Edhat Staff
By the edhat staff
A Mesa resident was in a legal battle with the City of Santa Barbara prior to jumping from the Courthouse clock tower, according to The Independent.
Edhat reported on April 23 a fatal incident took place at the courthouse. It was later revealed that that Kenneth D. Fink, 84, had jumped from the top of the clock tower, landing near the sidewalk of Anacapa Street. He was pronounced dead by emergency responders.
The Independent’s latest report states Fink had recently been sued by the City for failing to correct decades of issues regarding his Cooper Road residence.
Inspectors stated there were “extremely hazardous and unsafe hoarding conditions,” and “substandard living conditions such as no working plumbing, no heating sources, and improper disposal of human waste,” which violate Santa Barbara’s municipal code and state law.
Fink was born on January 18, 1939 in Arlington, Ohio and moved to Santa Barbara to teach high school math. “He lived in Santa Barbara, California for most of his adult life and concluded his career at the Santa Barbara County welfare and probate departments and retired in 1991,” according to his obituary.
Read the full article at independent.com.
Related Articles
- April 23, 2023: Fatal Incident at Santa Barbara Courthouse
It appears to me this is a situation where it wouldn’t take more than a visit and an interview with Fink to determine there was likely a mental issue involved. “The City of Santa Barbara filed a complaint against Kenneth Fink, alleging he had ignored decades of violations and that his Mesa home was a health hazard.” Decades? IMO this is a case where mental health or social services personnel should definitely have been contacted and allowed to pursue this case. Is there no one involved in this issue with the City smart enough to identify the possible mental issue? Hoarding alone is a red flag. The condition of the yard? With all the hollering and hammering about getting mental health personnel involved in issues, the City has one staring them directly in the face and they “blow it,” big time.
Agree, there appears to be a mental health aspect here. Although it should have been called in as a welfare check since he’s elderly.
The City would not have come after him unless one of his neighbors filed a complaint.
It is interesting to me, per the Independent article, two non-family members are trying to file a petition to administer his estate. That is always a concern with an elderly person that lives alone, like the elderly lady in Montecito. How did the city allow this to continue without stepping in to offer assistance or advice – “has been maintained as a dangerous nuisance” since at least August 2003″. It is very sad how this ended.
This is sad and I have hoarding in my family but mental health help is urgent “when they are a danger to themselves or others” . So unless the “stuff” was a danger not sure you can blame mental health agencies. The bar is much higher to force help than it used to be,
” Mental health agencies had no involvement in this issue and this is my concern” How do you know that ‘mental health agencies’ had no involvement?
TINKER1 – Mental health agencies had no involvement in this issue and this is my concern, they should have been. I’m suggesting a contact should have been made to determine if there was a mental health issue. Did it take the City ten years to follow up on what was identified as “extremely hazardous and unsafe hoarding conditions,” as well as “substandard living conditions” as reported? It sounds to me these identified issues presented a danger to Fink and any other occupant(s) of the property. It would be interesting to learn if Fink was served with documents personally during May and June 2022 or via mail. If contacted there may have been an indication of his mental condition.
GENERAL – I’ll rephrase my comment: After reading information about this incident (it doesn’t appear) mental health agencies were involved.
What is interesting to me is that the City employees did a lot wrong here over many years of employment. Think job security. And in another debacle on the Eastside, these same City employees failed again to do the correct and appropriate procedures to administer Municipal Code regulations. In these cases, you do not get what you are paying for. And paying for. And paying for.
Forcing people to clean up is a dangerous, delicate dance and Ken wasn’t able to dance. We were once neighbors and when the Marborg would announce a neighborhood clean up day, the night before pick up, Ken would carry all kinds of stuff to his place, all night, like an ant. I am not blaming the city, or his neighbors, but mental health needs to do more than put hoarding people on a 72 hour hold.
The city is not to blame here, but Ken was hoarding 40 years ago
Very sad story. Hoarding is such a devastating illness for all involved, and less than 10% of hoarders are able to recover. Google Earth shows a sad picture of how severe the situation was. I’m sorry he wasn’t able to, for whatever reason, get the help he deserved. We all deserve help especially in old age. RIP Ken.
I lived around the corner from that guy for a few years. Although I did not know him, I know the house, it’s in really bad shape and the front yard is a wreck of discarded trash. Feel pretty bad for the guy but he and hoarders like him need to at some point be forced to clean up their yards as they are a magnet for vermin, mosquitos, and all kinds of other problems.
People who want to blame government will find any excuse. Here it is they did not intervene forcibly enough. At other times it is that they were too aggressive. Trying to get a mentally ill person to change is extremely difficult. That is why so many homeless people persist in a life style that is really unpleasant and even painful. We shut down almost all involuntary treatment for such problems decades ago and SB County has resisted funding more than 16 beds for this for decades. We need to return some greater power of intervention to the government in these cases while funding competent alternatives such as walk-in clinics and counseling in all communities. But we won’t because in the end most voters are resistant to spending tax money on such things. They prefer, historically, just to lock them up.
Maybe if he was homeless instead of his own private property the city would have just him alone.
If you look close on Goggle Earth, you will see that Ken wasn’t the only one hoarding.
The District Attorney needs to look into how the non relatives got involved, but I am imagining it could be reverse mortgage/financing entities. Either way, its all very sad.
I’m a little shocked that the date the City had on the property as a dangerous nuisance was “at least since 2003”. That is off by more than a decade for the outside stuff. Maybe two decades or longer for the indoor stuff packed into the house and garage. I guess part of that would be on me, because I’m not the type of person to tattle on a neighbor, particularly one that is just an odd quirky guy minding his own business.