Posted on 07/26/2002 2:02:45 PM PDT by CFW
That means no plastic water pipe, etc. There goes the cost of construction.
What about paint? It's not a natural material.........
Which one of the five neighbors wants to try and come in first?
They would snoop around my home over my dead body. I mean that in the most literal sense.
And consider insulated cooper wire, AC/heating ducts, stainless steel sinks, porcelin toilets, asphalt based shingles, wall-to-wall carpeting made with synthetic fibers, drywall, etc.. Man, what group of totalitarian minded control freaks.
I don't know if they are Northeastern socialists, but socialists they are. The problem is that the rural locals are mostly self-reliant, tolerant, and law-abiding. They don't realize the law is being manipulated in a way which seriously impacts the independence and freedom they formerly enjoyed until they are outnumbered, outorganized, and outvoted. I don't see any solution unless hard times foster a new grass roots common sense. Now, the same societal success that allows many to eat themselves into obesity allows people with social/liberal fantasies to imagine and vote away unfettered by any reality checks in their lives.
Here's one example. Those in the military know that women can be helpful, but are not necessarily a help as combat personnel when placed there for affirmative action reasons. However, those in political power have no contact with the reality in the field--they can imagine what is politically correct because they don't have to worry whether the person next to them can sling them over her shoulder and pull them from danger.
10:12 pm PT, Sunday, Jul 21, 2002
Blight-buster or right-wronger?
By Edith Alderette
Staff writer
VALLEJO - Not all rentals are the same in Vallejo. Some are spacious homes with every modern amenity imaginable. Others are small, squalid and, in many cases, in violation of public health or building codes.
The latter and their effect on neighborhood blight has prompted the city to look into writing a new law requiring landlords of rental property to open their apartments and condominiums up to code-enforcement officers for inspection.
The proposed "Vallejo Rental Property Program" has health-care groups and neighborhood associations cheering that poorly maintained, substandard rental housing may finally be hunted down by the city and either fixed or removed from the market.
But landlords say the fees the city would charge constitute a unfair tax they would have to pass on to tenants through increased rents.
Renters in cities where such laws have been implemented say they also resent being forced to let the government go through their cupboards just because they don't own their homes.
The new law, brought before the Vallejo City Council in July 2001, met with sound support of numerous groups, including the Sutter Street Neighborhood Association, Kaiser Permanente Napa-Solano and Solano Coalition for Better Health.
However, before any vote was taken, City Attorney Fred Soley put the ordinance on hold to clear up questions about whether council members who are landlords may vote. Soley says the law could be come back to the council as early as September.
Under the ordinance, rental properties throughout the city would be inspected on a regular basis to make sure conditions are up to city standards and to ensure that tenants are maintaining them safely and properly. Advocates involved in the law's development say they hope to eventually check out every apartment in the city. "Over a couple or four years, maybe more, each piece of rental property would receive an inspection," said Michael Sparks of Fighting Back Partnership, a nonprofit Vallejo organization that helped develop the proposed ordinance.
The city, Sparks said, would begin by inspecting units in buildings notorious for squalor. After giving the landlord notice, code-enforcement officers would then be allowed to enter units to check for evidence of code violations, like non-functioning smoke detectors, mildew and rot, vermin, broken appliances, poor lighting and blocked fire escapes.
Any violations would have to be repaired immediately or the landlord would be required to remove the unit from the market and find other living arrangements for tenants.
When inspectors come to bottom of the list, they would begin again at the top. Sparks said an apartment building that has no code problems would be inspected about every four years, while those buildings with problems would be seen again by officers every two to three years after they were fixed.
Law enforcement officials eagerly greet the prospect of a rental-inspection law, noting that poor housing correlates directly with crime rates in neighborhoods throughout the city. "Basically, what we find is a high level of blight and criminal activity go hand in hand with run-down properties in some of the more dilapidated areas," said Sgt. Larry Jiles of the Vallejo Police Department.
As a member of the central substation's Beat Health Program, he says his officers regularly discover abysmal living conditions in many of Vallejo's depressed neighborhoods, and the new law would give those tenants a way to get their apartments upgraded without having to face repercussions from an angry landlord.
"We go into many rental units that have broken windows in disrepair, where they can't be open or closed, where the floors are deteriorated, where there's a high degree of mold. There are holes in the bathroom floors from toilets or sinks that have torn away from the walls or the floor. Some don't have heaters that operate," he said. "People shouldn't have to live that way."
Objections to the law
Others, however, are not so enthusiastic.
The state's largest landlord association says the fees that landlords would be charged to maintain the program are an unfair and dig into their slim profits, and that an increase in costs to rent a property will only result in higher rents.
