Hugh Sisley is infamous in the Roosevelt neighborhood, where he owns
about 40 rental properties. Most can be identified by dilapidated
houses, overgrown yards, and, in some cases, piles of trash. The city
has taken specific umbrage with four of Sisley’s properties, fining him
$284,000 for junk storage—using, in part, a program the city’s
Department of Planning and Development (DPD) created last summer.
“We feel like we’re getting movement,” says DPD spokesman Alan
Justad.
The program, called Clean Up Your Act, was apparently created with
Sisley in mind. In 2007, Roosevelt Neighborhood Association member Jim
O’Halloran took Mayor Greg Nickels on a tour of the area, making a
point to stop by a pile of trash in one of Sisley’s yards. A month
later, O’Halloran says, “I learned…he had proposed the legislation
for Clean Up Your Act.” At a press conference announcing the program,
two of the three posters displaying examples of the city’s worst
violations showed Sisley-owned properties.
The fines against Sisley are more than twice the amount the city
collected in all of 2006, before the CUYA program went into effect, and
Justad thinks the largest single fine, $212,000, is a city record. The
program features higher fines that go up the longer a property owner
fails to address a problem. For example, land-use-code
violations—such as allowing plants to grow out onto sidewalks and
storing junk cars on lawns—increased from $15 to $150 per day.
After 10 days, fines increase to $500 per day. The question for
neighbors is whether the penalties will prompt Sisley to change his
ways—or even pay the fines.
“I think he appeals them reflexively,” says O’Halloran. “I think
he’ll try to work around it as hard as he can, and just stomp his feet
and contest [the penalties].” This summer alone, Sisley has seven
appearances scheduled before a city hearing examiner to contest fines
and appeal land-use-code decisions. Sisley could not be reached for
comment. 