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CODE ENFORCEMENT REPORT - 1998 The fire department has been responsible for code enforcement for nearly a year now, and so I'm prepared to give an overall view of the process. First of all, I can't stress enough the value of our spring clean-up day . A number of trashy yards were cleaned up as a result and next year I plan to hit the remaining accumulations. Another valuable program is our branch chipping service. We didn't do branch chipping this year until late in the summer and it showed. One more thing that I've discovered is that 80% of the problems I encounter are self- correcting (the homeowner sees the same problem that I do). The accompanying list primarily reflects those problems which required a bit of a nudge to comply. The following reflects my experience regarding the various aspects of code enforcement: Parking: The most widespread cause of parking problems (expired tabs, vehicles on grass, etc.) is adult sons. Sometimes they're away at school or the military, sometimes they've moved into housing with limited parking space, and sometimes they simply take advantage of mom and dad. In any case, we've removed about 12 - 15 junk cars from the landscape and are currently working on 4 more. Some of these cars have been here for more than 3 years. As long as people have sons, this will remain a chronic problem. Another issue is vehicles parked on the grass. It's amazing how much pavement has been added to St. Anthony to accomodate boat trailers, etc. I have been encouraging people to place patio stones under wheels and trailer tongues to keep impervious surfaces to a minimum. Signs: An interesting phenomenon - garage sale and various other signs appear mysteriously at 3:30 on Friday afternoons. The fact that Larry left for the weekend at that time might have something to do with this. In any case, our approach toward garage sale signs is to allow residents to put them in the right- of-way for 2 days. Signs advertising sales in surrounding communities and all signs nailed to power poles are confiscated immediately. I have received expressions of gratitude from residents for our enlightened policy. We conduct weekly sign patrols on Friday (after 3:30) and on the weekend. Trash: There are about 10 "trash" houses in St. Anthony. These are houses that tend to accumulate more stuff than can be stored inside, along with branches, yard waste, etc. Three of these houses are occupied by people with psychological problems, a couple by people affected by age, and the rest by people who have a • different set of values or are just plain lazy. One of these houses is the rental