From the encroachment that accompanies complex, time-consuming, convoluted and cumbersome rental inspection programs, to government-grant research papers concluding that five-to-eight-year-olds prefer clean food as opposed to allegedly sneezed-on food, is it any wonder American’s trust in government to “do the right thing” has hit historic lows?
Just published is the 154-page 2nd annual edition of “Federal Fumbles: 100 Ways the Government Dropped the Ball” by US Senator James Lankford, (R- Okla.).
Just two (of the 100) examples:
“In April 2015 grantees published a paper stating that when children aged five to eight were given the choice between allegedly sneezed-on food and clean food, they chose” (insert drum roll here): “the clean food.”
Image Source.For this multi-year project involving “clearly groundbreaking research” as Lankford tongue-in-cheek observes, funded by the National Institutes of Health to study what influences a child’s view of food, grantees received a mouth-watering $2 million (p.10).
Meanwhile, the University of Washington (not the football team which is ranked fourth in the county but someone/s on the UW campus who also rank/s, in Lankford’s list of “Fumbles”: 96th) spent $3,920 for, among other “promotional items that had no obvious benefit to research”: custom Snuggies (p.104).
In addition to the custom Snuggies, which are a robe-blanket combo, the UW also spent another $1,179 for embroidered Snuggies, presumably emblazoned with the Husky logo and no doubt for use in the stands during the Peach Bowl on December 31, high noonkickoff, when the dawgs play Alabama’s Crimson Tide, ranked first in the country and maybe the best team ever.
Of course the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl is played in Atlanta, Georgia and game time temperatures are expected to be 57 degrees with sunshine and perhaps patchy clouds so maybe the Snuggies aren’t for the game but for something else.
Whatever the ‘something else’ might be, the just-completed audit of grants provided the U-dub by the National Science Foundation finds Snuggies an “unreasonable and unallowable” expense.
Hey, their college kids.
Which brings us to adults and rental inspection programs, sold to the public by government as necessary to ensure the snuggable-safety of renters within their humble abodes and without said government assistance inspecting every nook and cranny the hapless would be hopeless – their existence hardly differentiated from the homeless.
‘We’re the government, we’re here to help,” are seven words that explain why, given the examples mentioned here of the 100 and more, distrust is not a bad thing.
“There is a great utility in distrust,” said Karlyn Bowman, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who studies public opinion. “The Founders certainly saw that it keeps government on its toes.”
Distrust is a good thing. So is the ability to make good judgments a good thing, if not as concerns government, a rare thing. And good judgments are those demonstrated by doing that which is most simple and satisfactorily effective given the most admirable economy of effort and expense.
My fault but should have read “Hey, they’re college kids.”
Not, “Hey, their college kids.”
Waaa waaa waaa Rental Inspection waaa waaa waaa.
Get over it, it’s happening!
PS : I love snuggies and prefer clean foods also.
Yes, Mr. Wilson, RIP is happening, but when our government makes a mistake of this magnitude, some of us will bravely choose to never get over it.
In fact, it is a valuable contribution to the betterment of society if as many citizens as possible not suffer in silence and therefore not allow government actions to victimize citizens with the false use of the word safety.
Waaa, waaa, waaa.
As long as our local government insists on abusing innocent Lakewood citizens, we will complain.
Of course, because I value freedom of speech, feel free to complain about the complainers.
You can complain, but we will never stop, so maybe it would be easier for you to get over it. Besides you win. RIP is happening.
Joseph Boyle
RIP is happening, for now. But perhaps not forever. Communications are underway with leaders of a repeal of a similar RIP in San Louis Obispo (SLO), CA where already – given the passion behind the signature gathering effort (two-thirds of the necessary 4,000 signatures gathered as of this past Dec.18) – the City Council there, wisely, is now considering whether in fact they want to spend $100,000 in a special election to allow their citizens the right to vote on the issue; or make amends – if not amendments – to the current onerous law; or just toss the thing altogether.
Coming soon to a city near you.
To follow developments in SLO: http://slovoice.org/
Excerpts from SLO media:
“Councilman Dan Carpenter and local attorneys Stew Jenkins and Dan Knight filed an intent to repeal the law with the city, in a declaration that states the city ordinance ‘requires mandatory intrusive inspections inside homes in San Luis Obispo violating the First, Fourth and Fifth Amendments.’
