geoffrey gauchet

Other People's Property: Finally, Some Action

Woohoo! Progress!

If you’ve been following along, for the past 2 years I’ve been complaining about an overgrown lot behind our house that now has rodents and possum living in it and coming into our house and yard, and this past weekend, a tree fell onto our fence from the yard because of termites. You can read the backstory here.

Short version: 3-1-1 and the city have done nothing to fix this problem, that is now a health and safety issue. A month ago I contacted our council member Cynthia Hedge Morrell to complain about the almost two years of no action after multiple complaints. Her Chief of Staff forwarded the email to Code Enforcement and that was the last I heard.

So yesterday, I contacted her office again, this time sending along photos of the tree that fell onto our fence, and this time, a little angrier than before.

And today, I got a phone call from her Chief of Staff.

It was a short phone call, but she said they were sending rodent control to the property today to treat for the rodents and that she is still working on getting the other issues resolved, but will continue to call me with updates.

Finally, after two years and numerous complaints to three different agencies, I’ve gotten some sort of result. Here’s to hoping everything gets settled in a timely manner from here on out.

It’s completely ludicrous that it has taken this long and this much effort, especially when there are articles in the Times-Picayune where the city claims complaints are handled within 30 days. 3-1-1 exists for the express purpose of these types of issues, but instead I’ve had to contact my city councilmember twice to get anything done.

New Orleans: Begrudgingly Proud to Call it Home.


« An Ode
February 8, 2013
Of Honesty and Concept Albums: My Top Albums of All Time »
October 23, 2013
View or Post Comments...