Mayor Carty Finkbeiner has decided that our water meter readers will, indeed, begin to report housing code violations to the Department of Neighborhoods.
They're only going to cover issues outside of the home, he says, hoping to alleviate some of the concerns residents expressed about letting 'inspectors' inside a home...
But, the city only has eight inspectors, as two positions are vacant due to a lack of funding. Rumor has it, from anyone who's asked how long it will be for a complaint to be addressed, that these eight inspectors already have a huge backlog of work - and today's newspaper article says the city gets about 100 complaints a day through the 'call city hall' phone line.
So who is going to follow up on all these new complaints that these 13 meter readers are going to generate? Well, that's a great question - and one that, if asked during the Mayor's press conference yesterday, didn't get covered by the news outlets.
Inquiring minds want to know...
Thursday, December 06, 2007
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1 comment:
Maggie,
The whole idea of a meter reader being the one to determine a city code violation is assinine. These folks are not trained for this type of work.
And what will happen with those "estimated" months where the meters are not read? Will certain property owners get an "estimated" notice of violation? (Sarcasm alert)
And if there are all these new infractions being reported, just who is going to follow up on them in a timely fashion? There is already a serious backlog in this department. And who is going to be the judge to hear all these cases? And how does the administration think that this is going to benefit the city?
Toledo already has pockets of seriously degraded properties. Absentee owners that just don't give a hoot. These are not new. They have been on the books for years. And nothing has changed. Is this new round of harassment going to change that?
Another attempt at making the public feel like the city is taking care of them, but in reality it's just another one of those phony forced group hugs.
I am so disappointed in the behavior and decisions of this administration.
Luna Pier is looking mighty nice...
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