Abandoned In the Electric City – Inoperable Vehicles A Blight

Abandoned In the Electric City - Inoperable Vehicles A Blight

Being a creature of habit, I tend to stay to the same routes each day I get into my vehicle and head out and about across Great Falls.  It wouldn't be a problem if an investigation into my daily activities was needed.  Same ole, same ole for me.

However, as of late, I have travelled a few of the more off streets across the city and have come to notice something about them.  They house a lot of broken down, derelict type vehicles on those same streets.

Even That Little Green Sticker Doesn't Get Them to Move

Living on a major street in the city, I assume I wouldn't see something like a rundown vehicle.  Even I did, they usually had a green sticker on them to have them dealt with.  Sometimes that doesn't work.  There have been instances near my alley that a vehicle has been tagged by the city, only to see that sticker be scraped at and the vehicle still there.

What gives?  Isn't there an ordinance that should be taking care of these eyesores across our town?  What about my property values being tanked because of my neighbor's negligence?

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Law Of the Land, What You Can Do to Have One Removed

Well, yes in fact, Great Falls does have an ordinance for these vehicles.  According to city code ordinance 2819:

The City Commission of the City of Great Falls hereby makes, finds and declares that the accumulation and storage of abandoned, wrecked, dismantled, or inoperative vehicles, machinery, trailers, or parts thereof, on private or public property or illegally parked on private property is hereby found to create a condition tending to reduce the value of private property, to promote blight and deterioration, to invite plundering, to create fire hazards, to constitute an attractive nuisance creating a hazard to the health and safety of minors, to create a harbor for rodents and insects, and to be injurious to the health, safety and general welfare.

Penalties for those people who continue to ignore that law can get quite expensive:

Any person found guilty of a violation of any of the provisions of this chapter shall, upon conviction, be subject to the penalty provisions of this code. Each day that a violation is allowed to continue shall constitute a separate and distinct violation.

If you have an abandoned vehicle on your personal property within the city limits, you can call the Great Falls Police Department to report it.  If you live outside of the city limits, contacting the Cascade County Sheriff's Office is the proper course of action.