From You
May 28, 2003
Letters
PRIORITIES, TACTICS
As the fate of the new rental registration ordinance hangs in the balance, awaiting either a signature or a veto from the governor of a bill that prohibits rental registration throughout the state, principled opponents of the local ordinance here in Athens have a tough decision to make.
The provision against registration statewide was tacked onto House Bill 748, co-sponsored by a Democrat and a Republican, at the last minute, due to the lobbying efforts of property management associations, primarily in Atlanta. The Athens delegation to the state legislature, and no doubt many other lawmakers, were unaware that this provision had been added, and voted in favor of Bill 748. When it was brought to their attention that this last amendment to the bill would circumvent the recent ACC commission vote in favor of the local rental registration ordinance, they voiced the appropriate expressions of dismay and alerted the governor to their predicament. They had no intention, in voting so, of undermining the wishes of the Athens community to enact measures preserving the character of neighborhoods, as the local ordinance purports to do.
While we might question our state representatives' diligence in scrutinizing the legislation they pass, let's give them a break for a minute. This amendment to Bill 748 was added at the last minute. Maybe they thought they were informed about what they were voting on. The amendment squeaked in under the wire, slipped in there like the egg of one of those deadbeat birds that lays its eggs in the nests of other species, hoping to get out of parental duties.
Reasonable people can agree that this is not an optimal, or even fair, way of doing things.
When a law is being debated that affects the way of life of large numbers of people, the hope is that those charged with looking out for the interests of their constituents will be given enough time to carefully consider each provision and its impact before voting. Nasty little surprise amendments and ready-made, hurriedly passed laws are not the way it is supposed to work.
This amendment to 748, which prevents government inspection of rental property, is bad law. This amendment, labeled by opponents the "slumlord bill," limits the ability of the government to inspect rental property for the purposes of ensuring basic health and safety compliance. This is a good reason to oppose it. Basic things like adequate ventilation, sewage control, intact windows, running water and working heat would all be placed beyond government authority at the expense of the poorest, most vulnerable people throughout the state.
Shouldn't there be standards that those renting out property should have to uphold? My guess is that most people, even those opposed to our recently passed local ordinance would say "yes." Slumlords should not get a carte blanche from the state that allows them to rake in the rents while their tenants live in third-world conditions. Which is why, in principle, those of us who oppose the local rental registration ordinance should resist the temptation to call the governor recommending passage of 748.
Yet, I challenge those who have supported the local ordinance and are flooding the governor's office with calls to veto 748 to take a long, hard look at two things: their priorities and their tactics.
Priorities first: only weeks before the rental registration ordinance became a matter of public knowledge, the Athens Banner Herald ran a front-page series on consecutive Sundays about deplorable living conditions in two local trailer parks. Sewage pits bubbled in the yard and there was a photograph of a child sitting next to a storm door in a trailer whose broken out windows were plugged with an old sleeping bag and duct tape. I, for one, was appalled and, perhaps naively, surprised. I didn't realize that people were living like this close by, in our town. The landlords' names were published in the article. They had been duly fined numerous times. I guess the marshal knows who they are. None of them commented for the article.
Where was the public outcry? Where was the demand that our local government do all it could to get these little kids out of the puddles of sewage they were pictured playing in?
Not a sound in our fair city.
The next thing we knew, rental registration appeared, fully formed like Venus rising out of the sea, an imminent prospect. A hopeful sign that we, as a community, were demanding action on these unacceptable living conditions in our midst? No, a law aimed, not at improving the living conditions of the poorest and most vulnerable members of our community, but one aimed at cutting down on party noise, dog poo-poo, boyfriends with SUVs and recycling bins in nice neighborhoods. Say what?
Quickly introduced by an influential few who had been waiting in the wings for a receptive mayor and commission, quickly amended and voted on as a reward for election support by local neighborhood "progressives," quickly passed in spite of great opposition from the less well-to-do members of our community (though we should all realize that the people who are worst off among us probably said nothing), the temptation is there for all of us who opposed this rental registration to thumb our noses. "Sign it, Sonny! More power to ya!"
No. But this local ordinance was snuck in without due input. How ironic that it might die as a result of the same underhanded tactics used by those here in Athens who slipped it in and rushed it through. Is this what we have come to, even here? Give as good as you get?
Everybody needs to think for a minute. We all have decisions to make, all the time. Priorities. Tactics.
Terrell Austin
Athens
RENTAL SITCOM?
I imagine a kind of Leona Helmsley character - call her "Wrathena" - who owns a big chain of rental homes in Athens as well as Creswell Hall and all the radio stations... she is trying to buy Flagpole to merge it with "Awake!" She is disreputably involved with one (or more) Commissioners... they are living together in City Hall in violation of the two-unrelated persons ordinance, under the guise of holding a Commission meeting that goes on and on...
On the last night of the state legislative session, a large amount of money has changed hands, all in $1 bills. Wrathena is there. She gets 10 percent. A bill is passed, then written. It gives rights to certain people and wrongs to others. She delivers it to Sonny Purdue wrapped in a Confederate flag she made from the curtains of the Governor's Mansion. Everyone sings "Glory, Glory to Old Georgia."
I believe that Athens citizens could enjoy enough royalties from such a show that we won't ever have to pay taxes again (just like the folks in Saudi Arabia or Oconee County).
