Board of Aldermen Page 30
June 14, 2016
the city should tolerate. | hate to say this, but it’s not the only time it’s happened. If more people came
and testified to the substandard living conditions and talked about the conditions that they endure in the
landlords that we’re talking about, just one or two buildings, if we talk about the human misery that they
cause, | think most of the people in this room would be completely appalled because it is a different level
of living that they are anywhere used to living. That’s why it is substandard living. People feel anxiety.
They feel depression. They feel hopelessness. They can’t move out. They can’t make any changes.
The physical building that they are living in is not basic living conditions. It’s something that needs to be
done now. I’m very sensitive to the position that this is putting landlords in because this is change. This
is a new effort by the city, and yes, we should all be very anxious about how it could go unintended and
how it could go poorly, but | think that anxiety has driven the development of it in the first place. | think
everybody who has looked at this has taken a conscientious approach at it, and said | want to make sure
we don’t do this wrong. | even understand Alderman Clemons’ approach because he is trying to make
sure that this does what it is supposed to do. Everybody in the room is very, very conscience of how this
could go wrong. | just want to remind everybody that it is going wrong for people right now. We’re all still
going to be in this room next month, the month after, maybe a year and a half from now, who knows.
We're going to be available. If something is going wrong, we can do something about it. We're all open.
You all know now which one of us is your ward alderman, which one of us is your at-large. | am very
much in favor of maintaining the communication that we’ve started here regardless of how the vote goes
because | think that’s the best way to cooperatively move forward with this. | don’t think this legislation is
going to be the solution to every problem, but | think it is start that we need to make. It’s a stepping point
to move forward collectively in trying to address a real issue with the city that most of us aren’t directly
affected by. It’s just hypothetical, but it’s happening and there are people that need to be spoken for.
Alderman Clemons
Mr. President, to Alderman Lopez, if | could. Could you explain how this legislation is going to help
somebody who is sleeping in a bedbug infested bed tonight?
Alderman Lopez
As was already described by the staff at both of the meetings of the substandard living conditions
committees, it provides a disincentive to just carrying on business as usual. As the Mayor said at the
beginning of this meeting, a lot of code violations that are happening in specific buildings, they are not
being reviewed in advance because there is no consequence. If the code enforcement officer comes
and says fix this then they have to fix it. If the code enforcement officer says this is broken, you have to
fix it or there’s a fine, now they only have ten days to fix it. The concern that is being voiced by the other
landlords here becomes a driving factor. It’s also a documentation trail so if the landlord is a repeat
offender and is constantly causing difficulty, now at least we have something that we can bring to court.
A lot of this was covered in the meetings that you were sitting at. Maybe reviewing the minutes would be
helpful.
Alderman Clemons
If | could continue, respectfully, | guess | just don’t understand how a fine is going to clean up a building
that we haven’t been able to clean up for 30 years.
Alderman Lopez
Is that a question?
Alderman Clemons
It’s not a question; it’s a statement.
