Fulton Street residents have returned to city council once again, continuing to ask for help and bringing suggestions as to things that can be done to help the neighborhood. P-J file photo

Fulton Street residents are getting a taste of how hard neighborhood revitalization can be.

Fulton Street resident Paul Wolff spoke during the council’s work session this week with new suggestions or ideas for things that could also help the situation in that neighborhood.

Wolff said he has been doing a lot of digging into the issue and knows that other places have local ordinances that can slip through the cracks because people can forget they exist as they have for so long. He said even on the way to the meeting he saw multiple quality of life violations and asked about the city’s enforcement of those. Wolff suggested that this would be another revenue stream for the city.

Mayor Kim Ecklund said it is not always as easy as immediate revenue and sometimes such tickets have to go through court. Corporation Counsel Elliot Raimondo added that the general way that city Housing Court works is to push people to spend money on their properties rather than fining residents whose properties fall into disrepair.

Wolff said specifically for this issue he was looking into the city’s absentee landlords and abandoned properties issue. He brought up a few other mechanisms that he wondered if they were being used to bring in more money to the city, which Ecklund said they were.

Additionally, Wolff wondered if there were some other things that could be done in the way of volunteer work to get something done on Fulton Street.

“I’m sure folks read the paper, it’s not just you guys that are noticing the conditions on Fulton Street,” Wolff said. “It’s getting more attention. Can we maybe, I don’t know, try and organize some volunteer work, have the city pay for a dumpster and get some volunteers in the neighborhood to help clean this stuff up? I have a busted back and I’m willing to do it. I’m sure there’s more people in the community.”

Wolff said he did not know how to go about organizing that but was willing to go door to door to ask people to come help on a certain day. Councilman Russ Bonfiglio, R-At Large, asked if it would be allowed for something like that to go on other people’s properties without permission.

“If the landlord is missing, is MIA, and you organize a volunteer group, can you go in his backyard and clean up?” Bonfiglio asked.

If the person was a private citizen, Raimondo said that would not be allowed, but if it is a city property and a clear violation, then neighbors could do the work as volunteers. Crystal Surdyk, city development director, added that a court order would be needed as well.

“Please, anything, because like I said I have a busted back and am willing to be out there picking up trash every day,” Wolff said. “Our neighborhood is out of control. We’ve got trash, we’ve got stolen property. … Please help us out.”