On Monday, I wrote a blog about the City of Burnaby trying to crack down on a home on Grant Street that has been left to rot by an absentee landlord.
You can read more the case here, but the city is exasperated by the owner’s refusal to make safety changes and improve the look of the home. Right now the house looks like Freddy Krueger is shacked up there with the woman from The Ring.
The story is our most-read article of the week so far and there have been a lot of comments. People are fed up about absentee owners letting these place fall apart.
One Facebook commenter said that “Chris Campbell has a stick up his ass,” which I can tell you is not true. I’m not sure why I’m the focus of this rage – I’m not the one the city is going after.
Most of the comments have been productive, including a man named Michael Sorbo writing me about how his father Arne built the home himself in 1956 for $20,000 after arriving here from Norway.
Sorbo said the swimming pool was added in 1979 and the house was a great place to grow up, adding that he’s “sad” to see what’s happened to the place.
I feel the same way about the North Burnaby home I grew up in. It wasn’t anything special, but it was well-maintained.
Today, it’s an overgrown dump that sorely needs love and attention.
There are a lot of these properties around and I want to know about them. Many readers hinted at rundown properties in their neighbourhood and so I am sending out the call for photos and addresses of these dumps.
I want to raise more awareness of the properties that are a blight on the Burnaby landscape.
My email is ccampbell@burnabynow.com and my Twitter is @shinebox44 so get snapping and typing and let me know what places you think are eyesores in our community.
