The Mayor and the City Council have prevented the Building Inspections Department employees from carrying out their responsibilities properly by cutting the Department's budget for the last five years during a time when the number of building permits that have been issued have increased at least 50% (One Department official suggested that 150% would be more accurate). The Minneapolis Mayor and City Council have made the excuse that more money was needed for "infrastructure". Consequently, there has been a lack of needed service. Nor, have I noticed that the "infrastructure" has improved. If it had improved, I might be able to identify what is actually meant by the term as used by Minneapolis government officials. Not only is the Inspections Department shorthanded because of a shortage of funds, but many building inspectors are not employed long enough to become very experienced. I understand that there is a high degree of turnover because of being overworked without the satisfaction of being allowed to do their jobs properly.
Minneapolis building inspectors do not inspect roofs in a manner that allows them to make certain that code requirements have been met. Instead they look at the roof from the ground after the roof has been shingled and really have no idea as to whether the ice and water shield and other underlayments have been installed properly, if at all. Roofing contractors understand this situation and so, unfortunately, they sometimes don't want to bother to do a proper installation. Once an inspector signs off on a job, the Inspections Department will typically claim that "the roof is fine", even when it is obviously leaking. The Mayor's office will say that there is nothing that they can do about this kind problem and City Council members haven't been helpful either. (Who is running this city anyway?) The City's claim that "the roof is fine" will prevent the homeowner from filing a complaint with the Licensing Department against the roofing contractor. The City of Minneapolis officials claim that the problem in getting remedial work on the roof taken care of is the responsibility of the homeowner and recommend that the homeowner sue the roofing company even though the roofer can use the City of Minneapolis' approval of the roof work as a defense. One would really need to sue the City of Minneapolis for breach of contract or fraud before suing the contractor. Isn't the City taking our permit money under false pretenses? Should the homeowner be held responsible for the City's planned negligence? Many houses have undetected ongoing structural damage without any visible signs of a problem. Roof leaks do not necessarily show up on ceilings. Roof boards, rafters, ridge boards, and other structural components can become damaged from these undetected leaks. Water from roof leaks can travel down the inside of exterior walls and cause much undetected damage or destruction over time. I feel that the City of Minneapolis government, especially Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton and Council President Jackie Cherryhomes, bear the greatest responsibility for potential damage to our houses because they would rather use our tax dollars to pay for pet tax increment finance projects instead of being responsible for providing basic services such as adequate home renovation and construction inspection. The present mayor seems to seek the appearance of finding solutions through "boondoggle" investigations that virtually no one seems to know about once they are finally completed. One rather gigantic study was completed about two years ago and nobody that I talked to recently in the Minneapolis City Hall seemed to know that it had existed or if it had existed, how one could receive a copy of the results. It would appear that the basic solution to the problem of keeping our homes safe and livable without unnecessary expense would be to replace the present Minneapolis Mayor and also the Minneapolis City Council members who do not demonstrate that they value the needs of homeowners. I believe that R.T. Rybak and Paul Zerby are the only candidates for Minneapolis elective offices who have indicated that the problems at the Inspections and Licensing Departments need to be rectified and I also believe that both of these candidates realize that greater priority needs to be given to adequately finance these departments so that they are able to carry out their responsibilities properly. I hope that all of our other Minneapolis City Government candidates will publicly take a positive stand on this problem. Neal E. Simons Prospect Park _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
