The Way I See It!

Guest Blog - Rental Unit Inspections Are Way Out of Line

Posted by Randy Hollenbeck on April 3, 2009

Cudahy, Guest Blog, Leadership, Mayor, Taxes

From the Cudahy Birdman:

Mayor McCue’s proposal for rental unit inspections are way out of line.

His claims of the cost to landlords of three cheeseburgers do not begin to reveal the true costs.

I’m sure that a nit picking inspector can find building code violations in nearly all of our residences.  Peeling paint, a cracked window, a loose tile, right down to weeds in the yard.  We all have something that can be considered in violation.

The threat of fines and increase maintenance costs will cause the landlord to increase the rent to keep the property in tip-top shape and will probably put the tenant in better living conditions than the landlord lives in himself.

When the landlord finds this is too much of a nuisance, the property will go up for sale.  Since prospective landlords/buyers will be hesitant to buy this investment, the property value will go down dragging owner occupied houses down with it.

It is nothing more than a tax, a way to generate money for the city and another way to bring government into our homes to regulate things that do not need to be regulated.

The market takes care of that.  It is not in a landlord’s best interest to allow the property to become “dilapidated”.  It is harder to rent and get a fair rent value.

This proposal has some serious unintended consequences and it seems that the “do gooders” have not though through all of the problems it will cause.

If a tenant feels a property is not properly taken care of, the tenant can already call the city inspection department.

If Mayor McCue’s quoted statistics are correct in regards to property ownership vs. rentals, what has he or any other common council member proposed to increase owner occupied residences?  Owner occupied residences have long been the bell weather of a community’s health.  So far, the city’s commitment seems to be to build more condos, thereby making the population more dense.

Denser population equates to more public services – police, fire, schools, etc. without a comparable contribution to the tax base.

Mayor McCue’s contention that a landlord is “running a business” is correct in theory.  Yet, the tenant/landlord relationship has not been recognized (as far as I know) as a “business” anywhere else.  If it has, it should not have been.  This is a very slippery slope.  The owner pays the property tax, but in addition, would pay the city tax for assets owned as a business – one tax that most people aren’t aware of.

I do understand the intentions of our elected officials.  They want to make this a better community to live in and have a personal stake in that.  I applaud their efforts to keep the older sections of the city from being “blighted.”  However, this blue-collar community will not become a north shore type community overnight and heavy handedness from inspectors and unwanted fees/taxes will only deter potential investors and homeowners.

So far, I see a Mayor who has suggested taking rightfully owned property by eminent domain, but will not use power that for the weed infested eyesore (and tax money sewer) known as Iceport.  The taxpayers of this city have to bear the expense of “buying them out” – as if taxpayers haven’t paid those people enough already.

The 12 million that we’d give Walmart to occupy the site would be much cheaper.

So far, I have seen no viable ideas from out city leaders to realistically draw people to our area, spend their money, then leave

I have seen NO plan to attract people to live in our city.

All I see are ways to make our city government more oppressive to prospective businesses and homeowners.

I’ve seen major store chains leave.  I’ve see empty store fronts all up and down downtown Packard Ave.  I don’t see any viable business hammering to “get in the door” to occupy these areas.

Cudahy Station equates to “Iceport” and will be a boondoggle.

The present administration is killing, rather than persevering Cudahy.  Ordinances are passed and the common council has no clue as to what they are passing.  It just “sounds good.”

Planned businesses are rejected based on personal likes and dislikes, not on the opinion of constituency.

I voted, supported and voted for the present administration.  I was hoping to get rid of the “good old boy”  mentality that has this city has seem for too long, back to he days of Mayor Kelly.

Wow.  Was I ever wrong!