Is Cedar Rapids on right track with proposals on nuisance properties, housing code?
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Crews demolish homes classified as nuisances at 27th Street and Second Avenue in Cedar Rapids in August 2007. (Cliff Jette/The Gazette)
“There goes the neighborhood,” The Gazette’s editorial board writes in an editorial published Sunday.
“It’s usually a punch line. But some Cedar Rapids residents are living it,” the editorial states. “On an otherwise quiet, well-kept residential street, one or two properties have persistent problems. Maybe it’s trash or peeling paint or major structural issues that need to be addressed. Perhaps the police have been called multiple times. It could be loud dogs, loud music, broken windows or perpetually un-shoveled walks.
“In time, those problems, left unresolved, can change a neighborhood, redefining how its residents and outsiders perceive it. In the worst cases, those isolated problems spread, and change more than perceptions.”
In response, the editorial board agrees with city council proposals to address nuisance properties.
“The council is actually moving on two tracks,” the editorial says. “The first involves major changes to municipal code Chapter 22, which deals with nuisance properties. At its core, the plan involves coordinating the nuisance property duties of several city agencies, including the police, animal control, housing, code enforcement, zoning and solid waste.
“And although much of the debate over the changes has centered on rental properties, the changes would apply to every residential property in the city, including owner-occupied homes.”
Read the editorial linked above for more details. What do you think? Is the city on the right track with proposed changes in nuisance property and housing code ordinances?
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Part of the reason I live in City Limits is for the City to actively protect the value of my property. So yes, I support it.
Much to the chagrin of Mari Davis, landlords are ultimately responsible for the activities on their properties, and they’re responsible for WHO they rent the property to.
If you don’t like that concept, only rent properties in the county or get out of the business in the City of Cedar Rapids. I know some landlords who have done just that (sold their properties in CR). I don’t feel any sympathy for these people.
In addition to this, i’d much rather see landlords (and renters) pay more for the regulation necessary rather than have it subsidized (through taxes) for police calls, rental registration, inspection, etc. It seems insane to me that I should subsidize these services as a home-owner so that landlords can maximize their profit and make money on such a non-productive endeavour, that adds no value to society, while creating plenty of problems.
The number of rules and regulations do not make anything happen in this town. The more rules you have the less that seems to get accomplished. In my neighborhood, enforcement of current rules is lax to non-existant for some people, and others get set upon like they were rabid dogs. Consistant enforcement of some simple rules is really all that needs to happen. We have been fighting this fight for over twenty-five years all the way back to Terry Steinbeck, and still nothing changes. enforce the rules we already have and things would get better, the KISS form of simple and to the point enforcement is all that is needed, not more rules.