Just when you thought there was a glimmer of common sense in Athens.....

They just make all landlords subject to a dumb law instead of a limited amount.

Grim upholds landlord/tenant law

"Athens County Municipal Judge William Grim has upheld an Athens law dealing with landlord/tenant education forms.

The law, which was passed in 2005, requires every landlord with rentals in the city to provide educational information to each of his or her tenants, and file a form with the Code Enforcement Office listing the tenants and certifying that those tenants have received the information. The forms provide tenants with information regarding issues such as trash pickup, parking, animal control and noise regulations.

Judge Grim had previously suggested that he might dismiss misdemeanor charges against three local landlords – James Coady, David Sturbois and Penelope Plesset – who were cited for not handing in educational forms filled out by their tenants. The three had filed a motion to dismiss the charges, alleging that the city’s law violated the Constitution. Grim denied the motion Monday, and trial is now set for March 31.

Grim ruled Feb. 20 that the city of Athens’ landlord-tenant form ordinance is constitutional as written, though the city’s mode of enforcing it was not, and the law must be applied evenly to all landlords in the city. Prior to this ruling, the Code Enforcement Office only applied the law to properties with 10 or fewer occupants. The court had given the city until Monday to demonstrate that it was applying the law to all properties in the city regardless of the number of occupants.

Athens Law Director Patrick Lang’s office said Grim determined Monday that the city had taken substantial steps toward enforcing the regulations against all properties in the city, and the law was therefore constitutional both as written and as applied.

“All three branches of local government have now had their say,” Lang said. “The law was passed by City Council, signed by the mayor and upheld by the Municipal Court.”

Lang said the city has a duty to enforce the law, and that’s what they will continue to do. Lang’s office said the law requires that landlords have a current form on file with the Code Enforcement Office. Failure, to file a current form is a minor misdemeanor, he said, punishable by a fine of up to $150 for each violation. Failure to file a form for multiple properties constitutes multiple violations, Lang said."

This is a dumb statist type of law who's intent could have been accomplished in a less totalitarian manner....one that Lang could choose to ignore, like his predecessor.

Previous posts, here, here, here and here

Ohio University College Repbulicans' Blog

I'm very happy to see the OUCRs have their own blog. It has many good posts.

I'm glad they remember that Republicans are supposed to be conservatives. Some older folks seem to forget that after they get their government jobs.

Here it is

"The Ohio University College Republicans represent the Republican Party on campus and are dedicated to promoting conservative ideals to young people. We believe in economic freedom, personal responsibility, lower taxes and less government. We are an active club that has hosted speakers, debates and various other special events. We have also worked on local, state and national campaigns."

Judge: landlord-tenant law needs amended

Finally some common sense, instead of Bolshevik laws. Previous posts here.

Athens News story

"Bain added, however, that based on discussions with Mayor Paul Wiehl, she believes the administration may change how the form is handled anyway.
She noted that Wiehl has suggested that rather then requiring tenants to fill out and sign the form, the city require that it be posted on a door at all rentals."

This makes sense, why didn't we do this to begin with? Instead we charge 3 landlords with a crime and make them spend time and money in court.

"As for whether the city would still pursue the charges against the three defendants if the law is changed, Bain noted that this is Lang’s decision, but added that she thought it might have been “premature” to file the charges in the first place."

I wonder if Patrick Lang has learned just how fast these socialists will leave him holding the bag after they encouraged him to enforce this draconian rule.

"Athens County Municipal Judge William A. Grim has suggested that he may dismiss misdemeanor charges against three local landlords – James Coady, David Sturbois and Penelope Plesset – who were cited for not handing in educational forms filled out by their tenants. The forms were meant to inform tenants about their rights and responsibilities.

Last November, the city filed 65 misdemeanor charges against Coady, 19 against Sturbois and two against Plesset, one for each of the rental properties for which they had failed to submit the form. The charge is a minor misdemeanor, with a maximum penalty of a $100 fine. All three defendants pleaded not guilty and asked for a trial."

