For many years, neighbors on Wild Oak Drive have been concerned about the sad condition of the one-story home at 2500 Wild Oak.  The house has not been lived in and the walls have continued during that time to decay, reaching a point where the house had become an eyesore to the neighborhood and a fire danger due to exposed beams and an exposed “live” electrical box.  In addition, lack of attention to landscaping resulted in severe erosion of the hillside; absence of any inhabitants left the house open to vagrants and trespassers who loitered there in the evenings consuming alcohol; and, during windy days, dislodged pieces of the deteriorated roof actually blew into the street below nearly hitting cars and pedestrians.

Neighbors asked the Oaks Zoning Committee to communicate with the City about the house.  In December we spoke with Ron Kidwell, an inspector with the L.A. Department of Building and Safety.  Mr. Kidwell subsequently inspected the home himself and on December 14th, 2006 issued a “Property Activity Report” (in essence, a citation) requiring the owners to contact him by January 28th, 2007 and put forth a plan to restore the home to a livable condition.

As of this writing, the owners still have not contacted Mr. Kidwell.   However, restoration work has apparently begun on the house.  The decayed roof has been removed and interior walls have been stripped down to the studs.  Unfortunately this has left the stripped interior of the house exposed during the recent rains (February 21st and 22nd).

We hope the owners will continue their work so as to return the house to compliance with the City’s building codes and will maintain the home in accordance with at least minimal standards for a house in any city anywhere.