John Huie
Athens
As the fate of the new rental registration ordinance hangs in the balance, awaiting either a signature or a veto from the governor of a bill that prohibits rental registration throughout the state, principled opponents of the local ordinance here in Athens have a tough decision to make.
The provision against registration statewide was tacked onto House Bill 748, co-sponsored by a Democrat and a Republican, at the last minute, due to the lobbying efforts of property management associations, primarily in Atlanta. The Athens delegation to the state legislature, and no doubt many other lawmakers, were unaware that this provision had been added, and voted in favor of Bill 748. When it was brought to their attention that this last amendment to the bill would circumvent the recent ACC commission vote in favor of the local rental registration ordinance, they voiced the appropriate expressions of dismay and alerted the governor to their predicament. They had no intention, in voting so, of undermining the wishes of the Athens community to enact measures preserving the character of neighborhoods, as the local ordinance purports to do.
While we might question our state representatives' diligence in scrutinizing the legislation they pass, let's give them a break for a minute. This amendment to Bill 748 was added at the last minute. Maybe they thought they were informed about what they were voting on. The amendment squeaked in under the wire, slipped in there like the egg of one of those deadbeat birds that lays its eggs in the nests of other species, hoping to get out of parental duties.
Reasonable people can agree that this is not an optimal, or even fair, way of doing things.
When a law is being debated that affects the way of life of large numbers of people, the hope is that those charged with looking out for the interests of their constituents will be given enough time to carefully consider each provision and its impact before voting. Nasty little surprise amendments and ready-made, hurriedly passed laws are not the way it is supposed to work.
This amendment to 748, which prevents government inspection of rental property, is bad law. This amendment, labeled by opponents the "slumlord bill," limits the ability of the government to inspect rental property for the purposes of ensuring basic health and safety compliance. This is a good reason to oppose it. Basic things like adequate ventilation, sewage control, intact windows, running water and working heat would all be placed beyond government authority at the expense of the poorest, most vulnerable people throughout the state.
Shouldn't there be standards that those renting out property should have to uphold? My guess is that most people, even those opposed to our recently passed local ordinance would say "yes." Slumlords should not get a carte blanche from the state that allows them to rake in the rents while their tenants live in third-world conditions. Which is why, in principle, those of us who oppose the local rental registration ordinance should resist the temptation to call the governor recommending passage of 748.
Yet, I challenge those who have supported the local ordinance and are flooding the governor's office with calls to veto 748 to take a long, hard look at two things: their priorities and their tactics.
Priorities first: only weeks before the rental registration ordinance became a matter of public knowledge, the Athens Banner Herald ran a front-page series on consecutive Sundays about deplorable living conditions in two local trailer parks. Sewage pits bubbled in the yard and there was a photograph of a child sitting next to a storm door in a trailer whose broken out windows were plugged with an old sleeping bag and duct tape. I, for one, was appalled and, perhaps naively, surprised. I didn't realize that people were living like this close by, in our town. The landlords' names were published in the article. They had been duly fined numerous times. I guess the marshal knows who they are. None of them commented for the article.
Where was the public outcry? Where was the demand that our local government do all it could to get these little kids out of the puddles of sewage they were pictured playing in?
Not a sound in our fair city.
The next thing we knew, rental registration appeared, fully formed like Venus rising out of the sea, an imminent prospect. A hopeful sign that we, as a community, were demanding action on these unacceptable living conditions in our midst? No, a law aimed, not at improving the living conditions of the poorest and most vulnerable members of our community, but one aimed at cutting down on party noise, dog poo-poo, boyfriends with SUVs and recycling bins in nice neighborhoods. Say what?
Quickly introduced by an influential few who had been waiting in the wings for a receptive mayor and commission, quickly amended and voted on as a reward for election support by local neighborhood "progressives," quickly passed in spite of great opposition from the less well-to-do members of our community (though we should all realize that the people who are worst off among us probably said nothing), the temptation is there for all of us who opposed this rental registration to thumb our noses. "Sign it, Sonny! More power to ya!"
No. But this local ordinance was snuck in without due input. How ironic that it might die as a result of the same underhanded tactics used by those here in Athens who slipped it in and rushed it through. Is this what we have come to, even here? Give as good as you get?
Everybody needs to think for a minute. We all have decisions to make, all the time. Priorities. Tactics.
Terrell Austin
Athens
RENTAL SITCOM?
I imagine a kind of Leona Helmsley character - call her "Wrathena" - who owns a big chain of rental homes in Athens as well as Creswell Hall and all the radio stations... she is trying to buy Flagpole to merge it with "Awake!" She is disreputably involved with one (or more) Commissioners... they are living together in City Hall in violation of the two-unrelated persons ordinance, under the guise of holding a Commission meeting that goes on and on...
On the last night of the state legislative session, a large amount of money has changed hands, all in $1 bills. Wrathena is there. She gets 10 percent. A bill is passed, then written. It gives rights to certain people and wrongs to others. She delivers it to Sonny Purdue wrapped in a Confederate flag she made from the curtains of the Governor's Mansion. Everyone sings "Glory, Glory to Old Georgia."
I believe that Athens citizens could enjoy enough royalties from such a show that we won't ever have to pay taxes again (just like the folks in Saudi Arabia or Oconee County).
John Huie
Athens
Send your Letters to the Editor by clicking here.
Letters RSS Feed
Share This Page 
View the Paper in PDF
Past Issues
