M.G. Stinnett wrote: What's interesting about Rocco Forte taking over Regulatory Services is that he's now in charge of a department--housing inspections--that he a) raided for jobs, a violation of labor law which is still in grievance process and b) he said he wanted to take for the fire department altogether.
Me: I don't know much about the labor grievance, so won't comment on that, but I do know that the fire department--in order to save many of its jobs--took over major aspects of housing inspections. Though not something generally well known, the Fire Department has already taken over the duty to inspect all rental properties with 4 or more units (except most Section 8 properties and all of the MPHA properties). Such an approach essentially mirrors the approach in St. Paul, where fire inspects larger multi-unit buildings and another department (headed by former Rep. Andy Dawkins), inspects the smaller single-family and 2-3 unit rental properties. That said, I'm not sure how well the transition from inspections division to fire department is working out here in Minneapolis. That is, there are stories now of real rocky times. One, the fire department simply is not set up well at this point to handle the volume of complaints, which are still taken at the intake line (673-5858) and subsequently sent to one of the 109 Fire Captains, depending on the location of the rental property. Two, given the volume of the complaints and the lack of trained resources at this time, fire inspectors are calling the tenant back and, depending on the circumstances, not even inspecting. Worse, there may not be adequate or any documentation of the complaint (or no inspection if none occurs) and we have received cases where the fire inspector calls the landlord first instead of the tenant, leading to potential retaliation without the crucial documentation of the tenant's call to inspections occurring in the first place. Finally, and perhaps more importantly, there will be a steep learning curve for some of the fire inspectors to relearn what was institutionally lost in the transition. For instance, many housing inspectors had learned about and had accepted the city-initiated TRA strategy as a viable legal approach to compel repairs in many substandard properties. I'm not sure how amenable fire inspectors will be to the TRA process, though the attorney with Fire knows the process well and should be able to have some significant influence. We're also concerned about gains that were made to incorporate lead-based paint concerns in repair issues (for example, where a landlord is cited for peeling and deteriorating paint) will be lost in the transition as well. JoAnn Velde in housing inspections had been a true leader in trying to bridge the rather unnatural dichotomy between lead-paint problems and housing inspection issues. She still remains a leader with the smaller unit rentals, but not sure what commitment will be there in Fire and what priority will be given to this issue--which has far greater impact on poor families and their children, most of whom are children of color. As we always seem to be asking "who loses in the change?" Word is still out on this one. Perhaps one of the inspectors or those involved in the process can provide more detail, as it's been frustrating for some tenant advocates to figure out what is going on. It would also be good to hear from landlords on the list to determine how they perceive the transition, which is probably one of the biggest bureaucratic changes going on in City Hall today. Gregory Luce Project 504 (Jordan) Residing in St. Paul REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
