Twilight Zoning in Bellingham: One Year Anniversary

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

One Year Anniversary

Today marks the first anniversary of Twilight Zoning in Bellingham. Since its inception, I have created 133 posts, many with your suggestions. The blog has been visited nearly 10,000 times. With your assistance, we have seen the council move from no action on illegal rooming houses to the recent buzz of activity and a suggested comprehensive look at the problem.

I will continue to write about illegal rooming houses and the lack of enforcement of not only our zoning laws but other codes whose purpose is to maintain our quality of life. With 75,000 residents and attendant increased density, Bellingham, can no longer afford to operate as it did decades ago.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...: Dick,

Congratulations on your 1-year anniversary, and thanks for your comment on my column at the NWCitizen site.

I admire your persistence and patience. It’s a lonely – and insane - world in the blogosphere. When I write a column or add a comment to a blog, I’m always hoping that a substantial conversation about the key issues will ensue. I wrote my first article about six months ago and have participated in local blogs for about a year. While I congratulate you on your success in moving forward the debate on illegal rooming houses, I haven’t found much satisfaction in the general conversation.

I can understand the general apathy; however, there is no shortage of activists in Bellingham. As I have suggested before, like-minded “public interest advocates” - to borrow a term from Tip Johnson – would be wise to hook up and develop a prioritized agenda. Many of these issues are interrelated; however, the fierce independence of local activists enables them to be marginalized by those who prefer, and benefit from, the status quo.

Sure, change can happen that way – but very slowly. On the other hand, consider how much influence these advocates could have if they developed a cohesive joint strategy and platform.

In any event, congratulations on staying at it for a year, and thank you for your valued feedback.

Good luck.

Larry Horowitz; August 15, 2008 at 9:09 AM

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.