'Wall of Shame' Logs Illegal and Unsafe Housing Offenders in Port Chester

William Oxer and Charles Horton got hit with hefty fines after a home they owned .

Inspectors found an illegal attic apartment and an illegally-enclosed porch when they reviewed the 17 Willow St. home after the fire, which left 10 people homeless. After initially pleading not guilty, Oxer and Horton returned to court last month and paid $4,000 and $5,000 in fines, respectively.

Now, the details of their case are public to anyone who wants to view them on Port Chester's official website.

"A wall of shame, basically," is how Mayor Dennis Pilla described the file during Monday night's board meeting.

Oxer is a former fire chief whose name has been in the headlines after he became sacked in the ongoing . Officials say that's a black eye on the village – as a former prominent member of the fire department, Oxer was well aware of fire safety hazards and the dangers of confined living spaces without real escape routes.

But the 56-page file contains dozens of other names, like four members of the Carino family who own 327 Locust Ave. Unlike other offenders, the owners fessed up to charges of overcrowding and failure to obtain permits, and paid $4,000 in fines.

Most importantly, they corrected the violations.

During Monday night's discussion, code enforcement prosecutor Robert Pierce acknowledged that thousands in fines might be "the cost of doing business" for some landlords in town.

In the past, some opted to pay the fines rather than correct the violations and lose income from rented apartments. Under Port Chester's current code enforcement staff, that's no longer an option – inspectors will continue to impose fines and bring landlords back to court if they don't comply.

That's why almost 100 cases in the "wall of shame" are still pending in court.

"Once we get through this issue of compliance, then we'll be in a position to start settling some of these cases," Pierce said. "Then we move to the penalty phase and start collecting fines, and there are a lot of cases out there with a lot of fines that are going to be collected."

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