The House Next Door

I was asked what the outcome was with the house next door to me that's owned by Judge Lawrence. The short answer is that there is no outcome yet, but I'll give you a quick update.

As I said before, the tenant left September 30th. As far as I can tell, all or most of the codes violations are now being addressed. The loose stucco is being removed from the garage, the overgrown bushes have been trimmed and the loose paint on the back porch is being scraped (although there are still sparrows living where the joists connect to the house). I've heard workmen in the middle bedroom so I assume the ceiling is being repaired.

Out front, the uneven pavement was removed and last week was spent trying to cut all the tree roots on the sidewalk side. Since sycamore trees have no tap roots, it's a little worrisome that they're trying to remove all the roots on the one side of the two trees where the roots absorb the most water (most of the rest of the root system is under the street), but we'll see how healthy/stable they appear come spring. Meanwhile, I wouldn't park under them, or even across the street.

Fran Lawrence has been here doing a lot of the work himself. He's been respectful of my property, as has the guy who trimmed the bushes and trees and who worked on the tree roots. If anything he had to do effected my property in anyway, he asked permission, showed me what he wanted to do and asked for my input. Not so the Gallo brother who drove a backhoe over my lawn and bounced it up and down on my sidewalk while trying to dig out next door's pavement. He DID tell the other workman to sweep my pavement afterward, and that workman DID try to fix flatten out the ruts left on my lawn..

Like I said, I don't know who the good guys and bad guys are in this situation. I don't know why it took 10 years. I don't know why the work couldn't have been done with the tenant living there. But I am happy to see that the house is being repaired.