Trash and other debris outside the former Bert & Ernie’s bar building on Industrial Street in Redding continues to pile up two months after city code enforcement set the wheels in motion to raze the dilapidated structure.
Neighboring businesses continue to lose patience and are eager to see the property get cleaned up, nearly 15 years after the bar closed.
Code Enforcement Supervisor Seth Dressler is optimistic that his department will soon have the money to start demolishing the building that has become a safety and health hazard in recent years.
After the city’s Administrative Hearing’s Board on Dec. 17 approved punitive actions against the building owner, Fossil LLC, Dressler said the ruling allowed the city to start the process of demolition on Dec. 27. Dressler has said his department has not been successful reaching a representative of Fossil LLC.
“We have asked (city) council for money and the council didn’t give us the money in the way we had proposed,” Dressler said.
Dressler at the Jan. 20 council meeting asked for $40,000 from the city’s general fund reserves to pay for the demolition. The council instead directed Dressler to come back and propose utilizing salary savings and code enforcement department funds to pay for the demolition.
He said that request could be on the council’s Feb. 17 agenda.
“They did not so much deny the money. They said we have got a potential place in salary savings where we can get the money. They just directed us to come back,” he said.
Dressler could not say when demolition work would start if his department got the money but added it would be a big step forward.
The wrecking ball can’t come soon enough for neighboring businesses. The bar closed in 2012, and the building has sat vacant ever since.
Moule’s California Glass and NorCal Presort & Printing sit on each side of the former bar on Industry Street. In the span of seven months last year the businesses weathered two fires that were likely human caused and that gutted the old bar.
“It’s just gotten worse as the days have gone by,” Moule’s owner Michelle Tegerstrand said.
“We have gone out a few times to try and move items away from our building, hauling out things we consider a fire hazard, things like that. And then somebody seems to dump a whole load of more stuff,” she added.
Tegerstrand said she still sees people loitering around the building and going in and out.
“RPD (Redding Police Department) will show up, but as soon as (police leave) and turn the corner, people come back,” she said.
Tina Asher, accounts manager at NorCal Presort & Printing, agrees with Tegerstrand.
“Since that last meeting in December, nothing has improved at all. I am … almost on a daily basis calling RPD and having homeless removed,” Asher said.
During the December rain that deluged Redding, Asher said she had to call police and fire because people had built a fire in a pit behind the building.
“We are constantly picking up garbage. It has gotten worse,” she added.
Meanwhile, the former bar is among the properties scheduled to be auctioned off later this month in the annual Shasta County tax-defaulted property auction. The online auction is scheduled to start at 5 a.m. Feb. 27.
Minimum bid for the Bert & Ernie’s property is $28,800.
“Anyone who buys this property at auction, it’s a totally buyer beware situation,” Dressler said.
Dressler said he has had a few people call him about the property “to see what kind of headache they are getting into if they do buy it.”
“If a new owner does buy it, I want to be able to work with them, but I don’t want to slow down the timeline” for cleaning up the property,” he added.
David Benda covers business, development and anything else that comes up for the USA TODAY Network in Redding. He also writes the weekly “Buzz on the Street” column. He’s part of a team of dedicated reporters that investigate wrongdoing, cover breaking news and tell other stories about your community. Reach him on Twitter @DavidBenda_RS or by phone at 1-530-338-8323. To support and sustain this work, please subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Why Redding’s problem property, a dilapidated bar, is still standing
Reporting by David Benda, Redding Record Searchlight / Redding Record Searchlight
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