Hawthorne Housing Director Gets All "311 Happy" (Part Two)

Photo By Jeff Skrenes

The house at 2207 4th St. N. is an ongoing, frustrating situation with no end in sight, the subject of several previous blog posts, click here for example.

A Hawthorne resident recently asked our Housing Director, Jeff, to...

...go check on the house. Again. When Jeff arrived, he found permits posted all over the front door board...and the house wide open to trespass, unsecured, through both the back door as well as a basement window.

The only surprising part was all the permits stapled to the board covering the front doorway. Despite the well-documented problem property status of this place, it appears the owner (Hugo Jose Contreras Vasquez) is trying to rustle up paperwork to save the place from the Backhoe of Doom. Arguably, the place could be saved...but it seems like Vasquez is not the one to do it, with his long record of letting 2207 4th St. N. fall to wreck and ruin.

Jeff Skrenes says, "With CitiMortgage down, and Larry Maxwell set to go to prison for a long time, it looks like Contreras Vasquez is trying to become my next nemesis."

To which I respond: Oh, come on now.

Two words: Mahmood Khan.

The Writing On The Wall?

Jeff may not love official paperwork the way I do--the way coin collectors love coins, the way beer snobs love Belgian brews--but Jeff sure reads the stuff. The first piece of paperwork on the door of 2207 4th St. N. was a "scope of work order," with $30,000 the estimated cost. The second page lists the permit number, BIRE3057165, and it appears they are applying to remodel the place. Jeff says, "I suppose after a party where you spray paint your own house, you've probably got some remodeling to do."

The permit was issued January 13, 2009 and lists the phone number of the owner: 612-298-9871.

Those who want to call Mr. Contreras Vasquez and make their feelings known can...well, do that.

The last page is a checklist of work that needs to be done.

Not surprisingly, nothing is checked.

Hawthorne Is Watching

Jeff says, "Mr. Contreras Vasquez, you still have the chance to redeem yourself. But you have owned a problem property for years. You knowingly allowed disruptive and irresponsible behavior to occur at your property and have made no attempts that this neighborhood has seen to rectify the situation. We are watching you."