Last night's city forum was well attended considering Mother Nature's attempt to keep everyone home.
I thought the city officials were very receptive to our comments, complaints, ideas, etc. Mayor England promised a follow up meeting in 30 days. This was in response to complaints that we talk but very little gets done.
Readers, if you attended please comment, if you did not, ask a question or make a comment anyway.
Shirley
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41 comments:
Thank you so much for coming out Shirley, we will certainly have another forum in 30 days to hear about the results and responses we've been assured we'll receive!
Thanks for setting up this forum. Hopefully the next one will have even more people in attendance.
I know that I vented quite a bit & wanted to apologize, but I am hoping the City realizes that we are their best asset. We tell them when things are wrong, offer help & suggestions to keep things moving in a postive way - ie - cleanups. Some things don't cost anything but the sweat of a brow. We get those things done & then we stall out.
My big concern is the lack of some City employees knowledge of their job. At work, I am expected to not only know what I am doing at all times, but if I don't, at least the person or department to get the info I need. I don't want to be told, over & over again that, "Yeah, we have a book but it's this thick." Shrug shoulders and move on. I don't want to hire an attorney to find the info I need to protect me when the City should know it front & back. Read it! Copy what you need from it! Make notes on a piece of paper.
We can only do so much at the grassroots level and it's mostly the same core group. I love all of you and the vision we share, but we need the City to do more than lip service. Here's looking forward to the next 30 days.
Vicky,
No need for apolologies, you did a great job in explaining the problems with abandoned houses. I wish Hartman had been there so he could have explained himself.
Our city leaders need to hear what we have on our minds, they all promised to listen when they ran for office, let's make them keep their promise.
I'm looking forward to next month's meeting too. I hope to be pleasantly surprised but I'm not holding my breath.
Why did I not attend? I told you so. Lip service is all England knows how to do.
I confess to throwing more than a few trantrums at city officials, that's why I got on board with Citizens for Accountability.
City Hall is careful to pay lip service to the neighborhood Association, and to make sure it gets some crumbs.
In fact, the lack of respect for the people of the city has turned into utter contempt.
The England mschine has become a well-oiled contraption made up of labor unions, developers and contractors.
City Council meetings are a scripted charade where the public's imput is ignored. where members posture on almost everything thsnks to back room deals that reduce elected officials to stooges for the England political system run wild with spending.
Is there a single council member who has shown an ounce of the intergrity that Steve Price did on several occasions, when he spoke out and denounced the squandering of public's money and the selling out of it's interests.
Who stopped the England LOIT Tax?
We did under the direction of Vicki Denhart.
Citizens for Accountability is getting organized to bring together individuals who want to see real change to provide better information and coordination in the struggle to turn the city around.
We are beyond wanting 'respect' now. We want ALL of them thrown out of office. The corruption has now infected ALL of them, and the only way to cure the city is to eradicate the source of corruption.
And if anyone can do it, it will be us, the quiet majority
No, what we really need is for the FBI and even the CIA to come in and takeover City hall. They must be indicted on RICO charges for openers.
Vicky,
Never apologize for pointing out the truth!
Shirley,
One of the few things we can always count on is that the pvery people who need to hear us never show up to do so. I wonder why that is?
And to our faint hearted albeit all knowing "Silent" majority, the LOIT tax was not of England's making. You can thank your man Mitch for both it and the need for it!
I wonder if any of us will live along enough for y'all to understand that most of the folks you're trying to protect from harm do not pay taxes any longer anyway.
Somehow I doubt it!
England has isolated and insulated himself in his ivory tower and he is raiding our tax dollars like a pack of rabbit dogs.
They are hydophobic,drooling megalomanics without any concept of what it means to be a public servant.
The City of New Albany GOT RAMRODDED again by England.
30 days my ass. Does England really think he's going to get a $10,000,000 million slice of the states pie?
NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Highway man,
That's how little you know. England wanted 2.5 on LOIT. Citizens for Accountability organized and stepped up to the plate.
Your comments are totally uncorrect.
Highwayman,
Stop blaming Mitch. Have you read HB 1001? Everyone upstate knows what a screw up England is. You are pointing in the wrong direction.
You like others have bought England's line of bull.
Shirley, thanks for your ongoing perceptions and reports of citywide issues.
My name is "the little people." Let us speak out.
Anon,
You loose! Irregardless of what England wanted, he had nothing to do with it, for it, nor about it!
The LOIT option was a COUNTY controlled option that the County Council chose not to initiate!
OOPS!--There I go again confuseing facts with fiction!
Oh and by the way! I haven't bought into anyone's BS. My Daddy both taught & encouraged me to think for myself! (and I thank him daily for doing so!)
