More blighted properties targeted by city

Mayor Ken Cockayne in a press release announced his continued war on blight in our community by ordering the demolition of three more condemned homes in the City of Bristol. Final notices have been sent to three property owners demanding that they clean up their properties or the City will demolish them, said the release from his office.
The properties are located at 86 Divinity St., 147 Gridley St. and 52 Sharon St., all in Bristol. “I have ordered the removal of these properties in my continued effort to clean up Bristol and send a strong message to all Bristol property owners that my administration is serious about code enforcement,” Cockayne said in the release.
The mayor made blight and the need to strongly support the city’s code enforcement team a cornerstone of his campaign for mayor this past year, said the release issued by his office. Less than two months in office, the news release reported, the mayor ordered three properties demolished. Two properties have been taken down and the third property owner heeded the warning and took out the appropriate permits to renovate the property. If the next three properties are not renovated, the release said, the total of demolitions will be five, including the above mentioned properties.
“I said during my campaign that the mayor sets the agenda regarding code enforcement and my agenda is too get serious about the problem and relieve some of our more distressed areas of these eyesores,” Cockayne continued, according to the news release. “I am hopeful that property owners who have ignored our demands to clean up their properties will get the message that we have bulldozers and cranes on standby.”
Cockayne added, according to the news release from his office, “My administration is willingly to work with any property owner that needs either help or time in cleaning up their property, however; there will be deadlines set and adhered to for a clean up process to be considered.”
“It is my hope that code enforcement will be much stronger in 2014 and this administration will continue to send the message that we are serious about cleaning up the City of Bristol,” said the mayor in his release.