Be the Change...

"You must be the change you want to see in the world. "
~ Mahatma Gandhi

New Albany eyesores was launched years ago to chronicle the ins and outs of battling what seemed an impossible task, one slumlord with one house, and an entire block trying to fight him to get the place cleaned up to at least minimum standards. Years worth of posts, photos, etc were lost when the blog crashed a month or so ago.
The long and the short of it is: our block went through hell, many homeowners simply left rather that have to deal with the constant threats to health, peace and quiet, the occassional drug dealers and thugs who would rent from the slumlord for 6 months and move on leaving the property worse than it was before.
NA eyesores chronicled the debacle of the basement being flooded with fermenting human excrement, and the subsequent death of Ranger, our family's 8 year old Black Lab when the sewage was pumped out into the ajoining yards. Not to mention the garden pond full of Koi which died, and hundreds of dollars worth of landscaping which was ruined. The City took no action, no fines for such flagrant and illegal actions.
In the end, the property has been cleaned up, and with little or no thanks to the city with the exception of Pam Badger who did all she could do, but the attorney or his henchmen would only wad up her violation notices and throw them in the street.
In the end, constant pressure, phone calls, letter, videos, photos, etc. had won out, and with a little nudge of the immediate threat of a lawsuit against the property owner, not only from me, but two sets of former tenants, the place got turned around.
But it was too little too late, no less than 5 decent families gave up the fight, moved out, some simply letting the banks foreclose the homes when they would not sell, those homes have now been bought by one of the most notorious slumlord names in this city, whos blight still goes unchecked, and our block has went from a quiet little street where neighbors once congregated on porchswings and just talked about the weather to a garbage strewn, noisy, den of theivery with a few exceptions scattered through, but that tide is once again turning as well, and rather quickly. Which is a story for another time perhaps, to share the tips and tactics that work, as well as the ones that backfire.
The Tour De Farce of the city council meeting proved one thing above all else, we can not rely on our elected (save 4) to do what is right for this city and to realize that there are priorities. A situation which may indeed spur me to re-retire from local political issues, at least until 2010 in the 4th district....
If we want change in this city we must do it, and not rely on those who are supposedly our representatives, or at least until a point where the concerns of ALL are taken with equal consideration, and comprimises are sought, and all are treated with equality and due consideration and respect.