"You are all fundamentalists with a top dressing of science. That is why you are the stupidest of conservatives and reactionists in politics and the most bigoted of obstructionists in science itself. When it comes to getting a move on you are all of the same opinion: stop it, flog it, hang it, dynamite it, stamp it out."

~George Bernard Shaw

I have grown accustomed to having erred fingers pointing at me, accussing me of random things I had had not done. Hey, its part of my job to handle this.

But recently an anonymous troglodyte accused myself, Mr. Baylor, and Mr. Wimp of only wanting to remove the poor from the city of New Albany by forcing upon all landlords unequal standards of code enforcement.

And again, I ad my disclaimer here, not all landlords are slumlords, and few slumlords are landlords. A city does not notice the landlords.

I had responded in kind to one of these accusations that this is not about railroading the poor out of town, and this is not about going after every landlord in town either. Simply put, and it can not be put any simpler, yet there are those who can not seem to understand, if you keep your property up to minimum standards as set forth in city, state, and federal housing laws, then you need not lose a wink of sleep, or be over burdened with the city government demanding half of your rental income to keep "anything from happining to your property" (last bit spoken with a heavy mafia type accent)

Indeed, this measure is not only being pushed for the general well being of the city at large, but more for the "poor" than anyone else. Being of lower income should not mean that you have no choice but to rent from an unscrupulous slumlord who feels it is okay to profit from a structure with non-functioning plumbing, faulty electrical systems, no heat, and infested with rodents and/or insects.

OF INFESTATIONS AND HEALTH

http://www.aafa.org/display.cfm?id=9&sub=22&cont=312

It is no secret that the number of children and adults who are developing asthma and severe allergies from exposure to excrement from Cockroaches. "From 23 percent to 60 percent of urban residents with asthma are sensitive to the cockroach allergen".

And most who fall into this demographic are also medically indigent, or reliant on government programs to substidize their health care needs. When it comes to the needs of the indigent or substidized medical needs of this demographic, who indeed pays for the emergency room visits, the nebulizers, the inhalers, and daily oral medication to control this rapidly expanding population of asthmatics due to chronic exposure to infestations of cockroaches?

They pay with their health and well being, we pay with our taxes, and increases in costs related to our own healthcare as the hospitals scramble to make up for the expenditures they have to write off. And yet the slumlord continues to take money in, month after month, profiteering from the very practice that in the long run costs us all.

Chronic exposure to mold, mildew, rodent dander and excrement also add to this toll. (http://www.afhh.org/dah/dah_rodents.htm)

I knew a family who had rented from a notorius slumlord as they awaited the purchase and completion of their new home. They stayed in the house for a mere 6 months. The youngest child, who was no more than 3 years old at the time, had been a healthy girl. By the fifth month of being exposed to the present mold, and roach droppings, the child had developed asthma, and required regular intervention and medications. The owner of the property refused to have an exterminator survey the house, and refused to allow the tenants to do so, out of fear that no one would want to rent the property if there were insecticides in the home.
Needless to say they packed up and moved out, and basically threw out much of what they owned due to in creepy crawly pests. Years later the child still remains overly sensative to exposure to roaches. Fortunately this family had the means to out, and made a crucial mistake from who they rented from, most families do not have a choice.
If we were to set property value issues aside, and tax base issues aside, should we, as a community, at least not stand together against the practice of renting out homes that are known to be infested with rodents and/or insects?
Just some food for thought........