I spent a couple of years arguing with Officer Charlie Gust at RECAP (he's at the downtown command now) over a six-plex on Chicago Av. that was a mess. Noise, gunshots, everything else. Many 911 calls. Charlie insisted that he work with the landlord to change the situation. It took so dang long, I was beside myself, but Charlie persisted. Today that six-plex is a really nice building with the same landlord. The tennants have all changed. There's a new canopy out front and the grounds (little bitty grounds, more like groundlet with BIG parking lot) are in apple pie order. At the end, it was my sense that the landlord might have been new to landlordery by inheritance and didn't know how to change the situation once he had erroneously rented to some unfortunate tenants. I've been in the same position where I only had one bad tenant and I do live in the building. It's still a trick to remove that person, particularly if that person refuses to leave, refuses to pay rent, calls inspections on the landlord, and otherwise acts like Booba Da Fool, searching for "reasons" why he/she should not have to pay rent for tenancy. I've worked with CCP SAFE, Inspections, RECAP, CERT Team, and 3rd Precinct since early in the Crack invasion. Sometimes, together, we win. Sometimes we think we'll be on Social Security before we ever win. I give them credit for working hard at making my neighborhood safer. It hasn't worked entirely and in the process everyone involved has been frustrated as all get out. In a couple of cases, neighbors bought out bad landlords and became reluctant landlords themselves. Two houses burned down, one from overloaded old wiring, the other was "suspicious." We finally got a new house. Some homeowners changed, some landlords changed, other landlords got themselves reorganized after a bad, bad experience. (I distinctly remember my roommate picking bullets out of the garage and having to pay to have the garage re-roofed when a kid in a drug house went berzerkers (totally justifiably for a kid of 8.) We all got short-tempered and snotty at one point or another, on the neighbors part from fear and lack of sleep and quiet; on the part of police the night after night after night visits. It took a long time. And none of the parties moved that far since many of them have lived around here all their lives, so have their parents and their grandparents. The best we have ever been able to do, on a group basis, is interrupt the flow of madness and target different ones to come over to the other side.
The only fault in this approach is that it is reactive. There's probably an approach that is active, but we haven't, all of us, lit on it entirely. On the Southside, James Walker, VJ Smith, Nate and John at the Center for Fathering, Mrs. Clarissa Walker, Bobby Lay, and Art Seratoff at others at Sabathani, CNIA, Weed & Seed Central, the school, the library, the gym, the NRP, Abbott, St. Mary's, Honeywell and other foundations, Youth Build and Summit Academy, the Spokesman Recorder, the PEACE Project and the neighbors are all working on these same problems. Apparently it takes a village to nurture a village. WizardMarks, Central Craig Miller wrote: >>I can't really finish reading all of this message. Mr. Miler's >>comparison of hating jews and blacks to attacking landlords and people >>who make more money than you is really sickening. (Quoted below for >>reference). It reminds me of the lawyer who sued over lawyer jokes. >> >>My family have been landlords (I'm not). I've seen good tenants and >>bad tenants. I know it can be tough on a good landlord. >> >>It is in the interest of good landlord to be careful about his tenants >>(like Mr. Miller apparently is). This is especially true in multi-unit >>apartments. It IS the landlord's responsibility to choose carefully >>and evict when necessary in order to maintain a safe community within >>their properties. Why? Because the tenants don't have the power to do >>it. >> > >Good points but already stipulated. > >>But there is a clear economic advantage to maintaining a good >>community. A good community means peaceful neighbors who pay their >>rent on time, who can prosper in their jobs because they can rest at >>night, whose kids do well in school because they can study in a safe, >>peaceful environment. >> > >This is what we all strive for. But Mpls city governmnet does not strive >for this in certain areas. Ask our listmembers who have been pointing this >out. Dyna comes to mind. > >>But what about the bad landlords? They "serve a need" as Mr. Miller >>pointed out. They deserve to be attacked. They deserve to be run out >>of town - even to the point of leaving property abandoned. But the >>property must be reoccupied and soon - preferably by owner-occupants >>from the community. I have seen the value of subsidizing low-income >>buyers to buy homes in their neighborhoods. >> > >"Serve a need" may be a bad choice of phrase. The slumlord comes into >existance because the better landlords and properties will not rent to >people with slummy credit, crime or rental history. But the poster suggests >they should be attacked and the tenants cast to the wind. The property left >abandoned-vacant-rotting-burning. This is what we practiced in Mpls for over >15 years. > >This has had terrible results. One result is the public school transient >student issue. We have over 150,000 people with UD's on their record in the >last 10 years. We have poisoned base of relations with our largest provider >of affordable housing. We have non-profits who sell themselves as white >nights who then raid the public purse for un heard of amounts. We have >destroyed so much classic housing. > >So, if you want more poor kids to keep moving and ruin their educational >opportunity at a young age. Do what Mr. Schmid advises, attack the landlord >and his tenants. Mr. Schmid clearly points out he prefers owner occupied. >Not those #$%^&&* smelly %^&)( people who rent. I'll repeat here again. I >do not want ugly neighbors, buildings or neighborhoods. >But will the city ever help the landlords in tough situations with >meaningful assistance-service? The past 15 years would indicate 'no'. The >post of Mr. Schmid-Ms Mann would indicate that we are slipping into another >dark age of landlord baiting. > > >>So, if you are truly a good landlord Mr. Miller, I feel your pain. But >>if you are actually one of the slumlords you deserve all the pain you >>get. I applaud Ms. Mann for her efforts. >> > >Your applause only compound the error. > >Craig Miller >Former Fultonite >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > >_______________________________________ > >Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy >Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls > _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
