Board of Aldermen Page 31
June 14, 2016
Alderman Siegel
First of all, let's remember this is code enforcement. It does not deal with just 23 Temple. We get
sucked into this rabbit hole of using 23 Temple as the litmus test for this legislation. It is not intended to
be such. It is more wide ranging than that. | gave the specific example of improper contractor actions,
which is the specific thing which led to us not wanting to put the mandatory warnings in there. Yes,
dealing with 23 Temple would be highly desirable. This legislation is not exclusive to that nor should it be
judged exclusively on its success or failures in dealing with 23 Temple. With regard to people walking
out and sleeping in the woods, the people that are in those situations have housing vouchers. Those
housing vouchers don’t go away depending on whether somebody raises the rent. The housing
vouchers are to provide for those people so we don’t have people walking in the woods. By the way, one
of those people that would be walking in the woods is the previously mentioned Kathy Tucker. | was the
person sitting there with her the morning her son died. | was the guy whose shoulder she was crying on
trying to help her from being evicted on the morning that her son died. Even that said this legislation is
not influenced by that. That’s a very bad situation. But this legislation is not part of some social justice
warrior attempt at dealing with it although that is clearly something we care about. That’s not what this
legislation is about. It’s wide ranging. It’s code enforcement, not landlord-tenant issues.
Alderman LeBrun
Mr. President, would a motion to re-refer to the committee be in order at this time?
President McCarthy
Yes, it would. Are you making one?
Alderman LeBrun
So moved.
MOTION BY ALDERMAN LEBRUN TO RE-REFER TO COMMITTEE
ON THE QUESTION
President McCarthy
Discussion which is limited to the expedience of re-referring to committee.
Alderman Siegel
Which | assume it would be re-referred to my committee, | see nothing further to be gained by re-
referring to committee. We've exhaustively discussed this. | think if it's going to pass or fail, | think it
should do so on the merits as it is presented right now. Some may object; others may not. We've had a
lot of discussion. | would like to see this voted on now. | adamantly object to re-referring it to committee.
Alderman O’Brien
As a member of the committee and clerk, | would like to reiterate exactly what Alderman Siegel has said.
| don’t see any other future work to can come. This needs to go to a vote tonight.
