City Agrees Landlord Has Repaired Buildings

For the first time during months of criminal court hearings, Anaheim city officials agreed Thursday that landlord Sam Menlo has satisfactorily repaired three buildings at his rundown apartment complex.

Menlo, who owns the Ridgewood Gardens apartments, was cited with 34 criminal violations in 1997 after a four-alarm fire revealed numerous unsafe conditions.

When he failed to make sufficient progress on repairs, a judge ordered him to live at the complex for 60 days and fix one building a month.

Menlo, who has a history of run-ins with code enforcement officials, hasn’t completed that sentence. His attorneys said he suffered a stroke while staying there.