[Omaha World-Herald - 11/7/00] A house that sits next to Dr. LeRoy Carhart's abortion clinic has been deemed uninhabitable by the City of Bellevue, requiring Carhart's daughter and other tenants to move out.
Building inspectors placed an uninhabitable placard at 1006 Bert Murphy Blvd. on Oct. 24. The placard must remain in place until code violations are corrected because some of them are considered life threatening, said the chief building inspector, Steve Carmichael.
Rick Holt moves out of the condemned house at 1006 Bert Murphy Blvd in Bellevue. (photo)
The house, which was converted into three apartments, and neighboring abortion clinic are part of a property dispute pitting Carhart against Bert Murphy Ltd., a business partnership of abortion opponents.
The partnership, which includes State Sen. Paul Hartnett of Bellevue, bought the land that includes the house and the clinic building in May and has served Carhart with eviction notices. Carhart, however, remains in his clinic while the courts decide whether his lease with Fred Zeitz guaranteed him right of first refusal to buy the building.
James Sherrets, Carhart's lawyer, said he hadn't looked into the city's ruling on the condition of the rental house. But the circumstances leading inspectors to the house sound suspiciously political, he said.
Carhart could not be reached for comment.
Emmett Childers, the attorney for the partnership, said this is a simple case of landlords responding to a tenant complaint that the heat didn't work.
Contractors were brought in to try to correct the problem and while there, they found code violations, he said. The contractors notified the city of the problems, Childers and Carmichael said.
Sherrets said he doesn't understand why contractors would call the city. He would expect contractors to report all problems to the property owner who hired them, he said.
Childers, who said he wasn't aware that Carhart's daughter lived in the house, balked at the idea that his clients or their contractors were motivated by anything other than the safety of the tenants. His clients, he said, gain nothing by forgoing monthly rental checks.
Carmichael said the code violations in the house are numerous and, in some cases, life threatening. About the only way to bring the mechanical and electrical systems up to code is to gut the house, he said.
The code violations include using a single furnace and air conditioner to circulate air to and from three apartments. Some substandard electrical work was deemed an electrocution hazard.
The city ordered all life-threatening violations repaired immediately and gave the landlords 15 days to submit a plan for remedying less serious problems.
Carmichael said the partnership sent a letter saying work would be delayed until the courts determine who owns the property. Carmichael plans to inspect the property this week to ensure that it has been vacated.
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[posted 11/19/00]
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