Dyna Writes:
My fellow habitant of the 'hood Dennis Plante suggests that criminal prosecution is needed to force citizens to maintain there property. Our city tried that strategy and it failed.... In safe and stable communities a homeowner's investment in their property is rewarded with decades of continued use of their home or a decent return on their investment when they sell. In neighborhoods like the Northside where property values are falling and peaceful citizens are increasingly murdered major investments in property are increasingly risky and are rewarded by higher taxes and insurance costs in neighborhoods that are increasingly too unsafe to live in. Even the most fervent city prosecution of property poor 'hood homeowners cannot change those negative economics and force investment in dying neighborhoods. In fact such prosecution will only expedite the abandonment as owners flee to more friendly municipalities.
Dennis Responds:
Actually Dyna, As a last resort, I am in favor of prosecuting neighbors that refuse to maintain their property.
In a safer and more stable community, the city officials AND neighbors would have acted much more agggresively and expediently to remedy the eyesore you're causing.
Your property value has not fallen over the last 10-year period. You and I (along with everyone else) knows that. Is there currently a "glut" of housing for sale on the northside? Yes. It is related more to both an economic trend and crime than it is to peeling paint and home disrepair.
So, if prosecuting a homeowner that continually and purposefully chooses to ignore city ordinances regarding the upkeep of their home does nothing but cause "upstanding" homeowners to "flee", what do you propose as a solution? Asking them pretty please in a nice tone of voice to paint their trim? Allow homeowners the right to ignore city ordinance until their neighborhood is crime-free?
What I am hearing is very similar to when I confront young neighborhood children I am familiar with when I see them litter. Undoubtedly, a percentage of them always say - why can't I do it? everyone else is?
Your house trim needs painting Dyna. Paint-it and be done with it. If you can afford to own a house, you can afford to keep the trim painted. You're incredibly intelligent, a valuable asset to the neighborhood AND could add a lot of very valuable input towards solving the problems in the 'hood, if you would direct your energies towards meaningfull pursuits.
dennis plante jordan
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