Twilight Zoning in Bellingham: Bjornson At-Large

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Bjornson At-Large - Lilliquist for the Nonce

Here is the latest from Michael Lilliquist written before the 8 October city council meeting:

"I have a much better appreciation of the depth and seriousness of the problem now than I did several months ago. What I had thought to be an isolated problem appears to be systematic and widespread.

If I am elected to the Council, I will work to hold the mayor accountable for upholding the law on single-family housing as well as noise/parking ordinances. It's basic law and order, as I have said in a written reply to [the Zonemaven]. Fortunately, both mayoral candidates appear to be quite receptive and aware of the problem, so I think this will not be a difficult charge.

I will also support a landlord accountability ordinance, which the incumbent (Bjornson) has in the past resisted in favor of a voluntary system. I believe council member Bornemann will be bringing the single-family zoning issue before the city council very soon, perhaps this Monday, so we may see movement on the issue even before the election. We will have to watch and see, but I think Bornemann is serious; don't know about the other council members."

Here is the latest comment from candidate Bjornson: " "

My comment to Mr. Lilliquist:

Bravo, but I suggest that you read the mayoral candidate comments in one of my earlier posts (click here). Mr. McShane has offered more waffles than the local IHOP.

My comment to Ms. Bjornson:

A quote from Lewis Carroll - "The time has come, the Walrus said, to speak of many things. Of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings." And may I add on behalf of the Walrus, of illegal rooming houses.

No comments:

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.