By Antonio D. French
Filed Wednesday, August 23, 2006 at 10:15 PM
For years, city homeowners have complained that the worst slum lord in St. Louis is the City of St. Louis itself. While city inspectors give citations and fines to Joe and Jane Citizen for not keeping their property up to code, city-owned properties are literally falling apart right next door. A recent change in policy might help change that. Labels: Development
Sam Simon, the director of the Department of Public Safety, told KTVI Channel 2 reporter Elliott Davis this week that DPS inspectors will now cite -- or at least, log -- derelict properties owned by the City's Land Reutilization Authority (LRA) just as it would any other property.
"We're going to make sure that we keep ourselves as accountable as we hope the citizens will be," Simon told Davis.
Davis had earlier profiled the plight of homeowners on Maffit Street in north St. Louis who had received citations from the city while two houses across the street sat looking like bombed out shells. Those properties are owned by the city and have for years simply been overlooked by inspectors.
This problem is especially bad on the city's north side, where most of the LRA's property is. This was the subject of a resolution introduced by Ald. Charles Q. Troupe (1st Ward) earlier this year [See video below].
In other Channel 2 news... The local Fox News affiliate will be getting a much needed face-lift on its website soon. The current format makes it by far the worst and most useless of all the local news channels sites. The new look will be based on the standard myFox format used in New York, Dallas and D.C.
12 Comments:
This is great video footage of Alderman Troupe. He was a great leader of the 1st Ward, and the 1st Ward appreciated his past leadership in the community. The 1st Ward will have a great dedication ceremony for Ald. Troupe after he retires his seat in January.
Alderman Yaphett El-Amin will continue his legacy and make sure that he is remembered for the great leader that he has been.
Congratulations on your retirement Ald. Troupe, and thanks for your commitment to the 1st Ward. We will miss you!
8/24/2006 12:35 AM
Wait, did I miss that he is retiring?
Since when did Yaphett get elected?
Anyway, talk about policy reform. This is a great step ahead!
Too bad is about 20 years too late.
8/24/2006 12:37 AM
Doug:
If there is a special election for the 1st, it will be a general, whereby the parties (ward committees) will have nominated the candidate for the party. So, if the 1st ward is a "closed" ward, the two committeepeople will select the candidate. The committeepeople for the 1st ward are Yaphett El-Amin and her husban TD El-Amin. If, however, the ward is an "open" ward, the selection of the party's candidate will be made by vote of the ward committee's membership, which generally follows the advice and leadership of the committeepeople and/or Alderman. Finally, for all intents and purposes whomever the Democratic nominee is will win the election, which means that if Yaphett El-Amin wants it, it will be hers.
That is unless a very strong candidate enters as an independent and has a very strong ground game. But as we've seen recently, Team El-Amin runs a very successful campaign and GOTV effort. So, again, if Yaphett El-Amin wants the seat, it will be hers. And, if you didn't know, Yaphett El-Amin was recently elected as the Vice Chair of the City's Democratic Central Committee, which goes to show she is able to garner support from the party.
8/24/2006 9:34 AM
While at first glance this seems like a positive development, the fact is that the city's approach to vacant property in general is a joke. Essentially what Simon is saying is what the city now does for private property owners--log problems. In my experience, there is virtually no decent stick to punish owners of vacant property, outside of condemnation, a meaningless gesture that leads nowhere. Problem property citations that involve city counselors is an ineffective tool simply because of the sheer number of problem properties and the amount of time it takes to work the property through the system.
The solution is for city officials to utilize building codes equivalently across the city and across property types and beef up fine for owners of vacant properties. It is unreasonable for city residents to be told by NSOs, building inspectors and other city bureaucrats that there is nothing that they can do about vacant and derelict property because the owner has already been cited, or that the owner has said that they intend to clean up the property, or some other meaningless excuse for passing the buck.
8/24/2006 10:05 AM
If Yaphett became the Democratic nominee in a special 1st ward election, Tyus would automatically run as an Independent.
8/24/2006 3:26 PM
Yaphett El-Amin will win the 1st Ward against Tyus because she will have the support of outgoing Ald. Troupe. The 1st Ward is controlled by the El-Amins and Troupe, and nobody will defeat Team El-Amin in the 1st Ward.
Ald. Troupe has already given his support for his aldermanic seat to Yaphett El-Amin as he retires in January after the swearing in of Talibden El-Amin.
The El-Amin's will control the 1st Ward into the future. The only question left is who will become the Committeewoman of the 1st Ward.
8/24/2006 5:07 PM
Now that's just sick.
"The El-Amin's will control the 1st Ward into the future."
The idea of an alderman or one family "controlling" a ward is sick and abusive.
Some might say "no wonder north St. Louis is in the shape it's in". But that would be going too far.
However, one only need look at the conditions in the 3rd ward to see how harmful "the control" of an alderman can be.
8/25/2006 6:43 AM
Travis,
I know how the selection process works.
I am wondering when did Troupe say he is retiring? I must has missed the headline.
8/25/2006 8:42 AM
"I must has missed the headlines"
Damn, Doug "Buckwheat" Duckworth!
Doug your English is getting pretty bad. You must have missed some English fundamentals in school, your statement should have said,"I must have missed the headlines!"
Anyway, Ald. Troupe wouldn't announce to everyone that he is giving up his seat in January.
This would give to many people time to work on a strategy to run someone as an independent as one blogger eluded to in an earlier posting.
8/25/2006 8:56 AM
If the 1st ward has an open ward committee, the former alderwoman's supporters might just show up to vote against the committeewoman.
8/25/2006 9:07 AM
That is not going to happen. There are so many suspicious possibilities that could happen. Let's not get into speculation about all theories.
Yaphett El-Amin will be the next 1st Ward Alderman, whether she is appointed or has to run and beat the sleeves off of all competitors.
Either way, get used to hearing Alderman Yaphett El-Amin of the 1st Ward.
8/25/2006 9:19 AM
Don't count on being able to get LRA properties any easier due to this so called progress. If anything the city will just be quicker to issue demolition permits. Just think of the wonderful vinyl dwellings they can build. Of course vacant overgrown lots are alway nice neighbors too.
8/25/2006 11:29 AM
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