Building Code Violations

A judge extended by five months a sentence for Costa Mesa gadfly Sid Soffer after determining that he violated probation a second time in a case involving his rental property. The hearing this week was the latest of several held during the last 15 years in the city's battle to get Soffer to bring his property at 540 Bernard St. in compliance with building codes. Soffer has appealed the sentence issued by Municipal Judge Susanne S.

In a city where similarity is part of the master plan, the house at 4822 Kron St. sticks out like a sore home. Neighbors call it the "Kron Street Castle," and their reasons seem clear. It has turrets. Turrets are rare in Irvine, where neighborhood associations become dyspeptic over so much as an oversized mailbox. It has a moat, or at least a dirt front yard that fills with mud when it rains.

Bowing to an outcry from nearly 90 residents who packed City Hall, the City Council tabled an ordinance that would have required property owners to correct existing building code violations before receiving new property improvement permits. Some officials and residents say that remodeling and enlargement of homes in the gated, rustic city during its 50-year history have resulted in many violations.

A judge Thursday sentenced a convicted slumlord to jail for nine months for failing to make court-ordered repairs to a dilapidated house on crime-plagued Blythe Street in Panorama City. William Buzin, 72, of Carpinteria was sent to jail immediately after Van Nuys Municipal Judge Alan Ellis found him to be in violation of the conditions of his probation from three previous slumlord convictions.

The Pasadena city prosecutor's office filed a 17-count criminal complaint Wednesday against owners of a low-income motel, citing multiple fire, health and building code violations. The complaint put the city's slumlord ordinance to use for the first time since it became law more than a year ago. The Pasadena Municipal Court case was filed against the Capri Motel at 1559 Lincoln Ave.

Claiming their apartments are vermin-infested and filthy, 222 present and former tenants of buildings owned by Beverly Hills physician Milton Avol filed suit Monday asking for repairs, retroactive deductions in rent and $25,000 each in punitive damages.

The owners of a 265-room hotel where city and county inspectors reportedly found cockroaches, broken toilets, chained-up fire escapes and backed-up sewage pleaded not guilty Thursday to a variety of code violation charges. Western Pacific International Inc. and executives Junn Hsiong Hsiao, 56, of Palos Verdes Estates and Song Lieng Lee, 44, of Hacienda Heights are charged with 30 misdemeanor counts of health, fire and building code violations at the Pacific Grand Hotel, 416 S. Spring St.