The Daily Item: Lynn slumlord gets 13 no-show tickets

The Daily Item: Lynn slumlord gets 13 no-show tickets
Lynn slumlord gets 13 no-show tickets
Originally Published on Friday, March 05, 2010
By David Liscio / The Daily Item
UTICA, N.Y. - A Lynn slumlord faces more troubles in Utica, N.Y. where four people died last Sept. 20 in a fire at one of his derelict apartment houses.

Timothy Klotz, whose Lynn properties are under scrutiny by city fire and inspectional officials, was dealt another round of legal obstacles in upstate New York this week in the form of 13 tickets for failure to appear in court.

Klotz could receive fines and jail time as a result of those tickets, compounding the charges he faces for neglecting safety conditions in the building where the tenants died, according to Utica Chief Fire Marshal Raymond Beck.

"I feel that both are warranted," Beck told reporters. "At this point, he has been provided adequate time to make the corrections and he hasn't."

Since the fatal blaze, Klotz has evaded authorities and accused the Utica Fire Department of improperly attacking the 102 James St. fire.

Utica authorities have unsuccessfully tried to force Klotz to demolish the fire-ravaged building because an engineer found it structurally unsound. Klotz has responded by filing a lawsuit that contends the building contains evidence that could show firefighters did not properly attack the fire, which could have contributed to occupant deaths.

The matter is scheduled for a March 16 civil hearing before Utica City Court Judge Ralph Eannace, at which the building's fate will be decided.

Following the fatal fire, city officials inspected 13 Klotz-owned buildings and all failed the initial inspections.

Lynn officials, too, have been pressing Klotz to make repairs and upgrades on his local properties.

Only days after the Utica fire, members of Lynn's Inspectional Services Department's Multi-agency Task Force went to 93-95 Green St., a dilapidated six-unit, wooden apartment house built around 1900 and owned by Jacqueline Realty Trust, which lists Klotz as trustee. Inspectors found many code violations, including unsafe porch landings, missing stairway handrails and an absence of stairway lighting - all considered threats to life safety.

Klotz, who currently lives in the Utica suburb of New Hartford and uses a Marblehead post office box to conduct business on the North Shore, was ordered to make repairs within seven days. He appointed a property manager to handle the situation.

All four Utica fire victims - three men and a woman - were tenants. The Utica Fire Department released an audio tape recording of the emergency call on which the trapped woman can be heard talking with a 911 operator who was trying to direct her out of the building. On the tape, which Utica Fire Chief Russell Brooks describes as haunting, the woman explains that the only way out is through a window, which is too small for her to fit through.

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