Building Commissioner Rob Morra, head of the table
The Rental Bylaw Implementation Group heard nothing but good news this afternoon from Building Commissioner Rob Morra: All 1,261 rental properties in the the bustling little college town of Amherst are now in full compliance with the bylaw overwhelmingly passed by Amherst Town Meeting last May.
Morra told the committee that originally using assessor records the number of rental properties was pegged at 1,575. After the first bulk mailing, however, about 300 let it be known that they do not rent out any part of their property.
Taking a hint from President Reagan the Building Commissioner used a "trust but verify" methodology to confirm they were indeed not renting, and he continues to keep those properties on a "watch list".
About 30 property owners out of the 1,261 did not take the bylaw seriously and continued to ignore requests to come into compliance. They were issued $100/day fines and soon enough ALL of them became believers.
But not before $8,000 was collected in fines, with the most stubborn landlord accounting for about $3,000 of that.
In total, the Rental Permit Bylaw has generated $126,100 in registration permit fees ($100 per property times 1,261) plus the $8,000 in fines for a total of $134,100 this Fiscal Year, FY14.
Yellow pins indicate APD actions taken
The other equally major piece of good news is the town website for all things rental now shows properties that have been warned or cited (or arrested) by APD for noise and or nuisance complaints over the last year or so.
Neighbors can now track the major offenders. Once three complaints appear under a yellow pin in a single location, that property is potentially subject to a revocation of the rental permit.
Cool use of web-based GIS for mapping properties. Anyone know who to contact within the town who is responsible for GIS data collection/map production?
ReplyDeleteSo will Rob get a huge raise now? Stick it to 100% of landlords, treat staff like crap and get a raise! Only in the town of Amherst!
ReplyDeleteNah, I couldn't even convince him to buy champagne out of the budget.
ReplyDeleteMike Olkin is the GIS guru in town.Great guy, too!
ReplyDeleteIs there a list somewhere of registered properties? Would be great to test against what we, as residents, know of as rental properties.
ReplyDeleteIf you just go to the town assessor data base and punch in the suspect address it should show up with a "rental registration report".
ReplyDeleteIf not, then you know they are not registered.
That's fantastic.
ReplyDeleteOne little problem: State law superceds Town law. So the town revokes a rental permit -- and???
ReplyDeleteThe Town neither has the authority to evict the tenants nor to authorize the landlord to engage in "self help" which is not only illegal but a criminal offense.
And evicting a tenant for anything other than nonpayment or rent is damn near impossible in Massachusetts...
So you revoke the rental permit and then what?????
The Attorney General approved the bylaw.
ReplyDeleteOK, just to be clear: you are happy that the town of Amherst has raised $126,100 by tarring all rental property owners with the same brush? I heartily concede that many are greedy, lazy bums who do not exercise appropriate managerial control over their rental property. Many, however are not. It seems to me that a more consistent position would disdain all over reaching government regulation, whether federal or local.
ReplyDeleteYes I am.
ReplyDeleteIf you can't afford a lousy $100/year and the 5 minutes it takes to fill out a self-certification list, you don't belong in the landlord business.
Kudos to the Town Meeting members who put a rental permit article onto the Warrant and forced the Committee for Healthy and Safe Neighborhoods to put out their own version. Some progress.
ReplyDeleteKinda like the four person rule under one roof. That would stand up in court very similar to this silly by-law.
ReplyDeleteFat-chance...
Then bring it to court.
ReplyDeleteThis new law is so cool and consistent. Pretty soon other laws will come in line with this philosophy, like getting rid of abortion rights.
ReplyDeleteThe people that think they should make their own decisions with their bodies, lives and homes need to find a new country. This is America, where we make decisions collectively about the stuff that used to be personal. People just need to accept this now. The days of renting to who you want and aborting your babies in America are short lived.
Choice is wrong and people are accepting this. It is about time that people realize how all knowing those that get elected are. Even more important is to recognize that the all knowing people you elect will put in place bureaucrats that know even more than them, and sure as heck know more than you, which is why they decide for you now and you accept it freely.
Larry, nice little article about how the Amherst used mob techniques to get 100% compliance. The bullies should be proud of their ability to take over other peoples' properties using the Amherst police and their guns as a last resort. Glad that treats did the job before the town had to get violent over this major issue of people renting their (I mean the community's) property.
Can we use those same police to keep this crap within the borders of the collective?
"If you can't afford a lousy $100/year and the 5 minutes it takes to fill out a self-certification list, you don't belong in the landlord business."
ReplyDeleteLarry, is this like if you can't get published in a real paper that people pay for, perhaps you should not be reporting news.
Both statements would be ridiculous. A blogger is no more qualified to decide who should be a landlord than a book is qualified to decide on a condiment.
Are those regulating landlords experienced landlords or are they just power hungry town employees....now there is a real qualification question...
You know "prof RM," if Cowardly Anon Nitwits like you were not out there I would have to make you up.
ReplyDeleteNews to me that Rob Morra treats staff badly? All my interactions with him have been very positive. It is only slumlords like the Gr$$nbaums that are complaining because they can't get away with anything now.
ReplyDeleteLarry, I personally know the Housing Court judge -- I don't think he's much going to care what municipal ordinances the AG approved -- she is neither the Governor nor the General Court and definitely not the SJC.
ReplyDeleteIt is a CRIMINAL OFFENSE for anyone (including Amherst Police Officers) to force someone out of an apartment without first going through the eviction process and then the execution process. Six months in jail.
