On June 13, City Councilman Larry Atencio voted against a new
property maintenance code that had drawn an overflow crowd to
council chambers, many of whom backed the new code aimed at fixing
up rundown vacant buildings, rental property and large commercial
businesses.

   Those backers were urged to attend the meeting by Lori Winner, a
local resident whose website, Pueblo House of Shame, has built a
following by listing problem houses and properties.

   It’s Winner’s campaign to get the city to toughen its
enforcement on trash, weeds and dilapidated buildings.

   After that long public hearing, Atencio and Councilwomen Judy
Weaver and Vera Ortegon voted against the new code, but the
four-vote majority of Council President Ray Aguilera and
Councilmen  Steve Nawrocki, Chris Kaufman and Leroy Garcia
prevailed.

   And the emotions have remained.

   A week or so after the meeting, Atencio’s business at 1401 E.
Fourth St. became a featured “eyesore” of sorts on the House of
Shame Web page. The building, which houses Atencio’s candy-making
business LA Distributing Co., is worn-looking, but web comments
about it were particularly sharp and caustic — saying the building
showed why Atencio voted against the new code.

   Contacted Tuesday, the District 2 councilman, who is not running
for re-election, said he didn’t know that his property was a focus
of attention.

  “I’ll bet you that she’s listing me because I voted against that
ordinance,” Atencio said. “I manufacture (candy) suckers. I’m not a
retail store. I don’t have to look pretty and I’m certainly not the
richest guy in town. Ask her if she’s listing me because of my
vote, because you know damn well she is.”

   Winner wasn’t shy about answering the question.

  “I wouldn’t call it retaliation,” she said. “I’d call it
transparency. Mr. Atencio said at the council meeting that he’s in
favor of demolishing buildings with boarded-up windows and cleaning
up the East Side. But look at his own property. There are
boarded-up windows. To me it’s (a) case of talking out of two sides
of your mouth.”

   Winner said she’d received more than 50 emails complaining about
Atencio’s property in recent months. As council debated the
maintenance code in recent weeks and Atencio scoffed at it — saying
it would become a club used by city enforcement officers on poor
East Siders — he became an obvious opponent.

  The decision to feature LA Distributing on the House of Shame
page came after the narrow, emotional vote. She’s also emailed
other council members and city staff about the property, she said
Tuesday, and there are code enforcement issues there.

   “Mr. Atencio talks about the need for economic development on
the East Side, but this is how he maintains his own building? Who
would want to open a business next door to that?” she asked.

   Atencio said he first opened a dance studio in the building in
the early 1980s and then converted it into a candy-making business
about 1984.

   It’s a family-run business with his wife, Yolanda, he
said.

   “I’ve been planning to paint the trim and the awning out front,”
he said Tuesday. “It doesn’t have to be pretty. Not everyone can
maintain their property according to (Winner’s) standards.”