Seeing blight is believing it

By Todd C. Elliott
todd.elliott@eunicetoday.com

Bill Thompson stays busy as one of the unsung heroes of the city.
The business of cleaning up neighborhoods is one that finds Thompson (or “Mr. Bill” as everyone calls him) at nearly every Eunice Cty Council meeting.
Thompson doesn’t concern himself with litter and cigarette butts – which are the targets of other organizations that champion a cleaner city.
Thompson combats residential blight.
As the Safety Compliance Officer of Code Enforcement, Thompson said that he had message for property owners within the city limits.
“We would appreciate it if you would just take care of your houses,” said Thompson. “In other words, don’t let them get in a dilapidated condition. Make them presentable to the neighborhood. Because of what it does, it reduces the property value of your neighbor’s home to have something like this in their neighborhood.”
During the October council meeting on Tuesday, Thompson made his regular appearance for a condemnation hearing. He said that the two properties of concern were 311 East Ash and 420 Corn Avenue.
He said that the East Ash home had a 30-day extension that expired on Thursday. He recommended to the council that the home be condemned as he had yet to hear from the property owners about bringing it up to code.
As for the Corn Avenue home, Thompson requested a “notice to show cause”on the property from the council.
When a “show cause” notice is issued, the property owner must respond to a certified letter before the next council meeting, detailing why they feel that the property is not blighted or the intentions to renovate, repair or remodel a property.
If property owners make no reply or have no plan of action concerning the property, then “it goes down”, according to Thompson.
Sometimes demolition is the only solution for blighted property.
It’s not uncommon that Thompson will alert the council to at least two or three properties of concern at the monthly meeting.
“I could have more,” said Thompson referring to property that could be condemned. “There’s quite a few in Eunice.”
Mayor Claud “Rusty” Moody, Jr. said that there are “a fair amount” of eyesore homes in the city that can affect the community.
“It looks tacky, first of all,” said Moody. “I don’t think that people want to move into an area that looks blighted. People tend not to move into those places where they see blight. And we want people to move here. We have a lot to be proud of in Eunice, blighted homes or not.”
Moody said that sometimes Thompson may deal with property owners over one home for six months to “sometimes years”, depending on the amount of liens on the property.
Recently, the Eunice Economic Development Committee noted that “blight” in neighborhoods can affect the city’s future development and economic growth as potential investors or business owners may not be impressed by what they see.
Appearance is everything.
And that’s where Thompson comes in, referencing property addresses through the St. Landry Parish Tax Assessor’s Office in Opelousas or a satellite office of the assessor in Eunice city hall. He said that through city and parish records, he is able to find out who owns the property and who pays the taxes on the property. From there, a certified letter will be sent to the property owner wherever they may be.
Many of the properties act as sources of income for owners as rental property. He said that he never contacts tenants in any of the property in question.
Thompson commented on the reactions of property owners once they get a letter from him.
“Their reaction is usually mixed,” said Thompson. “Sometimes they’ll be very upset because you’re trying to tear their house down and they don’t think that their house is as bad as some of the other houses in the neighborhood. They’ll point out some of the other houses to me ... but we take them as we come to them. We’d just like to clean up the neighborhoods and keep all of this blight from affecting the neighborhoods.”
Thompson has been the Safety Compliance Officer or Code Enforcement for the city for the past three years. And before that he worked in the field of community service for inmates.
Altogether, Thompson said that has put in about 10 years in cleaning up his community.
“The city has help from the parish,” said Thompson. “The parish comes in once a week and they bring the trustees over here. And they help us clean up the city. There’s definitely been progress.”