Eyesore has neighbors seeing red

Martin Kuz

Saturday, Jan. 17, 1998 | 11:26 a.m.

The 5300 block of Holmby Avenue resembles most other streets nestled in the southwest elbow of Charleston and Decatur boulevards. Modest lawns unfurl in front of modest homes that went up in the early 1960s. A wrought-iron fence here, a bunch of kids playing football there. Placid and unassuming, the neighborhood could be Las Vegas' updated take on a Norman Rockwell painting.

Only there's a rip in the canvas halfway up the street.

A gray two-story house appears one good wind storm from toppling. Cracked wood-paneling brackets bend window screens. Paint curls off the pockmarked front door. A battered pickup slouches in the street while a couple of subcompacts and a motorcycle rust in the driveway.

But even more unsightly is the scrap heap shooting up along the house's west side and in the back yard: old refrigerators and stoves, air conditioning and heating units, light fixtures, a wheel barrow, random chunks of metal and wood.

Forlorn as the lot looks, residents virtually rejoice at how clean it is compared to a scant two weeks ago -- not to mention the past eight years. They describe what long has been a festering eyesore, a yard strewn with "more junk than the city dump," as one put it. They also recount police raids on the house, a van that erupted in flames while parked in front of a neighbor's house and a drive-by shooting last fall that wounded two people outside the home.

With explosions and gunplay literally upon residents' doorsteps, a veneer of anxiety has settled over the neighborhood. It's a fear that compels dog walkers to cross the street away from the house, and parents to keep a closer watch on children. Typical of the uneasiness: While people up and down the block lob harsh words at their nemesis, no one wants to give their name.

"Our area's gone downhill because of that house," said a woman who has lived on Holmby for almost 30 years. "At one time it was a real home, but it's just gone to wreck and ruin. It's hurt property values, it's hurt everything. You should see the people that go in and out of there day and night. It's just terrible."

Yet such unwelcome troubles may finally have bid an overdue farewell to this stretch of Holmby -- or so residents and city officials hope. Last month, the Neighborhood Services Department began deploying a new weapon -- civil court orders -- in a crackdown on the worst violators of the city's private property codes. The mission is simple enough: prevent one property or tenant from holding a neighborhood hostage.

The Holmby house is among the first that the city has leaned on. Owned by Reno resident Nancy Knight and occupied for years by her son, Ron, who was sentenced to prison in October on drug charges, the home has provoked dozens of complaints dating to 1990.

Among the reports logged by code enforcement officers:

* May 4, 1994: "Furniture, wood, tools, trash, debris, appliances, construction material, two inoperable cars -- all on driveway and side yard."

* Feb. 8, 1995: "Two refrigerators in front yard facing each other, he brought in another refrig (unsecured) and a stove or other appliance. He put up an old garage door for more storage."

* June 10, 1996: "Worse than ever! Two junk trucks in street on separate complaints."

* April 22, 1997: "Attempted to cite for enormous amount of outside storage in driveway and side yard. Two Nevada Power employees came while we were there, it seems the resident has been stealing power. They disconnected the hot wire and took the meter. There was no answer to our knock ..."

But it's the next entry, from April 25, that speaks to the frustrations of residents and Neighborhood Services in corralling the most brazen culprits: "Attempted to cite. He wouldn't come out ... Will attempt to cite next week."

Described by neighbors as an appliance repairman by trade, what Ron Knight apparently worked on for years was the system. The pattern became distressingly familiar to residents.

Their calls to Neighborhood Services on his home would trigger a hailstorm of warnings and citations. Just as he teetered on the brink of court dates and sizable fines, however, Knight would tidy up his yard enough to satisfy code enforcement officers, closing the complaint. Then, sometimes only a week later, the mess would return.

All of which magnifies how maddening due process and constitutional freedoms can be for the law-abiding majority. Under city ordinance, once a homeowner or tenant complies with a citation, Neighborhood Services must drop the file. If problems arise again even hours later, officers are required to restart the weeks-long process, going all the way back to verbal warnings.

Further impeding the pursuit of repeat offenders: Avoiding a criminal conviction is no more difficult than ignoring citations the city sends by certified mail, or refusing to answer the door when a code officer attempts to deliver one in person. Even if they fail to appear in court and a judge issues a warrant, perpetrators generally face arrest only if they're stopped for speeding or another violation.