Our issues(problems) has very little to do with Republican vs. Democrat. It is all about an incompetant mayor carrying the water for the local political machine which, yes, happens to be democrat while the funds that are available are being squandered on England's pet projects, nepotism, and quid-pro-quo cronyism and raises. I, like many others here, would love to see some higher authority (state, feds) go over the books of the past few administrations so we can all get a good laugh when the England-built house of cards comes crashing down.
Your wrong again. HB1001 stated the County Council had to pass it, The first week England was in office he approached County Council President and requested 2.5increase for the LOIT Tax. Ask McAllister yourself, but we know you are like "them others" blaming Daniels instead of England.
It is about time their dirty dealings are exposed. Everytime England comes up with a new crisis that requires us to pay more. Finally the public realizes England is a liar! I say use the rainy day fund and EDIT on sewers, I say the rainy day is here now. We should remove his ability to raise taxes inless the taxpayers vote for it.
Mr. Mayor and Malysz, do the right thing and resign, you are out of control in expenses and have mismanaged our tax money long enough.
Shirley
Why isn't every single expenditure for the city on the web? It is the citizen's money, so we should be able to see all of it and where it goes.The answer is Boss England and Carl M.(zero IQ) do not want citizens to see the money.
Let's do what Alaska did under Palin put all the city and state budgets and checkbooks online and we can all view them anytime we want. As it is now, it is so hard to get information. Plus England and Garry has everything so buried. TIF funds this and Redevelopment funds that.
Anonymous
It is meant to be confusing and messy easier for corruption that way.
As I posted over at NAC, the blame does not fall on the shoulders of the Feds, the state or even really the officials in city hall.
We are the ones who elect the same batch of people over and over, and have the same problems over and over, so where does our responsibility begin and end?
Does one person casting one vote for some fresh blood in the city hal absolve them from further responsibility?
We are always so quick to attack each other on all the blogs, shake our E-fingers in each other faces, and say a bunch of "told you so's".
But change has to start at the bottom up, with a blance of conservativism and liberism, and the willingness to ensure that the laws are enforced equally across the board, from Silver Hills to Vance Court and all economic stages in between!
Every time an anonymous poster babbles about accountability, I laugh out loud.
http://www.news-tribune.net/columns/local_story_042211241.html
Why won't the Mayor, Building Commissioner and Code Enforcement Officer just read the New Albany Book of Laws ? The laws are on the books to clean up our city.
In fact, some of the same dirty, trashy properties in our city were on the list under the past England administration and they did NOTHING!
WHAT A JOKE.... THE CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICER RIDES BY AND
THEN, LISTS " NO PROBLEMS" ON HER REPORT !
WHY IS THE CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICER SO STRONG ON CUTTING GRASS AND JUST LEAVES THE TRASH ALONE ?
USED CAR LOTS ON RESIDENTIAL YARDS.
WHY DOES THE CITY ALLOW USED CAR SALE LOTS ON RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY?
THERE ARE SPECIFIC LAWS ON THE BOOKS TO REMOVE THOSE USED CARS FOR SALE.
THE CITY CRIES THEY HAVE NO PLACE TO TAKE THEM. WELL.....SEND THE PROPERTY A CERTIFIED LETTER TO REMOVE THOSE CARS.
IF THE CARS ARE NOT MOVED, PLACE A PENALTY FEE ON THE OWNER AND PLACE A LIEN ON THAT PROPERTY.
OH YES--- WE FORGOT- THE CITY OFFICIALS DON'T HAVE A COPY OF THE
CITY LAW BOOK.
LET'S TAKE UP A COLLECTION AND BUY
CITY LAW BOOKS FOR THE MAYOR, DEPUTY MAYOR, BUILDING
COMMISSIONER AND CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICER.
I will be happy to donate my $20.00, how about the rest of you?
My thoughts are to vote them all out or find away to remove them from office NOW.
GREAT IDEAS!
LET'S START OUR CITY CLEAN UP ON
THE 3RD FLOOR. WE NEED TO GET SOME
PEOPLE IN OUR CITY ADMINISTRATION WHO WILL "CLEAN UP NEW ALBANY"
WHERE DO WE FIND THE "REMOVE" OR "IMPEACH" PETITIONS ???
Why is the Mayor pushing for this rental registration process?
The names and addresses of all property owners are listed in the
Assessor's , Recorder's and Treasurer's Departments in the City County Building.
An unsafe building is UNSAFE whether it is owner occupied or renter occupied.
This rental registration program appears to be a sham to hire more
employees, furnish take-home cars and cell phones. Oh yes--- they WILL need computers, office supplies and hospitalization to be paid by the CITY OF NEW ALBANY.
The city budget is so broke now and
we can not afford to pay additional salaries.
"Why is the Mayor pushing for this rental registration process?"
It is not always true that the names of the proper owners are listed on the current registries.
Many are listed under family members names, or registered with false addresses, etc.
All the program is geared to do is to have a VALID contact file on properties, whether that is the local owner, or a local contact person.
As presented, there may not be a "registration fee" to enroll in the program, how ever, failure to do so would result in a nominal fee.
