Killing the Chicken While Reinventing The Wheel

Killing the Chicken While Reinventing The Wheel

Knock-knock.

Why did the chicken cross the road?

Answer: We'll never know, because the Minneapolis City Council ran it over while attempting to reinvent the wheel. 

Wow. I don't even know where to begin, much less what to think about Minneapolis' City Council vote to defund and disband the MPD and replace it with community-led safety initiatives.

If there is a problem with the wiring in your car, you don't pull out all the wires and then focus on reinventing the wheel. 

I don't know what they are thinking.

Maybe I am stuck in my ways. Old-fashioned. Perhaps I lack their vision. 

Maybe I am all too familiar with the nature of what it means to be human. Like ApolIo, I can see where this is headed.

So I can't wrap my head around this. And I don't think I want to.

I know that our council experienced a sort of revolution during the past two election cycles. All the veteran members are gone, replaced by a much younger, less-experienced, much more diverse group.  Yay, for diversity.  Not so sold on the inexperienced part. They're very socially progressive, with a focus on protecting the poor and disfranchised.  Which is a good thing, but it shouldn't be done at the expense of others. 

One example of their policies: they have made it virtually impossible for a landlord to evict a tenant due to lack of payment. They have made it impossible for landlords to do background checks (criminal, credit) on potential tenants. Landlords no longer have the right to say no to participating in Minneapolis' rent subsidy program known as Section 8.  All properties are now subject to a yearly inspection (at the expense of the landlord) and must meet energy efficiency guidelines. 

I am part-owner of a small property management company with six houses.  They are small, fenced, and our focus has been so that people could have a dog and a yard while paying the same amount that they would for a crappy apartment. We have remained true to our mission and have taken great care of our properties because we want to be an asset to the neighborhood. We live there. 

However, after twenty years of doing business, due to these restrictive policies, we plan on putting each of our properties on the market as soon as the current tenant leaves. These policies have made doing business in the city of Minneapolis untenable. And we simply refuse to allow a group of well-meaning, but woefully out of touch, people to tell us how to conduct our business. 

So... this is what I see happening with the housing situation here in Minneapolis. 

The council's restrictive measures will force out small property management companies like ours. That will effect the overall quality of housing available in Minneapolis. How? Small property management companies tend to be owned by people who live in the community and because their number of properties is small, they are able to better maintain them (at least our company has).  These properties are going to be scooped up by the larger property companies which are typically owned by people who live elsewhere.  

And they don't care about the welfare of our neighborhoods.

How do I know? Because in my neighborhood we on occasion have a problem house - drugs, domestic violence, loud parties (which, ironically enough, the absent landlord expects the police department to manage) - and when we have contacted those landlords we have been met with what amounts to a shrug.  

Why do they not care? Because they don't live next to it and because they get a percentage of their money no matter what. See, Section 8, a well-meaning, needed program, guarantees a certain percentage of the rent. Roughly, for every thousand dollars, 800 will be paid by the city.  And since these landlords operate at such a high volume and rarely reinvest in the property (doing the bare minimum) they can afford to do business this way.

Time and again, what we have witnessed with these problem properties/landlords is that the tenant qualifies for Section 8. They move in. Then they move in a lot of people who are not on the lease. They become a nuisance property and treat the property poorly because, hey - it's not theirs. They remain at the property until such time as the property becomes unlivable. At which point, someone else in their group has qualified for Section 8 and they all move to a new house, leaving behind a big mess - a mess that is expensive to clean up. The out-of-town landlord hires a local contractor to come in, gut the house, doing the work as quickly and cheaply as possible, and the whole process starts over. 

If you own a home next to such a property? You want to move. This destabilizes  neighborhoods, shifting the emphasis from individually-owned family homes to subsidized rental properties. After a point, you have problem house next to problem house next to problem house.  

See where this is heading?

Then there is the issue of rent. Because it is expensive to operate as part of this program - property taxes on rental property increased dramatically (thanks to the council), licensing and inspections (ditto), and the constant expense of rehabbing the properties (which impacts the quality of said housing) - landlords have two choices: either, in order to operate at a profit, they raise the rent, so the city has to pay more for the housing, or they set the rent so high that it no longer qualifies for the program. In either case - what people pay for rent skyrockets and affordable housing becomes scarce. 

And you see where that's heading, right?

What does any of this have to do with the disbanding of the MPD? 

Because it illustrates that members of the city council, while well-meaning, are not big picture thinkers. They like dramatic, sounds-good policies which win them cheers from an adoring crowd. But they are not good stewards. They are not looking out for the future of their constituents. They are not looking out for the future of Minneapolis.

They are more interested in seeking 'likes' on Facebook than running a city.

Prediction? There will be a huge conservative swing in the next election cycle in an attempt to restore order.  That's how the political pendulum swings. We're witnessing that on a national level. Just as Clinton gave birth to George W,  Obama (who was incredible - my all-time favorite president) gave birth to Trump (WTF?). The political pendulum moves in ever-widening swings - where it stops? Nobody knows. 

(Kanye West as POTUS?)

But back to Minneapolis' City Council.

What they are proposing to do in relation to the policing of Minneapolis is a huge under-taking, rather Utopian in nature. They don't have the experience, temperament or know-how to get it done properly.  And, on so many levels - not the least of which is fiscally - the city cannot afford this kind of policy change.  

It's dangerous. 

One of the ideas bouncing around is an all-volunteer community safety league. Can you imagine? Who polices that? What if a bunch of George Zimmerman's infiltrate their ranks? What if people decide to only enforce the rules they agree with? 

I dunno. 

I don't wanna live in Crazy Town. 

So, rank and file types, like myself, will abandon the city in droves, further destabilizing neighborhoods. 

There goes the city's tax base.  

Are people really this short-sighted? 

But, I suppose, there are those who would paint people who think like myself as short-sighted. I get what they are saying.  You can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.  

But you can't make one if you kill the chicken, either.

I have always considered myself progressive. But this? 

This is killing the chicken.

This is reinventing the wheel. 

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Agree? Disagree? That's what the comment section is for. I would love to hear from you.

Hot Cop - The Village People