“The program is designed to protect renters from unsafe conditions such as faulty wiring, blocked entry doors, leaky roofs and malfunctioning smoke detectors, among other health, safety and municipal code violations. The city ratcheted up inspections this summer.
“But Carpenter said the program discriminates against renters because it doesn’t apply to people who live in owner-occupied homes.
“Advocates of the inspection program, including Mayor Jan Marx, and council members Carlyn Christianson and John Ashbaugh, say the ordinance offers a mechanism to protect renters from slumlords and substandard living conditions.
“They say renters won’t report code violations out of fear of eviction or their rents being raised.
“But Carpenter says the city’s anonymous reporting program provides sufficient protection against landlords who violate housing codes and that rent hikes will be passed on to tenants because of inspection fees.”
Thank you!
An interesting mix of news today here!
People protesting because they want free services at St. Joe’s, an article expressing the difference of costs at urgent care vs emergency room, and THIS.
It makes a girl go ‘GRRRrrrrrr!’.
People please! You don’t get something for nothing. Obamacare is free to low income people.. SIGN UP! When you are ‘bruised’, take a taxi and go to urgent care.. AND PAY. Don’t whine because you think you are entitled to get it for free. Free isn’t free… it just means other people get a vastly increased bill to cover the cost of your care.. it’s not fair. AND, when you don’t pay for things you get it lands on your credit report and yes, as a landlord that will be enough to deny you housing.
The only thing that’s missing is the article regarding the lack of affordable housing. It’s coming, I’m certain of that.
This program is a straight up money grab. It’s intrusive. It will have no real impact on quality of housing or neighborhoods.
We’re subsidizing an exclusive golf facility and soon a luxury condo/hotel via our sewer bills. We’re subsidizing CABLE to low income households via our electric bills, we’re subsidizing health care via ObamaCare and unpaid bills at the hospitals, etc. We’re subsidizing housing, food, etc. There’s no end to it. Gov’t gets bigger, bills get bigger.. robbing Peter to pay Paul. Thinking the world owes you something. Imagining that somehow people who have worked hard, planned, saved, worked some more, somehow have to pay the way for everybody else and just shut up about it. Don’t think for a minute that this won’t all fall out on you too. It will.
It will fall out on you when people poke around your home while you’re away at work… because these inspectors aren’t going to care about your work schedule. It will fall out on you with increased rents… not only from the cost of the inspection but from required repairs, because I can promise you that if someone is proclaimed an ‘inspector’ and enters ANY home with a clipboard they will find something to write down. Then there will be contractors, another inspection, etc. It won’t be pretty.
KUOW was nice enough to run a series of programs regarding the cost of housing in the Seattle area. I listened to all of them, waiting, hoping that they would address the cost of public services (water, sewer, garbage, electricity, etc), the upward mobility of property taxes and how the voters vote yes on every feel good item with no regard for how much it will cost or who will pay for it. Not one word. Nothing. They had interview after interview of renters crying because they could no longer afford to live in their neighborhoods.
So… David Wilson… you whine, you cry… you take and you imagine for a minute that this won’t fall out on you somehow. I can promise you, you are very wrong. All of these feel good programs are coming to a head. Sales tax increases, levies, new and improved school levies, dancing around levy lids with ‘safety’ used to push it forward, all proclaiming that for the price of a cup of coffee it will make your lives better. Keep hitting that ‘yes’ button. Keep supporting these policies. Keep pushing and widening the divide of the haves and ‘have nots’ and soon, sooner then you might think, we’ll all be ‘have nots’. Who will be wrong then?
Side note: I had a tenant who was dissatisfied with her bathroom. It was perfectly clean and functional. She didn’t like it. I didn’t either. I gave in. Spent over $4,000 to improve her bathroom. New vanity, new tub, new tile surround, new tile floor, new lighting, new fan, new lighting, new door and trim work, texture, paint.. all, well done. I did the work myself, otherwise it would have easily been twice as much. She was horrified when her rent went up $50/month and moved. Do the math. At $50/month it would take nearly 7 years to pay for those improvements. Her rent had previously been quite low due partially to the ‘condition’ (all aesthetic) of the bathroom. She imagined that she could have a fabulous upgrade and still pay reduced rent. It doesn’t work like that. It never will.