Cops can go to jail. Municipal officials can go to jail.
And one other thing you definitely aren't thinking about -- if a municipality condemns a rental unit, the municipality becomes responsible for housing the occupants thereof, at municipal expense although it is free to seek to recover this from the property owner.
See: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleI/Chapter186/Section14
Who is more of a coward, someone who does not post their name in a little internet blog...or someone who uses a local gang, official or not, to take control of their neighbors' properties...and not just take control, do so in a way that is rarely if ever done elsewhere?
ReplyDeleteWho is more of a coward, someone who does not post their name in a little internet blog...or someone who uses that fact that the real name is not there as an excuse to not engage the subject matter?
In this consistent community, I would not be surprised if the next school lockdown was over a book report that was handed in with "Anon" as the author, because that is a big deal. The police would even be justified in running a few people over on the way to the school, because someone did something without ID - ahhhhhhhhh.
Actually, you give cowards a bad name.
ReplyDeleteLarry -- answer this -- do the Amherst Police have to have state inspection stickers on their police cruisers?
ReplyDeleteWhy?
they too have to comply with state law. The Amherst Town Meeting can't say that inspection stickers aren't required on vehicles in Amherst and the Amherst Town Meeting can't say that 198 MGL 14 no longer applies in Amherst.
And as to Martha Coakley, she is the one who ordered the State Inspector General to "stand down" (not pursue) the criminal prosecution of then-Speaker Sal DiMasi which is why the Feds brought the case -- the IG went to them, as was his right.
If the AG's Office would do something this egregious, do you still have faith in their approval of municipal ordinances?
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvatore_DiMasi#Corruption_case
The prof's calling you out Larry. So much for your typical name calling rebuttals to stifle a debate. This has been your way of debating since dare I say, high school. It's my blog and only I can be right!!!
ReplyDeleteIs that what he's doing? Hard to tell.
ReplyDeleteLarry, the anonymous schmuck does have a point -- there are some disturbing aspects to the precedents set by this ordinance.
ReplyDeleteJust because something has a good intention this time doesn't mean that it will the next...
If the town essentially has the authority to regulate who may reside in a rental property, that could easily extend to a similar right regarding owner/occupied properties.
If the town is essentially permitted to discriminate against one unpopular group, it is free to discriminate against other unpopular groups as well -- or other groups/persons who may be unpopular in the future.
Imagine, hypothetically, that we get into a "shooting war" with the ChiComs. Never forget what FDR did to the Japanese-Americans during WW-II.
Do you see why it is a dangerous precedent for a town bureaucrat to have the authority to decree who is (and hence isn't) permitted to live in private residences????
The town encourage the retreat project and cram 191 units and 700 students in cushman, and turn blind eye to its neighbors concerns.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, has this 4 unrelated people by law to regulate private houses and small landlord.
It is all money grabbing monsters.
Kiss ass to deep pocket developer. Beat up small time landlord.
What a contrast! What a hypocrite!
If you can't tell the difference between reporting the facts (look at the videos, police reports, and school reports) from Larry's opinion -- then just stop reading. He has made it very clear that it's his blog and his opinion. Now all of you little boys should stop name calling. We may have to call Tyrell in.
ReplyDeleteAs it is irrefutable that a percentage of rental property owners in Amherst are lazy sods who don't exercise proper managerial control over their rentals, it is also irrefutable that a percentage of blogs are run by jihadists for recruiting purposes. Luckily for those of us who can't tell the difference, a small town bureaucracy has the decency to create a new regulatory system, which they will pay themselves to implement via an involuntary tax, that will treat all bloggers as if they are jihadists. If you can't afford a lousy $100/year and the 5 minutes it takes to fill out a self-certification list, you don't belong in the blogging business. Best of all, cranks who don't like your blog (no reason needed) can now abuse this system to shut you down.
ReplyDeleteNow amplify this by a thousand and consider that your life savings, your retirement and your children's college funds are at risk of being negated by these oh-so-generous self-satisfied small town nannies with their new self-granted regulatory powers, which are in fact redundant when considering standing regulations were adequate to deal with everybody... except the most extreme radical jihadists.
It's a stop and frisk for small property owners, who are paying the same for one rental property as the owners of Pufton Village, Brandywine, Brittany Manor etc pay for their entire complexes.
Larry's blog, Larry's opinion. I get it.
ReplyDeleteThis is not news, not balanced and real core debates are not engaged.
Local police and regulators not only make the world go 'round, they literally make our hearts beat.
A slimmed down version of the gazette, no real news, just opinion and liberal fluff, often on lock down for our own good (and the good of our children).
Got it. On that note.....
At least the price is right.
ReplyDeleteIf you think you can do better ...
I don't think I could do better at maintaining a blog, I am busy selling the community goods they need and they buy - at the right price. I do think I could do better at directly responding to a question or comment vs. deflecting....see I just did it. And yes the price is right here, but I would pay more for a well balanced product or even a direct answer.
ReplyDeletePerhaps it would be best to turn off comments if the author cannot deal with opposing view points, indicated by deflecting any meaningful questions or comments that don't agree with him.
Then Larry can go on making us think that Amherst is full a crime and despair vs. being an isolated community of excess and a vacuum for the state's money.
Maintaining a high profile blog (with your actual name out front on every post and comment) is a lot of work.
ReplyDeleteThis comment makes number 41,787 that I have published. The majority of them, I probably disagreed with.