Diane Devlin Speak to the Elmwood Community Kiwanis
Eric Ortner
North Buffalo Rocket / West Side TimesIn January, a new judge took the bench of Buffalo's Housing Court. Diane Devlin replaced Margaret Anderson, who vacated the seat when she retired. Since that time, Judge Devlin has been busy presiding over cases involving housing issues, some of them have been high profile. On Tuesday, April 4, 2000, Judge Devlin spoke during the Elmwood Community Kiwanis Luncheon at the Saratoga Restaurant.
Judge Diane Devlin has had a distinguished legal career. She was the Chief Administrative Law Judge and Director of the Bureau of Administrative Adjudication for the City of Buffalo. Ms. Devlin has also been Assistant Corporation Counsel for the City. In this position she prosecuted city and state fire and building code violations. Therefore, it seems only natural that she would eventually find herself as Buffalo's Housing Court Judge.
Diane told Kiwanis members and their guests, "I welcome block clubs or the neighborhood to express concerns about housing. They can contact me by letter or they can do that personally by coming into court on whatever day the case may be on." Judge Devlin's reasoning for the open door policy is quite simple. She explained, "It really is difficult when you sit on the bench. You only hear one side." Judge Devlin Continued, "Taking an active role and seeing what the neighborhoods are seeing, it puts a new perspective on the job. It allows you to see what the neighbors are seeing and how it effects all the people in the neighborhood. It's helpful to know what the neighbors think about a particular property because they are the ones that live there. This is especially true in the case of absentee landlords."
Absentee landlords tend to be a major problem for Judge Devlin. She said that in Housing Court, "You see a lot of absentee landlords, and you see a lot of houses that are in foreclosure."
On some occasions, the judge tries to find quick solutions to a troubled house in the community. She commented, "What I can do is say we're going to come back to court in two weeks and see what progress that defendant or homeowner has made. That is opposed to saying 'come back in six months with all the violations, corrected.'" She explained, "What I am saying is a lot of times there are violations that can be corrected with minimal or no money such as trash or debris, or like junk cars in the back yard. Those can be taken care of immediately. You don't have to wait for a loan."
Diane Devlin's fast action is not limited to cases of public nuisance. She made a ruling on a rather high profile housing case almost immediately after her appointment. It involved a house on Grote Street that was in very bad condition. The building's basement wall on one side had collapsed. Part of the collapsed wall was being held up by a sewer pipe. The inspectors informed Diane that the property would probably have to come down. Diane Devlin explained her role in solving this housing problem. She said, "There was a warrant out for the owner who lives out of state and the agent for the property lives in Canada. That was a case that was brought to me by the Inspection Department because it was dangerous for the tenants to live there. So what I did was, I went out to the property. After looking at the condition of the property I signed an order for the tenants to vacate the property. The city had the Red Cross available there in case they didn't have a place to go. As soon as the tenants were out I ordered an emergency demolition."
Diane was an excellent speaker and did her best to answer the audiences question's. However, there was almost some courtroom drama at the meeting. That is because there were a couple West Side Housing Activists with conflicting interests at the meeting.
Lynda Chiarenza, who is West Side Neighborhood Housing Services (NHS) Executive Director was on hand at the meeting. As was Richard Kern, who is a very outspoken critic of West Side NHS. This made for a lively question and answer period. The discussion appeared to be somewhat productive though. That is because they were able to speak with each other in a civil manner. Perhaps both parties will now be able to see through each other's differences in order to form a partnership of sorts that will benefit the West Side.