Go ahead. Let that inspector in with his/her clipboard. Be careful what you wish for. You’re gonna improve people right out onto the streets.
Again for the slumlords – Waaa waaa waaa Rental Inspection waaa waaa waaa.
Get over it, it’s still happening!
Plus Betsy, you should have taken the cost out of your profits not charged the renter. Now you’re out the rent AND you have to advertise again. Not very smart. You should have a savings for this kind of thing.
Typical slumlord, don’t want to lose any of those profits do you? And again this concerns Lakewood.
David, slovoice.org/ refers to California! You have to work on your geography.
and Joe, you’re just funny and a better writer I actually enjoy your “letters”.
Mr. Wilson, hard as I try I can’t seem to get through to you. Although, it may seem futile, I will try again.
Let’s start here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slumlord
I am not a slumlord. Not even close. Although I do manage my own properties according to landlord tenant laws. I do this BECAUSE I’m a control freak and have no faith that professional property management will look out for my best interest OR that of my tenants, who are my clients.
It’s a business, NOT a charity.
When an apartment is running below market, as this one was, because in those first couple of years of owning my properties here, in the Tacoma area, I performed no less then 4 full on tear outs and remodels. That property was purchased with that unit having been offered as a ‘remodel’ by the previous owner, much of it was looking fairly fresh. And although much of it was not up to my standard, which is quite high, the unit was offered to the tenant at a below market rate. She, & you apparently, would have me spend thousands of dollars to bring into market ready condition FOR FREE. Not happening. Like I said, it’s a business. Something you are obviously unfamiliar with.
The increased costs to me since 2010 for water, sewer, garbage, electricity (common laundry), and property taxes ALONE paid out annually on a duplex in Lakewood is nearly $1,000 and rising.
There is simply no way to justify the increased cost of ownership, although I’m certain you’ll take a swing at it and even go so far as to suggest that I should offer these services for free somehow… and just suck it up and stop whining. I’m not whining for me. I’m whining for you and my tenants. I don’t like to increase the rents. In fact until I moved here and for several years after, I NEVER increased the rent during an occupancy. Now I have no choice. I simply can’t keep pace with the increased cost of doing business here. And although I hear and read reports all the time regarding affordable housing and the increased cost of housing, I never once hear mention of the increased cost for public services and property taxes… NEVER. Instead I hear silly people like you spewing about the evil, greedy landlord… simply not the case… and to imply otherwise only goes to show how very uninformed and/or misinformed you are.
In your mind, I have everything and should just hand it over to anyone and/or everyone who claims to have nothing or less then me, by your standards.
So, honestly, when it comes to whining… you are the king. Matters not much to me, since I’ll just pass the costs along, along with every other honest and upstanding landlord/property owner in the area. We aren’t competing with the slum lords who will still be in business.
An old friend of mine, as in, I’ve probably known him longer then you’ve been alive, lives in St. Louis, MO (that’s kind of southeast of here more then a few days), he lost his job and is a couple of months behind on his rent. I asked him how it was that he still had a roof over his head. If he were renting from me he’d be gone. His explanation was that his landlord didn’t have an occupancy permit, that would be the St. Louis version of the Rental Inspection Program.
Those same people/slumlords, who are not repairing rot, addressing safety concerns, maintaining their properties… will still exist under RIP…. and so will I. The difference being that EVERYONE’S rent will go up, except for those people who, for whatever reason, choose to rent substandard housing. RIP does and will do, nothing to address substandard housing. NOTHING!
Dude, do you believe in Santa Claus? The tooth fairy? Tinkerbell? You must if you honestly believe that RIP will do anything to address substandard housing. Their (city of Lakewood) primary objective is to open another revenue stream.
Boy you sure are delusional to KNOW what a program is all about before it even starts.
I happen to have an inside view of this program and it still looks good to me .
Keep on Trucking City Of Lakewood Council.