Task Force conducts third neighborhood sweep

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Assistant City Solicitor John Flor looks for evidence to link the excess garbage with a particular property on a sweep of New Bedford rental properties.Natalie Sherman

By NATALIE SHERMAN

June 09, 2012 12:00 AM

NEW BEDFORD The crew of camera-wielding city officials that swept through the South End Friday in search of miscreant property owners snapped pictures of rotten food, ripped furniture, burned-out porches and abandoned properties and received kudos from residents even their targets.

Just last month, the city slapped a $50 fine on Richard and Toby Demello of Scott Street because the people living in the family's second property including their son didn't place their trash inside barrels on trash day.

"I paid it. I got no problem with that. I think they're going a good job," Richard Demello, 74, said.

Friday's survey was the Task Force's third since its launch in April. Previous mayors have also organized task forces to try to clean up the city's neighborhoods.

"The over-arching goal is to have more orderly, more vibrant, more livable neighborhoods," Mayor Jon Mitchell said. "Houses with numerous code violations obviously detract from the neighborhood's quality of life."

In the previous two sweeps, the city identified 200 code violations involving serious structural problems or safety hazards and issued orders for correction on 79 properties, according to information provided by Assistant City Solicitor John Flor, who heads the Task Force.

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Task Force conducts third neighborhood sweep