PROVIDENCE – As part of an ongoing battle against foreclosed and vacant properties in his own neighborhood and elsewhere, City Councilman Terrence M. Hassett said he will file an ordinance that would require that dangerous buildings be boarded-up more quickly.
Hassett – the council’s majority leader – represents Ward 12, which includes his home neighborhood of Smith Hill, as well as Mouth Pleasant and the Capital Center District. He said this week that he planned to introduce a measure that would require the Providence Fire Department’s director of inspection and standards to secure any structure “classified as a public safety hazard” within 24 hours.
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The city has been slow in responding to “dangerous structures” that have resulted from the “onslaught of foreclosures and a shaky real estate market,” his office.
“Following a two-alarm fire last week, a three-family home that was destroyed by the fire remained wide open five days later,” Hassett said in a statement.
“The Fire Department did a remarkable job fighting the Smith Street fire and protecting adjacent building. … [But] just because the fire is out does not mean a danger does not remain.”
Hassett intends to introduce the new measure at the July 3 City Council meeting, his office said.
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