2701 GRAND AVE 2018-01-02 MF Import

There was an area of the basement sectioned off by wall paneling with a door as an entrance to a room which was about eight feet by ten feet in dimension. The electricity for this room was being supplied by an extension cord strung through the ceiling to someplace on the main floor of the building. We tried to trace the cord, but could not find its supply source on the main floor. The rest of the basement was cluttered with tools, trash, and various machinery and equipment. As we were getting ready the leave the basement, I turned around to take one last look. As I stood at the bottom of the steps and looked across the cluttered basement, a gun holster hanging from a nail on a support post caught my eye. I looked again and noticed the white handle grip of a pistol in the holster. I then proceeded up the stairs and out of the building with Bruce and the man directly behind. Bruce asked where the owner was and the man said he lived next door. The man spoke audible four letter words and looked to see if the owner's vehicle was around. Bruce asked the man to go get the owner and after some more words, Bruce and the man went to the house next door. There was no response when Bruce knocked on the door. Bruce and I gave the man our business cards and asked him to give them to the owner when he arrived home. One other thing noted during this inspection was a four inch post imbedded in the ground close to the exterior steps of the building. The mailbox of the building was secured to this post. On the opposite side of the post was a sign (City street sign) facing the building. The sign read, "No Parking This Side of Street." Bruce and I proceeded to leave the property. In researching the City records on this building which was built approximately 1898, it was built as a single family residence and never processed through the permit process for conversion into a multi -family residence or rooming house. The present occupancy of the building is illegal and shall be post "Illegal to occupy." October 23, 1991, at 9:20 a.m. the building was posted. The following report lists violations noted during the inspection as referenced by the Uniform House Code. Not all the violations are listed, as it was difficult to know where to begin since the list for those things which are OK would be much shorter than the list for every single item that was in violation of the Code. 1. The occupancy of the house has been converted without going through the required permit process. 2. Electrical service has been altered, spliced together with the fuse box and breaker box with wires hanging unprotected from the service.