For one, that a local government – like the current battle in Lakewood, Washington – would require inspections of all private rental properties with few exceptions, is a stratagem more often seen acted out during elementary school recess than one would expect to see issuing from the recesses of city hall.
In a word: bullying.
It is as unconscionably a heavy-handed bureaucracy, unreasonably an excessive regulatory bludgeon, to force – yes, that’s the word – all to submit to a cosmetic standard of living (“adequate food preparation space”, “no chipped or peeling paint”) that government has set, as it is “a schoolyard tactic to call out and shame oddballs who aren’t like the rest of the class.”
Even if it works. And it does. “Any school kid would testify to that.”
Image Source.But, as Dan Jones writes in the September 28 National Review, how government sadly often conducts its affairs is more than just playground politics.
“Politicians in America increasingly push the lazy logic that because a majority of the world does something, we should too.”
A second reason Rental Inspection Programs are fundamentally flawed: Everyone else is doing it.
In a word: laziness.
“Landlords in the smaller cities and towns nearby should be worried,” wrote someone who could read the scrawls on the wall left by red-tagging, clip-board carrying, chalk-artists, aka government- and government approved inspectors that soon will appear at the doors of Lakewood tenants.
The headline just last week, Sept. 21, out of Portland, Maine by Jacob Posik read: “Unlawful rental registries; Coming soon to a city near you.”
Never mind that constitutional protections against “suspicionless searches” are being ‘substantially weakened’.
So what if the ‘alternatives that exist to advance the same cause’ are summarily discarded.
Other cities have gotten away with it. Go with the flow.
But only dead fish float downstream.
Again, from Jones in the National Review: “Mark Twain supposedly said, ‘Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.’ That’s good advice. Our reptilian brains are vulnerable to crowd psychology that makes going it alone a rather terrifying endeavor. As a result, majorities can stay majorities long after facts have proven them wrong.”
Only one of the seven city councilmembers in Lakewood objected when the vote was taken the night of August 1, 2016 to make law the Rental Inspection Program.
Only one said there were enough programs already to deal with property maintenance issues.
The rest of the councilmembers – the majority – in following the trendiness of Rental Inspection Programs installed and enforced by other cities in Washington and across America, in passing this legislation, denied the public both their rights and responsibilities, and reinforced, once again, government as master, citizens as servant.
In a word: control.
Is there anything lost that matters in such fiascos? When we march in lockstep because the bully is bigger, have we relinquished anything of value?
Yes, says Jones in the National Review: Individualism. Independence. Initiative.
“The mere fact that something is mainstream says nothing of its virtue,” writes Jones.
In America, occasionally, sadly less so it seems, “We have an unspoken tradition that when the government doesn’t do something, we step in and do it 100 times better than the government ever could.”
In a rare but refreshing example, take what happened in Thurston County, Washington, after the winter flooding of 2002 had “deposited a hellacious tangle of logs, roots and branches on the Deschutes River. The 1,200-foot-long logjam diverted the river’s waters onto 22 adjacent lots and threatened more flooding,” reported the Tacoma News Tribune (August 27, 2002).
The commissioners “essentially threw up their hands in despair, deciding to leave the jam in place after spending more than $100,000 studying the problem – the consultant they hired reporting that clearing the river could cost up to $1.6 million.
“Fortunately, the owners of those 22 affected lots ignored the consultant, tackling the job themselves.” A jail work crew was assigned to clear a path along the river; volunteers from a nearby church split the logs and donated them to the needy; and the entire project was completed in less than three weeks – for $8,000, “one two-hundredth of the original $1.6 million.”
In defense of the county, the job they gave up on included $1 million to dig a river bypass channel – which turned out not to be necessary.
Exemplifying the government-exceling-at-the-make-it-more-difficult-and-costly-paradigm, Lakewood initially budgeted the software to support its Rental Inspection Program at $50,000. That recently ballooned to a quarter-of-a-million dollars, “an oversight” said city staff.
