Washington property owner given extension to make repairs to building
The mother of a Washington landlord facing multiple building code citations at a North Franklin Street property cursed and used a racial slur while at court for a hearing.
Loretta Russo appeared at District Judge Robert Redlinger’s court for a hearing on three citations her son, Mark Russo, received last year for a property at 286 N. Franklin St. The hearing was continued for 45 days, since no repairs had been made to the building. Mark Russo also is the owner of a building at 15 N. Main St. that collapsed last year, trapping a tenant.
When the city code enforcement officer, Ron McIntyre, approached Loretta Russo outside the courtroom to explain that her son had 45 days to get the repairs done, she started cursing at him. She accused him of not answering her calls and not telling her what work needs to be done at the building. She said that neither McIntyre nor his citations were specific enough about what repairs will bring the building to compliance, saying that “plumbing hazard” is too vague.
The plumbing citation states the sump pump on the property was draining into the sanitary sewer storm drain. The second citation was for a furnace that needs to be replaced, and the third was for a garage on the property that is an “unsafe structure.” The citation for the garage said it “may collapse” and there’s water in the basement of the garage, along with black mold.
McIntyre said no one lives in the garage and that the home is still safe for the tenants living there. He told Loretta Russo Thursday her son needed to hire professionals to come in and make the repairs within 45 days because the tenants are complaining.
Loretta responded by using a racial slur to describe the tenants and said that she and her son are “broke.” When asked why she was at the hearing instead of her son, she said he was sick with the flu.
Mark Russo faces more than 30 citations stemming from alleged violations at six rental properties, including the former three-story apartment building at 15 N. Main St., which collapsed last year, trapping a tenant for more than nine hours. Officials inspected the other five rental properties, including the one on North Franklin, in the weeks following the collapse.
The citations involving the building at 15 N. Main are still pending while litigation proceeds over who is responsible for the collapse and who will pay for the building’s demolition.