Valley Glen burned home declared a nuisance

You might remember this abandoned house in Studio City that became a backdrop for Mayor Karen Bass's campaign for re-election. She used her power as mayor to get the property cleaned up pretty quickly. Not everyone gets that kind of quick action. Fox 11's Susan Hirasuna joining us live in Valley Glen with another property finally getting attention from the city. Susan. Yes, Christine, ever see a abandoned problem property? Well, this one, it took a persistent neighbor and her councilman to finally put some focus on getting rid of this property. Living room area was here. A locked chain link fence secures this burned house on Bassett Avenue. But the fence was only put up four months ago, even though the house was abandoned two years ago, then destroyed by fire a year later. It brought every single homeless person around the area in here to get the metal out of it. To get whatever they could from the house, take the air conditioning unit. I mean, they just stripped the house as much as they could. It brought people into our neighborhood we don't want. Debbie was aghast to see a similar property used by Mayor Karen Bass in August to accuse her opponent, City Council Member Nithya Raman, of inattention to issues in her own district. Music Her ire grew when the property was cleaned up quickly at the mayor's request. Back at the property in Debbie's neighborhood, she walked her city council member to the burned out house. He then successfully got the property deemed a nuisance by the Department of Building and Safety in October. The owner must now demolish the house, completing the job within 90 days. If the owner wasn't going to do it, then the city is going to do it, and it's going to cost potentially three to four times more than if the owner had done it. And then we will give them the bill after all the work is completed. And if they don't pay the bill, then it goes on as a lien to their property. Council Member Nazarian has gone after multiple abandoned properties for the good of his district. His first target was the long-abandoned Valley Plaza. Because that was large enough of a project where I know it would get the attention of all the property owners that are allowing their properties to fall into this type of disarray. Admittedly, the process is slow without a mayor directing a rapid cleanup. We're never going to have enough money to do all this. That's why we need to be aggressive and first working with the owner and see if... They can do it quickly themselves, and if not, take the next steps. He's now got a watch list of about 50 properties. When you're working on an inventory list that's ongoing, you don't even know where the bottom is going to be of that list. All right. Well, remember that watch list is only for council member Nazarian's district. Now, imagine how many problem abandoned properties there are throughout the city of Los Angeles. Nazarian has proposed an increase in the funds that would handle properties just like this one, demolishment. Demolishing it, of course, costs quite a bit of money. He says the city would get the money back when the property sells, and that is his proposal. There would be a lien on it, and the money would come back to the city. Reporting live in Valley Glen, I'm Susan Harris-Tuna, Fox 11 News. Interesting note about the cost and how much it would cost the city to do it. All right, Susan, thanks.