CM article: Franklin inspector

[KBCraig]

Check this guy out... he's proud of what a little Nazi he is, chuckling and bragging about his authority!

http://concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060506/REPOSITORY/605060314

One yard at a time

New inspector out to clean up Franklin

By LAUREN R. DORGAN
Monitor staff
May 06. 2006 8:00AM

Jim Curran looks at Franklin like a parent: He loves the city no matter what, but he sure wishes it would clean up a little. Like any good parent, Curran is on Franklin's case.

Hired as the city's new property inspector last fall, Curran is working to clean up the city, one old car at a time. The retired state trooper focuses on property maintenance codes, mostly dealing with homes that have junk piles in front and rusty, unregistered vehicles in the side yard.

"I go in, I shake their hands like their long-lost buddy," Curran said. "I've always been nice, until I have to be something else."

He talks to property owners, tells them they're breaking the code. He gives them warnings, then notices and finally court summonses. By his tally, from November through April, he got 63 junk cars out of people's yards.

Curran and his boss, Franklin Fire Capt. Chuck Bodien, said that they aren't interested in fining people. They estimate that 90 percent of people clean up after just a warning. If they do take a case all the way to court, they ask to have part of the fine suspended.

But it's not all about being Mr. Nice Guy. Property inspection fines run $1,000 per violation. If the court suspends part of the fine on condition that people keep their lawns junk-free, Bodien and Curran say, they give violators a powerful reason to get up to code and stay that way.

"We don't care about fines," Curran said. "We want compliance."
   
On a tour of Franklin, Curran showed parental pride in improvements that others might not see.

Driving by a house with a couple of junkers in the yard, Curran pointed out that there used to be several more. Of a multifamily home with unregistered vehicles in its lot and heaps of trash, including gas tanks, piled against the back: "Actually, they're moving some stuff."

But he's not tolerant, he said, when someone gives him a "song and dance" about why they can't get a property cleaned up within the 30-day warning period. If a homeowner has a health problem or has had a death in the family, he listens. Otherwise, he's stern.

"I say, '30 days, that's a long time,'" he said.

One man who had nine unregistered cars in his yard fought the inspector almost all the way to court, Curran said.

"I took him aside and told him 'I'll whack you with $1,000 for each of these,'" Curran said. "He goes, 'Whoa, whoa, whoa.'"

Driving by that house, there's nothing but lawn where the cars used to be.

Curran likes to work on a few cases at a time, stopping by often, complimenting people on progress. "I get five or six good ones going, and I haunt them," he said.

Passing by the sign for Isola -the company that recently bought, and promptly announced the closure of the Polyclad factory, one of Franklin's largest employers - he's reflective.

"It's just a shame," he said. "Franklin's come such a long way since I came here."

Curran moved to Franklin in the early 1980s. He worked as an officer for Northfield, then Franklin and finally for the state police.

"In all that time, I never realized there were so many junkyards," he said.

When Curran, who retired from police work in 2002, heard about the new position of a part-time property inspector last fall, he jumped at the chance.

"Mostly because it's my city, too," he said. "I live here, and I want it cleaned up, too."

There's substantial overlap between Curran's caseload and the Franklin police's, he said. There was recently a drug raid at one home he's working on. Even so, he prefers to go alone, driving a fire department cruiser.

"Most people like firemen," he said. "I've got a better chance getting in."

For years, Bodien was Franklin's lone inspector. Construction jobs, which have a tight schedule, often took priority over property maintenance cases, which do not, he said. But he sympathized with neighbors and neighborhoods affected by junk-filled yards.

"It may be your whole life savings," he said. "What does that do for the neighborhood? What does it do for property values?"

Last year, the city council took up the cause and passed a budget with money for a second inspector.

Councilor Jay Bowers helped lead the charge. He'd sometimes take drives around the city to report particularly egregious cases.

"In the last couple of years, we've kind of undergone that image change where there's a lot of pride in Franklin now," he said. "It's just one small part of that."

Bowers said that he's noticed Curran making a difference all over the city, starting with West Bow Street, where the fire department is.

"I didn't actually meet him until he was hired," Bowers said. "But I thought to myself 'God, this guy's perfect.'"

[Fluff and Stuff]

What is so bad about this guy?  He reminds me of you    I think the Franklin Councilors are the ones that hired him.  Isn't this all their fault for creating him and the rules he has to follow.  Seriously, though, I am very bothered by even the existance of inspectors...

[Zork]

"We don't care about fines," Curran said. "We want compliance."

I'd almost rather have him more interested in the fines.  Greed is less sinister than groupthink.

Some people think old, unregistered cars and other miscelanious items as junk, I think of them as projects I'm meaning to work on

[KBCraig]

Some people think old, unregistered cars and other miscelanious items as junk, I think of them as projects I'm meaning to work on

I know what you mean. I have a '66 Chevy pickup in the back yard. It hasn't had tags since 1982, and hasn't been started since 1985. It has 46,000 original miles, and is dent free.

My sons' great-grandfather bought it new. It is not going to the junk yard. I'll get it fixed up one of these years, so that they can drive it.

Kevin

[Pat McCotter]

Wow, Kevin. A moving party is going to be fun with you. We haven't moved vehicles yet.

[aries]

How's this for an interesting act of property rights CD - leaving a heap of unsightly "junk" on your lawn.

[Tunga]

Tunga just had a recovered memory of burying a '49 Morris Minor motor on the neigbors property.

At least we don't have to worry about the West Nile Flue.

Oil kills without discrimination.

Unlike Depleated Uranium. Where you need a UN permit to kill and maime.

[KBCraig]

Wow, Kevin. A moving party is going to be fun with you. We haven't moved vehicles yet.

Here's the current Craig Family lineup:

- 2000 GMC conversion van, daily driver, which will be hauling our butts (and our trailer) to NH this summer. Will probably make the trip when we move for good.
- 1982 GMC pickup, daily driver, definitely won't make the trip when we move.
- 1996 Chevy Lumina sedan, former daily driver, awaiting new head gasket, probably won't make the trip when we move.
- 1966 Chevrolet Fleetside, perfect but desperate candidate for restoration, belongs to my two sons by previous marriage. Won't make the move; it will stay with my sons, even if I haven't made it ready for them to drive.

We plan to move with one main vehicle, then buy whatever North Country-suitable second vehicle we can find. Could be a Subaru, could be a Jeep, could be a 4WD pickup. We'll know it when we find it.

Kevin

[FTL_Ian]

Comply or die!