"It's not like we can kick the door down and take someone away," said Orlando Sanchez, manager of the Neighborhood Response Division within Neighborhood Services. "We have to issue a citation and they have to sign it ... We all wish we could take care of these things in a week or two. But realistically, if people want to hold us at bay, they can do that for quite a while."

"You're trying to do something without a person's permission," added Chief Deputy City Attorney Benard Little, who works on property cases. "You have to go through all the hoops to do it, and unfortunately, that takes time."

Holmby residents have learned as much the hard way, and wonder aloud about their rights, about what they regard as the shafting of the greater good.

"We sit here, we pay our bills, we obey the law, we pay our taxes, we keep our yards up," said one disenchanted resident. "And somebody down the street does the opposite and seems to actually get better treatment. Something's wrong here."

That paradox, highlighted in a SUN story in June on Las Vegas' worst-kept properties, has prodded Neighborhood Services and the city attorney's office to more aggressively brandish civil court orders. Less passive than criminal proceedings, which largely hinge on an offender's appearing in court, civil action allows the city to clean up a property without the homeowner's consent.

Under a civil order -- obtained after the usual litany of citations prove impotent -- Neighborhood Services can send contractors onto a lot to gauge how much it would cost to scrub it free of debris. A notice is then posted on the property ordering tenants to comply within 10 days or the city will take care of the problem then deliver a bill for services rendered.

Aside from the obvious impact, civil orders appear to have a ripple effect as well. Within a week after a Dec. 29 notice was posted at the Holmby house warning of the city's intentions, the front-yard flea market that "has made everybody else on this street look bad all these years," in the words of one resident, was cleared away. (It bears noting that city codes only govern property visible from public right-of-ways, leaving back yards almost inviolable.)

The responsible party could not have been Ron Knight, who received a 12- to 30-month prison term Oct. 2 for possession of methamphetamine with intent to sell. Neighborhood Services records indicate a woman named Angel Brown is a new tenant at the home, and Sanchez said she has talked of trying to maintain the property.

Yet despite the house's nominal makeover of recent weeks, neighbors remain skeptical about its long-term upkeep. They have been on this carousel before, only to see the junk come back around again and again.

"I'm a little bit doubtful," said a 10-year Holmby Avenue resident. "We're just wondering how long until we can expect to see all of that again. I want to believe that justice will prevail this time, but ..."

Unfortunately, their fears could come true. The only response to a knock at the door of the Holmby residence last week was the yapping of dogs. Unconfirmed rumors persist that Ron Knight's wife still lives at the property. And while Brown could not be reached for comment, a man identifying himself as a "close friend" said she was previously unaware of the house's history and might rethink whether to move in.

"When all is said and done, she may decide it's not worth it," said the man, whom Brown was visiting that day.

As for Nancy Knight, the house's owner, the 73-year-old suffers from rheumatoid arthritis and hasn't seen the home in two years. Reached at her Reno residence, she admitted the house looked like a place " 'Sanford and Son' would live in," but said she has "never" received a notice about its appearance. Sanchez corroborated her claim, explaining that citations are sent to whomever lives in a house, not necessarily the owner.

While there's a good chance the Holmby headache won't just go away, it's evident some progress has been made, and more help is on the way in the form of a new state law passed last legislative session. Assembly Bill 517, adopted as a city ordinance last month, enables Neighborhood Services to fine the owners or tenants of chronic property nuisances up to $1,000 per day for as long as six months.

"So many people get discouraged because these problems take so long to resolve. That is a concern," said Councilman Michael McDonald, who pushed hard for the new law after hearing from dozens of Holmby residents about Nancy Knight's house. "But now we have the big hammer: AB517."

Still, no tools may be able to repair the damage done to the property values along Holmby Avenue, where residents contend that potential buyers won't pay fair market prices to live near an ongoing nightmare. And perhaps more worrisome for those who plan to hang around is the fear of drug traffic, gun fights and other nascent problems -- problems that used to only afflict other neighborhoods.

"It's pretty scary," said a resident who moved into the area last year. "I try not to think about it, but when you hear shotguns going off in the middle of the night, it's hard not to."

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