Commissioner Howard taking landlords to court over Albany plaza code violations

ALBANY, Ga. – An Albany City Commissioner is taking action after hearing complaints from constituents that the building behind me is considered unsafe for anyone to currently be in.

Albany’s Ward 1 Commissioner, Jon Howard spoke with us late last week, in addition to sending us photos like these of roses on East Oglethorpe Boulevard…

Where Howard has heard the recent intense heat has caused problems.

“We confirmed what some of the shoppers and some of the full-time and part-time former employees were saying, that the store is in disrepair, and it had leaked in the store. It had gutters and siding falling apart,” said Jon Howard, Ward 1 Commissioner, City of Albany.

Plenty of people have spoken to Commissioner Howard, and local pastor, Calvin Rollins over the course of the summer about the shape of the plaza building.

From leaky ceilings following heavy rain, to HVAC potentially falling.

But, he believes that if effort is put in, it’ll provide east Albany with some much needed opportunities.

“Roses has been a very valuable and important part of our community. It’s been here for so many years. At the same time, I think it’s not Roses itself. I think it’s the landlord that they lease from. And the building just needs to be repaired. Because we want the same type of service on east Albany that they do in West Albany,” said Pastor Calvin Rollins, St. Paul’s Baptist Church.

That’s why the city commissioner with the backing of code enforcement is taking the leasing company to court over the building.

“We invited code (enforcement) to go out and do an in-depth, detailed walk through of the store. And they came back and said that there are several code violations and that they need to be rectified so they did notify the landlord and the property manager of the store last month that they’re going to come to court…” said Jon Howard, Ward 1 Commissioner, City of Albany.

But, ultimately, Commissioner Howard and company want to make sure that nobody in their community ends up getting hurt.

“We really need Roses, but we want them to just do better about their way of taking care of not only their employees, but looking out for the community and people as well,” said Pastor Calvin Rollins, St. Paul’s Baptist Church.

Commissioner Howard says that the court hearing with the landlords will take place on September 25th.

Brian Roche reporting.

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