Wukela wields the "hammer of Thor" against abandoned properties

Today, Florence Mayor Stephen J. Wukela held a press conference to announce that the City of Florence was moving forward in its push to eliminate unkept and abandoned properties in the City.


Mayor Wukela signed nine Rule to Show Cause petitions, ruling in the owners of local properties that have become eyesores and dangers to the community.

Attending the Press Conference in support of the Mayor's action were Scotty Davis, the the head of the Codes Enforcement Department; Ed Clements III, Solicitor of the 12th Judicial Circuit; Chief Anson Shells of the Florence City Police Department; and Chief Randall Osterman, Chief of the Florence City Fire Department.


In signing the petitions, Wukela explained that the City has been looking at the ordinances on the book and we still be looking at them as this process moves forward. Wukela stated he was pleased with the progress that had been made, but that he was going ahead and moving the ball forward.



"The city is very serious about action," Mayor Wukela stated. "The message should go out to those who have abandoned their properties, that the city is not going to tolerate these conditions."



Wukela summed up the action in saying, "the city is not gonna sit on its hands," and that the city was basically, "calling these people on the carpet."

Today's action fulfills a vow Mayor Wukela made soon after his election, to move on this particular issue within the first 100 days. As the Florence Morning News says:

Florence Mayor Stephen J. Wukela said during his campaign for mayor he was going
take action on vacant and abandoned property during his first 100 days in
office.

And he did just that during a press conference Friday at the Florence
City-County Complex, bringing down the hammer of Thor on nine different parcels
of property.

A quick look at the nine properties selected will show you that most of them have been in dilapidated conditions for quite some time.

Some of the properties petitioned today are pictured here:
















Update: OK...so they pulled the "hammer of Thor" language. But it was there (in fact I linked to a "cached" URL), just look at the comment on the bottom of the article.