Hemming and a hawing over the URM buildings downtown is over
One of our Community Pulse Board members said it very well responding to the question “Do you agree with the City Council's decision Monday to place liens against unreinforced masonry downtown properties that have not been brought up to safety standards?” She wrote, “Yes, the time has come to get this issue resolved. Many of the building owners have been non-responsive and not cooperative. I would like to see a low interest loan option available to those who want to repair their buildings.” In chewing on this issue and watching a downtown stuck in a yukky time warp for 25 years, I have vacillated on the approach. But I’ve come around to Mayor Don Gage’s way of thinking and agree with the Council’s action. If the building owners want to demolish, so be it. Let them cut off their noses to spite their faces. They’d better keep those empty lots pristine, though, or they could be declared a public nuisance and, by the way, perhaps there are additional standards of upkeep for downtown properties that could be developed which include empty lots and the alleys behind them. If an entire rebuild with historical sensibility needs to be the way something gets done, OK. But Gage is right, the pile has to move.
FOSMAS Cat ‘n Dog Blog
Huge thanks to Main Street Media for giving FOSMAS (Friends of San Martin Animal Shelter) our very own blog! We’ll post a couple of times a week about local dog and cat events, adoption fairs, lost and found animals, animals that need to be re-homed, and adoptable animals in our foster homes or at the shelter.
