Lawrence describes citations as “motivated by rogue officials”

If my officials are going to go all rogue-y, I’ll take being overenthusiastic in their citations of…er…multiple property owners. We’re probably not supposed to call them “slumlords” anymore.
Nice photo, by the way.

I’ve met a number of his tenants and a few contractors that have worked on his properties and all said the same things about him, none of it good. I don’t know who Hillbert is but anyone cutting this guy slack should talk to some of Lawrence’s tenants first.

The guy owns a house behind mine and people go in there all times of day… kids play in and out of it.. the door is opened one minute and closed the next… it caught fire around the time some of his other stuff caught fire… Someone should seize all his properties and kick him out of Richmond.

Definitely reason enough for not voting for Hilbert in the 3rd.

john_m:

May I suggest that you send a link of this article (if you already haven’t) to North Richmond News so that Hilbert’s constituency can see how this guy operates?

I’d do it, but you carry more clout.

Don’t you love how our local government works?!

‘MULTIPLE SUB STANDARD HOUSING UNITS” okay with everyone?

In response to John’s posting on 10/16 at 9:58pm, Mr. Lawrence has made political contributions to a candidate for City Council. Jonathan Davis, who is challenging Mr. Hilbert for the 3rd district Council seat, has accepted two contributions from Mr. Lawrence’s company. Lawrence owns and operates Standard Auto Body and Standard Auto Sales LLC and both made gifts of $250 to Mr. Davis’ campaign.

With regards to the allegations made against Mr. Hilbert, let’s explore the facts. In February, a conversation was held, initiated by Hilbert, with the city’s building commissioner to explore “ideas” around what could be done to get Mr. Lawrence to sell one of his blighted property’s to Boaz and Ruth, a non-profit interested in purchasing, renovating and maintaining the property in question. The Spot Blight Abatement Program, created by the Mayor in 2006, empowers the City to arrange for property resale in cases where the owner has not taken action and the feasibility of doing this with Mr. Lawrence’s property is exactly what Hilbert sought to explore.

For me, the end result of this guy selling his property to an organization that would use it to improve our community is worth a potential “break” on a code violation. Regardless of the differing opinions on the matter, the fact is all Hilbert did was throw out an idea for discussion. He did not instruct any employee of the city to do anything and he did not use his position to influence any action the part of anyone. Council’s job is to discuss and explore opportunities on a variety of topics that in the long-run benefit the city and its residents. That and nothing more is EXACTLY what was done here.

It’s shocking that Mr. Lawrence would have the nerve to allege that some of the 600 CODE VIOLATIONS may have been brought about by a “rogue city official – a current member of city council.” I think it should be noted that in 2007, Mr. Lawrence was fined $375,000 for 150 code violations on more than 44 properties. However, a “deal” was cut and the fines were suspended with the requirement that the violations be corrected. When all was said and done, Lawrence wasn’t required to pay a dime nor did he have to sell the properties in question. Interesting that this part of the story didn’t make it into the Voice.

However, what’s almost as bad as Mr. Lawrence is Mr. Davis comments and actions. He speaks about the need to eliminate blight (his own website states “owners of blighted properties must be held accountable for either renovating them and occupying them or selling them to persons who will.” EXACTLY what Hilbert was trying to do), but then he accepts contributions from two of the worst blighted property owners in the city. He says that Hilbert has abused his power in office, but it’s Mr. Davis that has been accused of using his position as a state employee to get prison child labor to design and print his campaign materials and at the same time, using taxpayer dollars to compensate these youth. Mr. Davis claims that Mr. Hilbert worked outside of the system and put the well-being of the third district in jeopardy. This is a complete and total fabrication. Mr. Hilbert worked within the confines of the system by following the chain of command and having a conversation and nothing more with the proper city staff. And, the conversation he did have was around finding ways to improve the well-being of the third district by eliminating the horrendously blighted property owned by Mr. Lawrence. Let’s remember this is a guy whose seeking elected office and asking for the support, confidence and trust of us as citizens. I don’t think so!

