Comments on: The vacant house queen of Fairmount

By: Church Hill People's News » Eleven houses under $30K - Richmond, Virginia

Church Hill People's News » Eleven houses under $30K - Richmond, Virginia — Sun, 23 May 2010 14:41:26 +0000

[...] the 11 houses, only 1409 Mechanicsville Tpke was part of any of the slumlord empires responsible for so many of the vacant houses, having recently been owned by Oliver [...]

By: Church Hill People's News » So fresh and so clean! - Richmond, Virginia

Church Hill People's News » So fresh and so clean! - Richmond, Virginia — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 17:10:59 +0000

[...] 1322 North 22nd Street (a Donald Lacey/Stacy Martin [...]

By: Guest

Guest — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:10:58 +0000

Any new updates on the situation involving Stacy Martin and that Don Lacey person?

By: j

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:33:48 +0000

Just because a home is boarded up and the grass is cut doesn’t mean that it is immune to public nuisance laws. It would require extra burden of proof however that it is unsafe or unhealthy for the public. But if the properties have been vacant for a long time and there has been no effort to sell or repair, and given the large number of properties, it doesn’t seem that that should be a problem. The city just needs to be aggressive against these slumlords.

By: alison

alison — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:25:47 +0000

interesting john! it doesnt seem like martin et. al. are concerned with maintaining the integrity of these old homes or the community. buying up houses in bulk? obviously that leaves little room for devoting much time, concern, or money into each one individually.

lane: thanks for all your work with the a.c.o.r.n.

By: john_m

john_m — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:30:48 +0000

That is the problem. They don’t seem to be in violation, but are still a huge negative drag on the community.

By: katzenjaammer

katzenjaammer — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:13:20 +0000

If I may play devil’s advocate; if the houses, which are rundown and boarded up but if not particularly overgrown or crackhouses…what can be done to compel them to fix them up? Anything? What are they in violation of?

I’m trying to compare this to how they prosecuted O.L. and Bayou. Are there parallels?

By: Shannon

Shannon — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:09:49 +0000

From a business standpoint, I wonder what the payoff is. Seems more like an ego trip than anything that makes any financial sense. The amount of work that each appears to need seems like it would effectively cancel out any equity that these folks might be building by holding on and letting the buildings deteriorate, remain without climate control, etc. – which is damaging in and of itself. Not to mention the effect on the actual humans that are the neighbors.

Good work in exposing this silliness, John.

By: Lane

Lane — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:00:15 +0000

Since September, I’ve left 12 or 15 voicemails with her, sent emails, and mailed letters on behalf of the Alliance to Conserve Old Richmond Neighborhoods and have yet to hear back from her. I’ve also spoken to Carol Hazard at the T-D (she wrote the Don Lacey pieces earlier this year) to she if she knew anything. It’s a frustrating situation.

By: Bill Conkle

Bill Conkle — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:31:40 +0000

I’d be interested in what Stacy Martin has to say about this. I also wonder what the Times Dispatch and City Hall have to say on this matter.

By: john_m

john_m — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:28:50 +0000

I did, she has yet to return my call.

By: Runcy

Runcy — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:21:21 +0000

Why don’t you call Stacy and ask what’s going on?

By: el

el — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:42:12 +0000

Including the (as far as we can tell) finally vacant Generator House, there are only four houses on my block that haven’t been restored or renovated in some way. We got an Oliver Lawrence house next door to a Stacy Martin house. I win! … wait … I think that’s more of … lose.

By: Jones

Jones — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:19:13 +0000

Wow, great work! I wonder what they pay for taxes on all those properties.