Plan to enforce house number visibility

NILES — City residents, whose addresses are not easily visible to emergency vehicles, could face fines up to $150 under a proposed ordinance reviewed by the city council’s safety committee.

Law Director J. Terrence Dull drafted the revised ordinance at the urging of fire Chief Gary Brown, who complained to the safety committee two weeks ago that hard-to-see addresses were slowing down emergency vehicle response time.

“We’ve included the fines for those who get warnings and fail to make the changes in 30 days,” Dull said Wednesday.

The question that remains, however, is who issues the warnings.

The proposed ordinance contains a blank line instead of listing the city department responsible for issuing address violations.

“We’ve still go to decide that,” Dull said.

Also placed before the committee was a proposal by Anthony Vigorito, building and zoning inspector, for Niles to consider buying six vacant public housing properties at $1 each. The housing is available from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Vigorito suggested the city could then sell the HUD homes at auction and place the revenue in a fund for other housing needs.