WATSONVILLE -- The lawn at Robin Russell's home on Shady Oaks Drive is green, closely clipped and edged. A bank of jasmine blooms in a box underneath the front windows. Planter boxes by the driveway hold carefully arranged collections of rocks and succulents. There's not a weed in sight.
Next door, a shabby house sheds pink paint. The yard is an unkempt mix of dead grass and weeds. Notices posted on a cracked bay window at the front of the house warn of violations to city upkeep rules. Painted on a window by the front door is a different type of sign, a number associated with a gang, and someone's added a "4" to make the house number appear to be a reference to an activity associated with marijuana use.
On Tuesday, the City Council will consider designating the house at 20 Shady Oaks Drive a public nuisance, one of a handful of foreclosed properties around town whose owners have failed to comply with a 10-month-old ordinance requiring registration and maintenance of foreclosed homes.
"This is big to me," Russell said. "It really brings down the value of our homes dramatically."
It's dangerous, too, according to another neighbor, who declined to give her name. Before neighbors' complaints brought city workers to the house last week to clean up, the dead lawn was waist high and dry, perfect for a fire.
Russell said based on the beer cans she saw strewn about the backyard someone had been holding parties at the house, as well. Russell took it upon herself to post a large "keep out" sign on the gate to the backyard of the neighboring house.
According to Santa Cruz County assessor records, the home has been owned by Alberto Guzman since at least 1999. Russell said the home had been a rental for about 10 years until the tenant moved out last fall.
Guzman could not be reached Monday.
Building Official Rafael Adame said city efforts to reach the owner and the mortgage holder haven't been successful either.
"It's vacant and abandoned and nobody's responding so we need to board it up and take care of the weeds," Adame said.
In recent years, Watsonville has seen hundreds of properties go into foreclosure, a process that can take months. In response, the council approved an ordinance aimed at ensuring properties wouldn't become derelict.
The owner of the Shady Oaks home ultimately will have to foot the bill for the cleanup, Adame said, and a lien will be placed on the property to ensure the city recovers its costs.
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