No stranger to code enforcement, a former Ithaca mayor is asking for some action against owners of a big pile of pallets – and growing frustrated at the inaction.
City officials said maintenance code enforcement usually struggles when the weather breaks.
The season began with 18 citations, but one in particular was brought to the direct attention of city council earlier this month.
Former Ithaca mayor, Tim Palmer, spoke at the meeting describing the pile up of wooden pallets near his home.
“It upsets me,” he said. “At the meeting I shared facts. I read emails back and forth that I had written, and on April 30 an email stated ‘We’re aware of it. Give it a couple of weeks and we’ll cite them.’ I’m disgusted that it’s June 21, and we haven’t moved the pendulum forward.”
Palmer sent the initial email on April 16 addressing the outside storage situation and pallet production of 216 S. Pine River.
“I spoke to a councilperson the other day,” he said. “But I still haven’t heard anything from the staff since I spoke more than two weeks ago.”
It was also discovered that pallets inside of the building were being burned despite the abundance of them outside the building.
“I just want it cleaned up,” he said. “When I was on the council I was big on code. You have to be a good neighbor. I understand that I’m surrounded by businesses, but you have to be a good neighbor. I’m frustrated by the company not being a good neighbor, and the city not being a good neighbor after hearing all of this.”
Along with the pallets, landscaping of the property is also an issue.
“I have an acre of grass around me that’s waist high,” he said. “That creates a bigger mess. We see muskrats, woodchucks and mosquitos now. You have to cut your grass and keep your yard clean. To me, it’s not hard to do.”
Mayor Alice Schafer informed Palmer at the June 5 meeting that the city had seen some improvement and that they would get a code person soon.
“There has been a letter sent to address that issue,” she said. “I’m not sure what the next step is, but it’s in writing and it has been delivered. They’ve been given options on how to deal with what’s out there and they’ve been given a certain amount of days to fix the problem. It was sent sometime between the June 5 meeting and our last council meeting on Tuesday.”