What happened in Thurston County could have happened in Lakewood.
In lieu of Lakewood’s Rental Inspection Program, there could have been a roll-up-our-own-sleeves, take-our-own-initiative, give due diligence to our own – admittedly-down-and-dirty responsibility to get done what the government will now force us to do.
But in that the Lakewood City Councilmembers are culpable.
The vehicle they could have used, a bookmobile if you will, carrying the materials throughout the city by which to educate tenants and landlords as to their rights and responsibilities, an option the current city councilmembers briefly considered was – with the adoption of the Rental Inspection Program – instead traded in on a bulldozer that will now plow through and over the entire city landscape.
Of our individualism, independence, and initiative we’ve been robbed.
The thieves have been identified.
“We have met the enemy and he is us,” said Pogo.
The image in the mirror no longer reflects well for the cities which adopt – nor for the citizens who allow – Rental Inspection Programs.
But there is something we can do about it, a place to begin, to restore what matters to a community.
Ballots for Lakewood City Council will be mailed less than a month from now, October 20.
All four incumbents – Brandstetter, Moss, Simpson and Whalen – approved the Rental Inspection Program.
Vote out of office those who have voted to enter, uninvited, your rental home.
Mr. Anderson, I hope every voter gets a chance to read your description of our local Constitutional Rights Robbers.
There are cases where abusing a victim;’s constitutional rights is judged to be a crime.
Abusers are fired and jailed for behaviors that produce results exactly as will be produced by Lakewood City Council’s having created a bureaucratic Constitutional Rights smashing machine.
I know, Lakewood is using a tricky end-run by hijacking the Landlord Tenant’s 48 hour notification system thereby bullying both the landlord and renter into compliance with an evil plan to rob citizens of their time, money, freedom, and privacy. The end-run is what they use to think they are doing nothing wrong.
The least we can do is vote them out of office. The citizen action of voting is free.
Joseph Boyle
P.S. I was thinking of applying for the job of Housing Inspector. Do you think my abundantly frank comments will ruin my chances? Would you be willing to write a letter of recommendation for me?
A follow-up to this letter above with items related to the Rental Inspection Program as found in the Lakewood City Council Agenda packet for October 2, 2017 (link provided):
1. Of the Lakewood residents who spoke before the council on September 18, one, a landlord, “expressed concern about entering illegally someone’s house without a warrant.” Another, also a Lakewood landlord, chastised the council, saying “landlords were not notified about meetings announcing the Rental Housing Safety Program until after it went into effect” (p.015).
Responding that September 18 evening, Deputy Mayor Jason Whalen spoke “about communicating better and more and providing for more educational materials to inform residents on what is being done on the rental housing safety program” (p.015).
Ironically, Whalen – along with the majority of the council – rejected a “robust tenant/landlord outreach educational program” and opted instead for the regulatory, warrantless searches of all rental properties, with few exceptions, in the city when Ordinance No. 644 was enacted the night of August 1, 2016.
Now, after the fact, Whalen wants to educate – some might say ‘dictate’ – about rights that have been taken away.
Whalen is up for election this November, ballots mailed October 20.
2. As reported in this publication of The Suburban Times on September 18, the cost overrun, called by city staff “an oversight”, of $200,000, for software to support the rental inspection program, required the City Council to (a) “forgive” city staff; and (b) approve the quarter-million-dollar expense.
That same evening Councilmember John Simpson moved to adopt the motion for both (a) and (b); it was seconded by Marie Barth; and it was “carried unanimously” (p.016).
There was no discussion.
Barth was the lone dissenter on August 1, but that was then and this is now.
Simpson is up for election this November, ballots mailed October 20.
3. A “Citizen Satisfaction Survey” will soon be in the mail to a sample of Lakewood residents, an attempt to measure citizen’s perception of Lakewood government. Two of the categories are “Civic Engagement” and “Public Trust.”