The reality is that for years Hilbert has been a leader on the issue of blighted property. Besides his work on Council, Mr. Hilbert has spent years working in community development and revitalization with Wachovia Bank and in his present position with the Virginia Housing and Development Authority. He has worked with the Commonwealth attorney’s office and this past year, after learning of the challenges in prosecuting blighted property offenders, he worked with Delegate Jennifer McClellan on legislation, which would make it easier for local government to enforce blight violations.

Lastly, does anyone else have a question as to how this email from the building commissioner to Kim Neal even got released to the media? Could it have come from the Mayor’s office as retaliation for Mr. Hilbert’s investigation into the eviction of the school board? Or could one of Mr. Davis’ campaign advisors (who just happens to be the Mayor’s nephew) be behind this story? I find the timing of it (just days after the incarcerated youth’s work on Davis’ campaign) very interesting.

Oliver Lawrence has also been accused of burning his own buildings down in order to collect the insurance. This guy is the lowest of the low and he has absolutely no morals or character. Read on…

STREET TALK, May 2008
Style Magazine

A vacant West Broad Street building downtown that burned March 11 was a known crack house with a dangerous reputation, neighboring business owners say. Although they haven’t determined the cause yet, the fire is considered suspicious since people were seen leaving the building at the time of the fire, and because the fire spread rapidly.

John Morand, who co-founded Sound of Music Recording Studio, saw his business heavily damaged by water used to battle the fire. “I’m definitely pretty pissed off at the city and their whole system of giving people fines for having [flaking] paint on their garage but not doing anything about something like this,” Morand says of the vacant building. “This problem wasn’t dealt with a long time ago.”

Morand saw the fire erupt at 323 W. Broad St. and fought it himself while waiting for firefighters to arrive. He says he’s called the city countless times over the years to report what he perceives as code violations and illegal activity there. The building was “a known place for people to hang out and smoke crack,” he says.

Ashland-based Bayou Properties LLC, which owns the building, declined to comment on the fire or the alleged city code violations. This company is owned by Oliver Lawrence. The city considered it blighted property, city spokesman Linwood Norman confirmed.

“The property was on the vacant building registry that the city has put into place,” Norman says. “There had been inspection activity and a stop-work order had been issued earlier in February for mechanical and electrical work that there was no permit for.”

That was the least of the building’s troubles, according to Morand. “It hasn’t had a front door on it in months,” Morand says. “[The city] didn’t do anything — other than put a little pink sticker up on the building. It’s exactly one block from the main police station. It’s amazing this hasn’t happened sooner.”

The fire, which started about noon Sunday, destroyed the building and also damaged the Sound of Music Recording Studio. Initial reports, however, are that much of the studio equipment escaped serious damage. 1708 Gallery was also shuttered by the fire.

It seems to me we are all in need of a civics lesson. In Richmond’s city government, there is a legislative branch (represented by council) and an executive branch (represented by the mayor). City agencies (like the Department of Community Development) do not report to city council, rather they report the executive branch. In the case of Standard Auto, the executive agency was doing their job by serving these violations to Mr. Lawrence. Instead of feeling intimidated, he should do something with his property. Because of the way the city government works, Mr. Hilbert could not have threatened Mr. Lawrence with the agents of the Department of Community Development or the Police and thus he could not have abused his power as Mr. Davis has been so eloquently quoted because he does not have that power abuse.

People may be confused or possibly uninformed about how the city operates. The problem is that the city doesn’t do what it should do or what it says it’s going to do. No wonder people don’t “get it.”

I am aware of the spot blight program and of Mr. Lawrence’s terrible track record and his run down properties.

Also, the Richmond Voice tends to print propaganda and suspicion instead of real journalistic stories. So, I always take their “reporting” with a grain of salt.

The thing is, there are NO city officials that have taken this man to task in a manner that is expedient and for the good of the community. Mr. Hilbert has not done enough. Nor has any other district Council person where Mr. Lawrence owns property. Enough is enough.

It’s hard to vote for community leaders where there seems to be none.

An interesting question to ask of all of the candidates for City Council would be “What will you do to pursue legislation to allow cities to take more stringent action against owners of decrepit and vacant properties including immediate seizure of the property by the city?”

Since this particular property owner has problem properties in many districts in the city, it would be interesting to see this posted on all of the community blogs for reaction.