Much ado about nothing

Judge: City's landlord-tenant law 'may violate' due process.

We've been saying all along that the end result of this silly law is that we make criminals out of good citizens.

We are prosecuting citizens based on a law who's intent was to inform tenants of trash pickup, litter laws and code restrictions on the number of tenants. The intent might have been good, but is it really worth making criminals out of upstanding citizens to get it done? Just put a "public notice" in the paper advising them of the information and be done with it.

How much time do we need to spend on this? We have the Law Director spending time on this, we have 3 landlords having to spend time on this, now we've drug a Judge and his court into this mess. How much time and money do we have to spend in the courts to make sure someone knows when the trash pick -up is?

City Council could fix this, just get rid of the law. It serves no purpose that couldn't be handled in a less thuggish manner.

Previous posts on this, here and here.

We've finally found a good place for Chris Crews

Elsewhere!

OU Post story

This guy has protested more issues than our new State Representative Debbie Phillips.

He's against coal, cutting trees, new buildings, now, I have no idea what he's protesting, but at least it's not in Ohio. I wonder just how many jobs this one person has cost southeastern Ohio?

""We felt the student voice was consistently getting marginalized and the faculty weren't necessarily representing student views," when negotiating with administrators, Crews said." What is it about college students that make them think that their views matter? Maybe they should spend more time studying? You're right, of course not!

Written by Crews defending anarchy.

Here's a story where he helped sue the Federal government over logging because it might harm a bat. ""This little bat is the modern 'canary in the mine.' It indicates a serious ecological imbalance in our forests that is tied to a management bias towards commercial logging," says Chris Crews, from the Buckeye Forest Council, an Athens, Ohio organization. "The bat needs large trees in the forest, and they are being cut down.""

Here he's getting a grant for the "progressive Appalachian education center" for "arts access" from the Ohio Arts Council. Sounds like a good program to cut.

CITY : Athens - FY2008
Arts Access Grant $1,167
Crews, Chris Grants Administrator
Appalachian Progressive Education Center
132 W State St
Athens OH 45701 2245
Title: Jasmine and Juniper Musical

I thought San Fransisco would have been a better fit for him than New York, but whatever works!

This is a change Obama had nothing to do with

Good economic news from Meigs county. I still think this stems from low taxes and pro business local government.

link to story link to another story

I'll bet some liberal freak from Athens or Amesville will try to stop the new power plants, mines and other jobs in Meigs. (Deadline for appeal on mine permits Jan. 9) They need to mind their own business.....like smoking weed and eating brownies.

Someone with common sense in Athens?

Sean Jones wrote a recent letter to the editor about the insane requirement that landlords inform renters of certain information. But, more than that, they have to provide the city paper documentation stating that this has been completed. If the landlords do not comply, they are in violation and can be fined.

We suggested a common sense fix for this here a few weeks ago.

Here's Sean's letter to the editor.

"For example, quarter-page advertisements in the local papers once or twice a year would reach the general populace, and surely this would be less expensive than the personnel required to process, record and store thousands of three-page forms every year. Moreover, given that the majority of renters in the city of Athens are university students, would it be possible to work with the university to send an announcement via e-mail?"

Of course we are falling in the trap by giving alternative compliance options of actually giving this dumb resolution credibility. Why does Athens even need such a resolution to begin with?

We get the government we deserve

Lawsuit on horizon over landlord-tenant ordinance

"The attorney for a local landlords’ group confirmed Wednesday that he is preparing a lawsuit to challenge the city of Athens’ legally required landlord-tenant forms."



I've got an idea, why doesn't the city of Athens just put a public notice in the Athens Messenger with the information they want conveyed to the tenants? Instead they come up with a scheme forcing landlords to do the city's work. Of course, no one reads the Messenger and one has to pay to view it on the web.....but that's another story.