By TIM LANDIS (tim.landis@sj-r.com)
Mar 9, 2012
The State Journal Register
City officials are prepared to seek thousands of dollars in fines against owners of the MacArthur Park Apartments and the Bel-Aire Motel if they don’t move faster to fix hundreds of building-code violations, two Springfield aldermen said Thursday.
An administrative hearing on that possibility is scheduled for Wednesday in the case of the MacArthur Park Apartments, 2715 S. MacArthur Blvd. Fines could range from $50 to $500 per violation, said Ward 7. Ald. Joe MeMenamin and Ward 6 Ald. Cory Jobe.
“We had another inspection this week on Tuesday, where we went back to units we could not gain access to on prior inspections,” McMenamin told a meeting of the MacArthur Boulevard Business Association. “There’s 200 solid violations,” McMenamin said. There are approximately 170 apartments in the MacArthur Park complex.
McMenamin recommended that members of the MacArthur business group attend the administrative hearing, which is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at Municipal Center West, 300 S. Seventh St. “They need to know that MBBA cares about what’s going on with a landlord that has a history of neglect, who brings crime and lower property values to this area,” said McMenamin.
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The Springfield Housing Authority in December stopped issuing Section 8 housing vouchers for the MacArthur Park Apartments. McMenamin said the number of residents using housing-assistance vouchers is down from 70 last summer to about 45 this month.
Joe McMenamin for Ward 7 