Your Comments: Rental ordinance is set on a slippery slope
Published 12:00 am Saturday, April 12, 2008
If you are not a landlord, you probably think that the passing of this law does not apply to you, but please listen to me closely: It definitely does apply to you!
There are many, many reasons why this ordinance will be bad for the economy of Albert Lea, our local businesses and schools, as well as a hardship for the tenants and landlords in our community, but for this article I will just focus on the invasion of privacy that this new law would provide if passed on Monday, April 14, 2008. At 7 p.m., you may well get the only chance you will have to provide valuable feedback to your city board before its members vote on passing this law.
The main purpose of this law is hidden behind a few veils and misguided notions. Once you look closely and begin to get past the &8220;we are trying to protect the landlords&8221; and the &8220;we are trying to protect the tenants,&8221; and the &8220;we are trying to protect the community,&8221; you begin to get to the real heart of this ordinance.
The government of Albert Lea wants into your home.
It is very upsetting to them that you have the right to say no to them. How dare you? You should have no right to keep them out, after all, they are simply trying to &8220;protect&8221; you and your neighbors, right?
It&8217;s always interesting the way government &8220;protects&8221; us.
The city government enforcement officer will come into your home as needed, but a bare minimum of every two years. Armed with his digital camera, he will take pictures by the dozens. We have already been warned that this photo documentation of our home will be used against us if we ever try and make an improvement to our home without first paying taxes on that improvement in the form of a &8220;permit.&8221; We sure wouldn&8217;t want any untaxed home improvements happening like installing a water softener, putting in an anti-scald (safety) bathtub faucet, or installing a new energy efficient window or furnace. Luckily, these photographs of our home will help to stop that type of unwanted behavior.
The government of Albert Lea is currently going after the rental properties. There are far fewer rental properties and thereby fewer people to object to government intrusion than if they went after all of the houses in Albert Lea all at once.
Please understand, just because your home is not specifically listed in this ordinance does not mean your home is not next on the agenda. The way that you eat an elephant is one bite at a time. The way to pass an ordinance like this is to &8220;protect&8221; a small group of people at a time.
First, &8220;protect&8221; the tenants and landlords. Second, &8220;protect&8221; the owners of houses over 75 years old. Third, &8220;protect&8221; the owners of houses over 40 years old. Fourth, &8220;protect&8221; everybody! Mission accomplished! Bravo, Big Brother!
Mike Carstens
Glenville
Did theater group get a say on theater naming?
In reading the article in the March 28 Tribune, &8220;Marion Ross is coming,&8221; regarding the name change for the Albert Lea Civic Theatre, it stated that Albert Lea Community Theatre was included among the several community groups that backed the change. This turned out to be a fallacy as only one ACT board member was even aware of the proposed change so obviously no approval was given by ACT.
In essence, what did happen was that the ACT board president was contacted by the theatre manager and told that the Albert Lea City Council needed to have a letter approving the change
ASAP. The ACT board president then took it upon herself to write the letter without calling an emergency meeting or doing an opinion poll among board members on what they thought about the change.
It was also stated in the Tribune that the name change had been an ongoing issue since last fall; it appears that not only was ACT not aware of it, but, for the most part, the public knew nothing about it.
Why don&8217;t we name something for Richard Carlson, the movie/TV series actor (&8220;I Led Three Lives&8221;) who was also born in Albert Lea, or, for the 1st Ward Councilman Harry Brown, who was instrumental in getting the civic theater facility up and running.
For that matter, why didn&8217;t we name the theater for John Campbell, the originator of the Albert Lea Community Theatre? It was John Campbell who, in late September 1965, advertised the possibility of starting a community theatre here in Albert Lea and called for a meeting to be held at Southwest Junior High School. Subsequent to that, 40 people showed up and the Albert Lea Community Theatre was born. I am, incidentally, a charter member of ACT.
There were any number of possibilities for naming the theater facility that would have reflected the real history of theater in Albert Lea. It&8217;s too bad a little more thought, or community input, couldn&8217;t have been made a part of the process instead of just asking for a rubber-stamp approval of a decision that had, essentially, already been made.
Lee Bangert
Albert Lea