Re: “Many in Portland live in rentals with code violations,” by Randy Billings (Maine Sunday Telegram, Nov. 9):

It is very upsetting that landlords don’t take responsibility in managing their properties. They have no respect for human life.

I feel that landlords look at owning properties as a easy way to make money.

Would these landlords let their families live with such violations? The city of Portland needs to be more conscientious in following up on the violations they have found and why the landlords did not correct them.

How can Maine be advertised as “the way life should be”? Why are we so behind the times? Portland is not such a big metropolitan city that it takes a huge government to run it. The people who live there are hardworking human beings who deserve safe places to live.

Six people perished in the fire on Noyes Street. Their families have been changed forever. The survivors will carry the mental image and the emotional scarring with them for the rest of their lives.

Neighbors had complained and reported to the city concerning the Noyes Street property; and still the violations existed. That is totally unacceptable and there is no excuse for that.

What is it going to take to get the city of Portland to follow up and get these landlords to correct the violations? If the landlords do not correct them, the city should heavily fine them and take the property away from them.

Patty Fortula-Kohn

The Betsy Ross House

South Portland