrow.
Comments
This is a totally inaccurate story. If you want the full story, please read the very well researched article in today's D&C (Saturday). It is one of the best pieces of investigative journalism I've seen. If you read it, you will also see why the Mayor's office wanted the story told from their point of view. There is so much more to the story than you have told, and most of it is about very irresponsible City actions which resulted in the Windom Beys suffering from nearly 20 years of fighting for their home while not being able to give it make the repairs it needed due to City hijinks and lack of interest in remedying the situation.
Julie G.
July 7, 2012 at 10:09 pm
