Twilight Zoning in Bellingham: Who Gains by This?

Saturday, September 29, 2007

Who Gains by This?

The following comment appeared yesterday evening on the website of the Bellingham Herald. This type of comment is not uncommon except for the vulgarity. I have written their management to ask for moderation of the commentaries on articles which appear in the Herald. Comments such as this (read the original here, if it has not yet been removed) do precious little to advance the discussion on this or any other issue. I have a pretty thick skin and, therefore, I am not much personally offended by these sophomoric natterings. I do find highly offensive the frequent spelling errors that seem characteristic of these comments.

“Hey "DICK"...you've only lived in Bellingham since 2002. If it's such an inconvience (sic) living here, go back where you came from. Nobody asked you to move here. If you want your privacy, move to the very northern part of Alaska. This isn't your town so f**k off and leave a**hole!!! Local Life ...09.28.07 - 8:06 pm”

*Replaces letters which were included in the original post on-line.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...: Hi Dick This person who made this comment in the Bellingham Herald web site about you is not very {BRIGHT} either is the persons who printed it in the Herald do they think this is the kind of news we want to see. Come on Bellingham Herald you should do more important coverage,such as informing the Public Sex Offenders that have been sent off to Prison,that's way better news than this stuff get real. Sandi; October 1, 2007 at 4:34 PM

The Rationale for Rental Licensing

There is the definitive experience of cities that have already adopted rental licensing and inspections in the face of exactly the same opposition as we saw in Bellingham over the last decade. Ultimately, each of these cities was proven correct in its resolve to move ahead to protect the safety and health of the renters. We already know that the city of Pasco, WA found that 15% of the units inspected under their program had serious life/safety issues. 10% had mold problems. A full 85% had problems of varying degrees. The city of Gresham, OR performed over 1600 inspections in 2009 and issued, as a result, over 4,000 citations. Lexington, KY performed inspections of units near the University of Kentucky and found that 50% had life/safety issues. Sacramento, CA began an inspection program during which one third of the units inspected had serious safety and health issues. The question why does anyone believe that the condition of rental housing here in Bellingham does not mirror that which is found in cities that have the statistics to show that time and time again the condition of rentals in our cities is problematic? All we have had to date from those who oppose licensing are broad statements by the landlords and their paladins that are completely and utterly unsubstantiated. The Zonemaven has searched in vain for the horror stories that these opponents of licensing and inspections have predicted. On the other hand, The Zonemaven did find over 100 cities that have licensing AND inspections without the catastrophic effect for the rental markets that the landlords would have you believe. (See this blog's sidebar at bottom left for list)

One Reason Illegal Rooming Houses Do Not Work

The limit for unrelated persons at a single family home rental is three residents. Leases are signed by three people who then invite additional renters to join them to lower per capita rental rates. The perverse effect is that rental rates tend to rise under these circumstances making it difficult for single families to rent single family homes. Some local rental agencies facilitate this practice.

"To say that a family is so equivalent to a ragtag collection of college roommates as to require identical treatment in zoning decisions defies the reality of the place of the family in American society, despite any changes that institution has undergone in recent years. Only the most cynical among us would say that the American family has devolved to the point of no greater importance or consideration in governmental decision making than a group of college roommates." (Stegeman v. City of Ann Arbor)

That being said, accommodation ought to be made for protected classes, especially non-traditional unions and group houses for the disabled. These classes are laid out in federal and Washington State law.