Mapping Slumlords
Bill de Blasio, who is running for Public Advocate, is making tenants’ rights a key aspect of his platform: last Sunday, he joined a City Hall rally against negligent landlords, and he has launched a Slumlord Watch List on his website, where visitors can submit an address of a questionable building to see if it…
Bill de Blasio, who is running for Public Advocate, is making tenants’ rights a key aspect of his platform: last Sunday, he joined a City Hall rally against negligent landlords, and he has launched a Slumlord Watch List on his website, where visitors can submit an address of a questionable building to see if it “meets minimum health and safety standards and has open, life threatening violations.” The site doesn’t mention the criteria, but de Blasio said in a press release that unacceptable conditions include “leaking pipes, exposed wires, no fire alarms, [and] broken locks.” It is unclear how long the site will remain active (will he take it down if he is or is not elected?) and what, if anything, de Blasio plans to do with it or how he will use it to pressure landlords or take legal action.
Mopar;
What in the world are you talking about?
Here we go again. Benson, my family is fundamentalist and Catholic. You’re being ridiculous.
oops- sorry- “meet up” and many “years”. Housing court dropped the charges against her too.
“true that is like many politicians – but he is far from the only one I’d make that charge against.”
Well fsrg- we should me up at a b’stoner gathering and make our lists 🙂
But FYI- DeBlasio has be known as Bill Deblasio (I think its his mother’s name) since he was a child. For whatever reason, he finally decided to make it official. And I agree- he needs to have criteria re the slumlord list or every disgruntled tenant will make unsubstantiated charges. I’ve met several who have done that to my former landlady- accused her of racism. Considering I had been a tenant for many year with my ex, and there were several Black families who lived in her buildings, we all wrote letters testifying to her character. She was a great lady (still is).
Just to inject one note of humour into all of this…
….as a person who is 100% Italian-American, I’m not fooled a second by Wilhelm’s name switch. He’s about as Italian as Swedish meatballs!!
no I think what he is doing is beyond what most politicians would do (granted most politicans cant play the interracial marriage card) – and I object to that – in an of itself
I also object to his slumlord map based on zero criteria – in an of itself
I am also suspect of any adult male politician who changes his name at age 42 – especially when he changes it from one that is clearly not politically favorable to one that surely would be more so
I also object to other things that Wilhelm does…..and so to me it all leads to the unmistakable conclusion that the guy is a sleazy hack – true that is like many politicians – but he is far from the only one I’d make that charge against.
fsg- I get it- you make an issue of a politician’s campaign, run like every other’s campaign because he is doing something you dislike about tenants. I am naive or willfully ignoring what he is doing because I don’t think he is exploiting them- and you, in your crystal clear, omniscient great beam of light mind, do. My problem? I find it insulting to his wife to assume that she, an adult woman, is allowing him to exploit her rather than she deciding to support and help her husband in his campaign.
Other than that you and I certainly agree on politicians of every ilk. We’ll have to agree to disagree on this one.
Montrose;
I am not holding onto any issue. It was Bxgrl who brought up my run-in with you, not me. Please read the thread above more carefully.
I did not take the issue personally, as I am not a fundamentalist. My point, which I maintain, is that it is very easy on the internet to disparage an opponent by means of caricature and breathless accusations. My challenge to you,via my in-laws, was to see if you would say the same thing if you were looking at your opponents in the eye. Doesn’t have to be my in-laws,let’s just pluck some fundamentalist off the streets of Brooklyn.
I made the accusation about the preservationist movement with regard to a particular issue (the Green Church in Bay Ridge) and I stand by what I said. The pastor of that church was maligned in multiple threads on this site. He was accused of defrauding his parishioners – serious crime- of being venal and unresponsive to the community, etc. All of these accusations were made without a shred of evidence, and without anyone thinking of giving the man a second to respond to the charges. Except for me and one or two other persons, no one objected to this mauling.
I’m sorry if it upsets you, but I still say that any movement that tolerates such behaviour, and there was nary a peep from the many folks who follow this site, is in a state of intellectual bankruptcy. That’s just my opinion. I’d be happy to be proven wrong.
Peace. I have no wish to hold any hostlity to you and Bxgrl.
Benson, thanks for taking my remarks totally personally, and out of context. You know perfectly well I was not referring to your in-law’s, nor was I impugning the character of God, or any of the other things you accused me of. If you’d like to hold on to this issue like a dog with a bone, I can’t stop you, but the negative reflection is more on you than on me. I could be just as, if not more, upset over some of the things you’ve accused me of being, including morally and intellectually bankrupt, simply for wanting to preserve a building. Your wide paintbrush smear of preservationists, Democrats and liberals over the years here is just as broad as any I may have smeared on fundamentalists of all religions, on one, and only one, occasion. I’m disappointed that your frequent moral outrages prevent any kind of rational discussion on important issues. I did not intentionally insult your in-laws. If you think so little of me as to think that, then there is no need to talk at all.