2701 GRAND AVE 2018-01-02 MF Import

R E P O R T FROM: Marian Payne, Housing Inspector DATE: October 22, 1991 RE: 2701 Grand Avenue Upon receiving a complaint from a former tenant at this address, Bruce Hansen, Assistant Fire Marshal, called me and asked if I would like to conduct an inspection with him on the above mentioned address. The complainant stated that the house was setting open and when you enter the front door, you would see a long hall with several rooms which are rented out. At approximately 9:45 a.m. this date, Bruce Hansen and myself proceeded to this address. Upon arrival, we opened the front door of the building and walked in. To our left was a staircase leading to the second story. On the right was a door with a padlock on it. The second door on the right had been covered with a single piece of paneling from inside the room. At the end of the hall was a community kitchen which was filthy. There was a door under the staircase which was locked from the other side. I assumed that it led to the basement. In the area of this enclosure, it would be like the landing coming up from the basement. The ceiling and wall coverings had been removed, exposing the wall framing and in some sections exposing the interior of the hall on the second story. Extension cords (zip cords) were strung through these openings to rooms on the second story. Bruce and I then proceeded to the second story. As we were ascending the staircase, it was noted that the wall covering at the heading of the first landing had been removed. When we reached the second story, we saw a ladder, boxes, and equipment for making house repairs all stacked in a very small hall. There were four doors of which three were padlocked. There was no answer at the unlocked door. The ceiling in this hall was about nine feet in height. Over the doors were glass windows. Bruce used the ladder to look into two of the locked rooms, then tested the smoke detector in the hall. The detector did not work and when he looked inside the detector, there wasn't a battery. To the left of the staircase in the hall was a community bathroom. The floor around the door and under the sink was missing. It was scary walking in this area of the hall and bath, as I could not be sure of the stability of the support framing and what had been cut into or removed. As we were preparing to leave the building, we heard footsteps. We waited to see who would come out of where. Bruce went back upstairs thinking it was someone in unit four, which was the unlocked room. I waited at the foot of the staircase and saw a man emerge from behind the staircase. I got the man's attention and asked if he lived here. At that point, Bruce was back downstairs and took over from there. The man was a Mexican and spoke broken English. After some exchange of words, he allowed us to see the basement where he lived.