I HAD THE HOME SOLD IN HIGHSPIRE. I WANTED TO GIVE HIM MORE MONEY THEN HE PAID FOR AFTER I FOUND OUT IT WAS SOLD ON SHERIFF SALE. BUT HE REFUSED AND WANTED NOT ONLY THE ENTIRE AMOUNT BUT MY FURNITURE, MY TOOLS, MY LAWN MOWER AND SNOW BLOWER. HE HAD NO MERCY ON ME. I TOOK HIM TO COURT. I SOLD EVERYTHING WHILE I WAS IN COURT THAT BELONGED TO ME INCLUDING MY WASHER AND DRYER. WHEN I LEFT I LEFT THE DOOR OPEN THERE WAS NO STIPULATIONS THAT I HAD TO LOCK UP THE PLACE WHEN I LEFT... HIS JUDGE FRIEND BRATTON WAS FORCED TO RESIGN AND I WORKED WITH THE PUBLIC DEFENDER WHO BROUGHT THE JUDGE DOWN AND FORCED HIM OUT OF OFFICE.
DA reports blight-fight progress to Pottsville officials
BY STEPHEN J. PYTAK / PUBLISHED: DECEMBER 2, 2015
When
VISITING
the Pottsville Blight Task Force at its December meeting Tuesday, Schuylkill County District Attorney Christine A. Holman reported some progress on the local war on blight.
“Recently, the municipal housing code avoidance statute was repealed and replaced, simultaneously, under the borough code Title 53, 6115.
NOW, if you ignore three citations it’s a misdemeanor of the first degree and if you ignore two, it’s an M-2. And that’s a tribute to Pottsville and everyone who has been in their legislator’s ear about strengthening these blight laws,” Holman said at the meeting, held in the conference room on the second floor of city hall.
She was referring to Act 34 of 2015, which amended Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) and Title 53 (Municipalities Generally) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes. It was approved July 10 and took effect 60 days afterward.
“This is a perfect example of how government can work, starting locally and working its way up to the district attorney’s office and into the legislators, so let’s keep the full-court press on,” City
ADMINISTRATOR Thomas A. Palamar said.
“We try to continually look at new things because I think, to deal with our more hardened cases, who have to try some new, innovative approaches,” Palamar said.
She also talked about a decision President Judge William E. Baldwin made Sept. 8 in Commonwealth of Pennsylvania vs. Ata Richard Zandieh.
Zandieh, Harrisburg, owns 216 and 218 W. Spruce St., Mahanoy City, and on March 27, 2012, those properties were damaged in an arson fire. Since then, municipal officials have filed 23 citations for building code violations related to the property. The defendant has been charged with recklessly endangering another person and commission of a public nuisance, according to the opinion of the court.
Baldwin’s decision was added as “an addendum” to the “Blight Toolkit” Holman prepared to help municipal leaders deal with blight
PROBLEMS. And she went into further discussion about it Tuesday morning at a forum hosted by Anti-Blight Action Team Enforcement, or ABATE, in the commissioners boardroom.
“I’m very proud to report that after two years the district attorney’s office has achieved a conviction on municipal housing code avoidance. There was a gentleman who owned dilapidated properties in Mahanoy City. I did talk to the gentleman right before we were about to go into a non-jury trial and I can tell you he was begging for mercy,” she said, referring to Zandieh.
“It was sad. And I simply said ‘look, if you wouldn’t have ignored the code enforcement officers, if you would not have ignored the citations and showed up at the district justice office, you would have been able to clear these up and I would have been more than happy to offer you an ARD.
NOW I have a criminal complaint that’s been filed. And you have six convictions. You failed to appear at the DJ’s office for six citations. You appealed every one. You lost your appeals. So, you’re tying up individuals and you’re wasting money fighting these citations instead of applying the money to the properties that, perhaps, need the attention,’ ” Holman said.
“His response to that was ‘I’m not a criminal.’ I said ‘I’m not saying you are, sir.’ He said, ‘I made a bad business decision.’ I said ‘yeah, not unlike many investors that, perhaps, made bad decisions. Sometimes it turns into a crime. It’s unfortunate,’ ” Holman said.
As to the addendum, it’s simply this: It’s the court order showing the conviction. It’s a sample of some of your work,” Holman said.
