DATE: Monday, May 12, 1997                  TAG: 9705120040

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LOUIS HANSEN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:   78 lines

EYESORE STILL STANDS, DESPITE RESIDENTS' IRE CITY OFFICIALS SAY THEY'VE BEEN TRYING TO GIVE THE ABSENT HOMEOWNERS TIME TO PAY TAXES.

192 Cedar St. has the qualities that make neighbors call 911 and buttonhole their city council representative at the grocery store.

A perennially weedy, unkempt lawn. Transients camped under the carport. An out-of-state owner. Conspicuous plywood patches over its windows.

On the heels of an April 17 civic meeting to address the ills of Suffolk housing, some Hall Place residents have criticized the city for its seeming reluctance to tear down the boarded-up duplex at the entrance to their community.

``It's inviting somebody to break in and do drugs, or set it on fire,'' said Mamie Arrowood, who, with her husband, Joe, has lived at 190 Cedar St. since 1979.

Dozens of residents at the April meeting shared similar stories about abandoned or boarded-up homes in their neighborhoods.

Wendy Hill, who lives on South Main Street and organized the civic meeting, said the Cedar Street property is an example of how long it takes - in this case, four years and counting - to get rid of a single dilapidated house.

``If this is how the city is going to handle boarded-up structures,'' she said, ``then nothing is going to get done.''

City officials admit the process is lengthy. Senior assistant city attorney Wendell M. Waller said the city has the right to sell a property if taxes have not been paid for three years.

Co-owners Raymond Lassiter and Dennis Nurney have not paid property taxes for five years, according to city records. Back taxes and city charges for mowing grass on the property total $2,916.96.

The city mailed a notice to Nurney and Lassiter last week. And the property has been moved up on a list of upcoming suits, said City Treasurer Ronald H. Williams. The property ``was so far down the list'' of parcels to be auctioned that it would not have been included for at least another year.

Even with that, the process of auctioning the house could take up to 18 months, officials said. Most of that time is spent trying to locate owners, allowing them time to pay their taxes, and gathering together enough properties to justify holding a public auction.

The city used to hold four auctions a year until 1992, when, Williams said, ``the process got a little off track'' because of the sudden death of the city employee who organized them. The city held an auction in March and will probably have another in July or August.

The delay is particularly upsetting to residents who were already upset that a former assistant city manager hadn't kept a written promise that the house would be auctioned in November 1996.

Hall Place Community Association president Cassandra Sylve said the group focused on the property because of its graffitti-marred and sagging facade.

Fixing up 192 Cedar St. would be the first step toward bringing the Hall Place neighborhood, near downtown, ``back to its original splendor,'' she said.

Waller said 192 Cedar St. is not on the city's demolition list because it fails to meet the code enforcement criteria as a building in imminent danger of collapse.

And, he said, the city usually does all it can to collect property taxes before taking a property to auction. Owners ``have a right to pay their taxes,'' Waller said.

Raymond Lassiter, 69, said in a telephone interview from his Maryland home that he has not seen his Suffolk property in several years.

He does not want to lose the property, which has been appraised by the city at $29,200. ``I'm going to have to come down and see what's going on,'' he said.

Nurney, who inherited half ownership of the property from his mother, could not be reached for comment.

Joe Arrowood, a Cedar Street neighbor who has been vocal about the property, has a $10,000 judgment against it for damage an oak tree at 192 Cedar St. has done to his driveway and patio.

After four years of repeated calls to the police and visits to City Hall by the Arrowoods, the house was vacated and its windows sealed with plywood in April 1995.

Since then, Arrowood said, he has seen two people try to break into the building. A homeless man camped under the carport for a few days last summer.

``The house,'' Arrowood said, ``has got to be removed.'' KEYWORDS: SUFFOLK HOUSING

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