City Manager John Caulfield said of the survey that it is “the best indicator of government performance” and that the survey results will show “whether local policies should be reviewed.”
So, there is that.
You can let the city know what you think given you’ll find the survey on pp.138 following in the link below.
And you can also let the city know what you think when ballots are mailed October 20 for the election of those you want to represent you.
https://www.cityoflakewood.us/documents/city_council/city_council_agenda_packets/2017_10_02_Council_Agenda.pdf
I cannot be silent about this. Vote them out!!! Our rights and freedoms are eroding so fast it’s making people’s head spin. A little grab here and a little grab there and before you know it, they’ve taken the whole thing. They are actually disrespecting the voters.
Our local and state governments have the view that bigger is better, more construction is better, and more population and growth is better. If I wanted to live in Chicago, LA, or Seattle I would move
there.
All of their decisions are to get more money through taxes and build as big a city and as much high-density housing as they can. Why would we want to cram more people into Lakewood? Vote them all out! We need a government that will think quality not quantity and live within their means instead of trying to constantly expand! We have seen the quantity of traffic increase, commuter trains blocking the roads with about 16 trains a day before 2018 is over, increased noise from traffic, lots of homeless, and begging everywhere. We have a city center that is a cookie cutter design and failing, and we will soon be able to say we have the most fast food restaurants and banks of any small city in America!
Let’s get some people on the city council who can make positive changes and not just promote more taxes through bureaucracy and growth. They are not supposed to govern us, we are supposed to govern them! They feel it is their city and that they will decide how it is run. We need to nip those buds off the vine starting now. We can vote the rest of them out also as soon as their terms are up.
The comments regarding electing new City Council members give food for thought. Let’s be assured that the newbies, if elected, will not be in favor of the proposed stupid law under discussion here.
One does wonder why the exorbitant amount of money now set aside for more foolishness could not be better spent on more Code Enforcement officers and better prosecution of those who are so defiant.
We have lived on our property since 1937. For many years as the neighborhood grew from two homes this was a lovely area to inhabit. Now we live in a ghetto. Filth, garbage, discarded mattresses, clothing, toilets, not what one thinks of in a family neighborhood.
Much of our problem is due to non-enforcement of existing laws. We do not need more or new laws. We need action. Not so much jabbering; someone hired to do the job. Not more money spent on studies nor IT services; instead, fine the owners of property who will not clean their hovels. What’s wrong with enforcing some ethical standards on absentee owners who reap a pretty penny from families who are shoved into these substandard places by housing authorities, service providing agencies (ha), and their own inability to negotiate something better.
It is a shame on Lakewood that we allow children to live in these hideous places. They are unclean, broken, and unsafe. They are not fit homes for growing citizens. Does anyone care enough to change this stupidity other than by seizing the rights of people who have tried to better the area. Look at my area. Gardens, fresh food plantings, cleaned areas. Garbage invisibly tucked into proper sized containers. We’ve done it for the past 80 years just in this area. I ask you what’s wrong here?
The answer seems to be that no one cares. Lots of money spent, lots of jabbering- nothing done.
Too bad . I hope the rest of you try to sleep well.
WOW!!! This is the first time in a long time that I’ve read comments that actually address the crux of this controversy – Why are Slumlords allowed to continually profit from shameless business practices? I work with the community of Springbrook and daily witness horrid living conditions prevail. I daily listen to the laments of those folks who literally have no other alternatives for moving; who try and maintain a semblance of dignity; who are constantly rebuffed and often threatened by the managers/owners/slumlords to shut up or be evicted.
Yes there are legal services available to these folks – but unfortunately most are inhibited by their lack of education as to where to turn.
Shame on us for letting this situation arise. Get rid of the trash human and otherwise. Enforce the present laws and put the blame where it should be placed.
I agree with Alice Peeples and not just because her name is Alice.