Its not about increasing government size, and this did not begin in the mayors office. It began in the community and was brought to the city governments attention.
11:15 am It's a slush fund for Dougieeeeeeee. Don't forget longevity pay, pension, vacation and anything else Dougie gives her!
I agree that something must be done to deal with absentee landlords.
But, the fees are ridicylous and the inspections are just a terrible idea.
Here's the thing, the city doesn't have a right to come into my house and "inspect" it once a year.
Imagine if there was a law on the books that an inspector had to regularly inspect YOUR house AND you had to pay him to do it.
How many of us would agree to that each year?
Question, you say you can't find landlords, but I have NO problem getting my property tax bill.
Christopher D.
What do you mean by absentee landlords? Every property/home owner in Floyd County receives a tax notice. That means that someone, somewhere is paying the taxes. If the taxes are not paid, the property is sold at the tax auction.
The renter certainly does not receive and pay the tax notice.
Let's deal with the problem property owners/landlord's and not try to solve the problem by using the shotgun approach.
The U.S. economy and the dollar are going up in flames and England wants to talk about fees, and more taxes. Wake up Christopher and smell the flames. I'm sick and tired of this city sticking it to the middle class!
Our city needs more transparency. Also, there is the stenching open sewage gases escaping through manholes.
C'mon gimme more transparency.
I hope they don't let England run even more rampant with corruption then he already does.
Where do I sign to have him removed?
Tp try and sum up hte plan as suggested to the city, to clarify that what was presented was NOT, I repeat, NOT to impose any extra fees to responsible land lords.
It was modeled after a successful, and self supporing program that has been court tested in Blacksburg , VA.
Annual inspections are NOT required. A landlords property is inspected before a new tenancy is allowed to lease/rent the property.
A basic inspection, much the same as an inspection on a new home is completed. If there are NO major health or safety hazards present, and the home and property meet minimum standards as set forth by existing city ordinance, then the property is "certified" to let.
No charge should be implimented for this inspection, therefore responsible, honest landlords are not fotting the bill for the shady dishonest slumlords.
Slumlords on the other hand, upon failure of the property to meet minimum standards, will not be "certified" to let the property, and before a new tenancy can take possesion of the property, it must be brought up to minimum health and safety codes. (operational plumbing, hvac, smoke and CO alarms, structurally sound floors, walls, and properly functioning electrical systems on the inside, and the exterior of the property in good repair and maintainance by the minimum standards)
When those have been completed, then there should be a nominal fee for reinspection (say $25 or $50). And the certification is good for as long as the tenancy does not change. (the ideology is, better homes create better neighborhoods, increase desirability, which in turn should create longer tenancies, which in the long run helps the landlords to maintain stable rental income)
As far as registration of property. Thinking that all properties are correctly registered if the city needs to get a hold of the legal owner or their agent, is grossly misinformed.
I can site rental properties in this city that the name on the current registries are false, they may be registered to Jane Q. Taxpayer in colorado, which is listed as a PO box, communications send to said PO Box, end up in a PO Box back here in NA, which actually is an individual operating under an LLC, or the likes.
Notices of violations, end up getting "lost" in the PO Box shuffle, by the rent checks from the tenants being charge $700 per month for a decaying 1 bedroom 800 square foot section of a delapidated house cut up into 6 apartments sure get to the right address the first time.
All the registration is for (and NO fees associated with registering) is to ensure that the city or its agents can have ready contact with the actual owner, or the owners local agent to resolve issues surrounding the property, whether that is for code violations, or in the event of a fire or police emergency that requires entry to the home.
It truly is not geared towards sticking to the middle class, and as far as waking up and smelling the flames, I have been smelling and feeling them for 15 years now, on the side of once being on the side of the city needing to know who is in a home in an emergency, and on the side of a property owner whose health, safety and welfare was jeapordized by an absentee landlord in a situation that created thousands of dollars of damage to my home, killed our family pet, and made a family of tenants renting from the ghost extremely ill, one child of which is still suffering from symptoms 6 years later.
Let's deal with the problem property owners/landlord's and not try to solve the problem by using the shotgun approach.
Is that you, Jethro?
Things become more clearer when you run the addresses, get the names on the rentals and then check past due sewer bills, garbage bills, etc. They tend to all be one and the same, most of the time.
Amazingly enough, a lot of these properties are registered to people in New York, of all places. Guess some one told them of all the "good" "investment" opportunites here in NA where the laws are not enforced and you do not have to worry about "anything".
Doug has been promising to do something about slum properties when he was in office the LAST TIME. I feel his mentioning of any type of "rental property" regulation is a smoke screen. Mark my words.
No, what we really need is for the FBI and even the CIA to come in and takeover City hall. They must be indicted on RICO charges for openers.
Give us the proof. Do you have a valid point about Mayor England or are you a nutjob?
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