Comments on: It’s the Little Things that Matter

By: sdp

sdp — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 06:42:37 +0000

We live in North and they sent us a citation for the tarps covering up our huge landscaping project we started two days earlier. They said that we had 6 days to clean up the "mess" or we'll have to pay a crew that'll clean it up for us.

We're extending our yard, putting in retaining walls and putting up a privacy fence. It's costing us thousands of dollars and a ton of hours in sweat. It reminds me of last year when they sent us a citation for peeling paint on our garage WHILE OUR HOUSE WAS COVERED IN SCAFFOLDING being repainted. They also called the vines that we planted along our garage "weeds over 18 inches."

Drug dealers are on our corner every night and two kids got shot on the other end of the block. Instead of riding through the neighborhood at 6 am, they should try midnight. They'll stop seeing peeling paint and start seeing the people putting freshly painted tags down.

Don Samuels, I invite you to spend a weekend at my place so that you'll wake up to the signals for tolerance of misbehavior. They're a lot more obvious than a loose fence. Loose fences don't sell meth.

By: nerd

nerd — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 18:44:54 +0000

It seems the “Today’s Talk From MNspeak.com” (subscription e-mail) stopped working for a bit. Maybe that was just me, but now that it is back, I check out the headlines and may click through if I’m interested. That and the RSS feed are big traffic drivers, I would imagine.

By: DaveM

DaveM — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 23:38:21 +0000

What's up with the comments in German? Why?

Some of us were getting sick of all the Latin.

By: Diane

Diane — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 23:21:36 +0000

What’s up with the comments in German? Why?

By: Foster

Foster — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 20:48:52 +0000

By the way if you want to "Narc on your Neighbors" in Minneapolis simply click HERE!

Thanks! I have a fellow owner in our condo building that is knocking out load-bearing walls within his unit. Time to sic the inspector on him!

By: Raindog66

Raindog66 — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 20:12:27 +0000

Kwatt -

Here's the deal on condos: New Condo Conversions must have a Truth in Housing Inpection.

New Construction must be totally inspected and given a Certication of Occupancy.

If you own a condo that was converted before you bought it there is NO Truth in Housing inspection required.

Bizarre.

One note - these Truth in Housing Inspections are bare bones and should not be looked at as thorough or complete. Always get an Independent Inspection when you buy!

By: nee

nee — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 19:52:33 +0000

It's true that ignoring smaller problems has some impact on bigger ones. Isn't the story that NYC's crime went down by having zero tolerance for minor infractions that were overlooked in the past?

Obviously moderation has to play a part and some common sense needs to be used in enforcement. (yes, I know common sense isn't so common.)

By: Carrie

Carrie — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 19:50:37 +0000

kwatt, I probably should elaborate. You can always legislate, but you can't make people care. If you could, you wouldn't need to legislate them into doing things grudgingly that they should do as a courtesy and out of a sense of pride.

I know sometimes people can't afford to make changes to their homes that would improve the appearance, but everyone can afford to pick garbage off their lawn. Although if they were holding the Lawn Garbage Nationals,
Ft. Worth would kick our butts.

By: Reader

Reader — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 19:42:36 +0000

When I bought my condo there was a truth in housing inspection done. I also had my own inspection done for good measure.

By: kwatt

kwatt — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 19:38:33 +0000

Anyone know what kind of inspections multi-unit condo/townhomes are subject to? I mean the newer kind, not the 90-year-old building where the four apartments get sold as condos.

PS – Never under estimate the power to legislate.