Rochester, N.Y. --- For years a South Wedge property has accumulated thousands of dollars in code violations and neighbors have waited months for something to happen.
Rochester, N.Y. --- In July we introduced you to 293 Hamilton Street in the city’s South Wedge. It was a property that, over the years, had accumulated more than $20,000 in fines from city code violations.
At the time of our first report the City of Rochester had obtained a demolition order and after asbestos abatement was taken care of a spokesman said they would move forward with that process if “substantial compliance” with the code had not been achieved.
Months later most neighbors are wondering if anything has changed.
"It's funny that you called today because it was on my calendar to start looking into how this was coming along and I just don't know who to trust," said Kevin Henry who owns a rental property next door.
"Somebody could live in there illegally and that could be a concern," Henry said of the neighborhood’s safety concerns regarding the property. “And then things falling off on the cars in the parking lot next door, the chimney's falling apart the windows are coming off, all sorts of things."
In July Richard Knowlton, the property’s owner, called his situation a “hardship case.” He explained how money he would save for repairs would end up going instead to pay fines he was assessed. He also explained how he suspected people of breaking into his property and stealing building materials.