Landlords would be required to pay an annual inspection fee of $50 to $75 to keep their units on the market, Sparks said. The cash could be used to hire more officers to inspect properties.
In other cities where such laws have been implemented, like Concord, Daly City, Oakland and San Rafael, the fee is assessed annually, even though the inspections only happen once every several years. Costs range from $17 to $70 a year.
Theresa Karr, regional government relations director for Vallejo-based California Apartment Association, the state's largest trade and lobbying association for landlords and property managers, says her members resent having to pay annually for problems they don't cause.
"It's like Big Brother's in your pocket again," she said. "In Concord, what [property owners] resent most is the fee. From them, it's, 'Get the bad guy, but I have 300 units here. Why do I have to pay a fee for each of my units because the city's trying to get that slumlord over there?' They really think there should be another way."
Others aren't cheering the new law either and worry it would effectively make a different set of constitutional rights for homeowners and renters. Owners would receive the Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches, while renters would be forced to let city officials enter their homes.
"This housing inspection thing is a Trojan horse for two reasons: It's a way to abuse poor people and it's a way to make money by taxing everybody," said Vallejo attorney Dan Healy.
With such a law, Healy said, a city can force landlords to open units, even if a renter objects. If a property owner or a tenant refuses to allow officers entry, an inspection warrant -- similar to a search warrant -- would be signed by a judge to allow the code-enforcement officers entry.
Unlike search warrants, however, inspection warrants are much easier to get. While obtaining a search warrant requires the city to go through a long process of developing proof that something illegal is going on inside the unit and presenting a compelling argument to a judge, all officers need for an inspection warrant is to explain they have not been allowed entry and the rental-inspection ordinance mandates that they have the right to enter.
"It's a nice way to get them in to conduct searches without probable cause," Healy said.< snip >
Evidently enforcing existing laws doesn't occur to these people--not when the power to march into private homes is so tempting. After all they are from the government and are here to help, right? ARRGGGH
You could call the electrical utility to have your meter re-installed, but they won’t do it without a sign off from the electrical inspector. So you either cooperate willingly or unwillingly, but cooperate is what you will do…
I understand the Fire Chief had similar powers… I don’t know what he could shut down if you refuse to cooperate though.
Montreat is a high priced area infected with the new age liberalisim that has invaded the Asheville, Black Mt. area. As far as limiting car travel it will be interesting to see how they intend to shut down Interstate 40, which runs the complete length of the the valley.
Maine will soon fall to the "Hyper-Regulators!"
Those of us who understand & Revere the Constitution have LONG been outmanuoevered by the Lawyers who are "Hell-Bent" on Finding Ways Around our Constitution!
WE MUST HAVE a "Cadre'" of Lawyers who Understand & Revere the "Law of the Land!!" AMERICA LIVES ONLY BY it's Constitution!!
ANY attempt to Circumvent America's Constitution is SEDITION--Possibly Treason!!
After 9/11, Americans are Disinclined to give ANY "Foreign National" the "Benefit of the Doubt!"
NUCLEAR RETALIATION is NO LONGER a "Forbidden Option."
The SH+T-for-Brains who attacked us have placed their Families & Their Nations at RISK!
We DO NOT forgive the slaughter of Our Innocents!
It is EXTREMELY UNWISE to kill Innocent Americans!!
We are Patient--We NEVER Forget or Forgive!
I Wouldn't be too eager to "Kiss the Moonstone in Mecca" in the next couple of years!!
You have PISSED-OFF a People who would have let you live--un-bothered--for Mlllenia!!
You have attacked a Peaceful People who tried to Live Peacefully with you!!
You have Violated ALL "Rules of Conduct" established for Warfare By ALL Civilized Nations!!
When we Destroy You (& Your Decadent "Civilization"), Future Generations will wonder, "What Took Us So Long??"
& THAT will be our SHAME!!
Doc
I remember Montreat when it was a private Presbyterian retreat with a gatekeeper. You were given a pass to drive around inside. Incorporating was not a good idea.
I can't imagine where they are going to build a parking spot for every bedroom. There isn't 10 yds of level ground in all of Montreat. Most of the roads are really lanes not wide enough for 2 cars to pass.
I guess all the residents will park at Ingles on the S. side of Black Mtn. and be shuttled to Montreat :)
A petition by 5 neighbors cancels the Fourth Amendment?
You mean I and 4 neighbors can terrorize anyone we want with impunity?
Now, that could be fun.
You got to be kidding.
They get the gorillas with the guns to do it for them.
You know, the "just following orders" types?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.