WARNING: Longtonites Are Under Attack

[CCarl]

Longton has a totally weird ordinary ordinance that I need to mention as a backstory. I intend to review quite a few of the ordinary ordinances in a future Dying Longton post, including this ordinance. But this one is immediately important because of its Sections 4 and 5, and because of a certain action now being taken by city personnel.

Here are Sections 4 & 5 of Ordinance 423 on Unsafe Structures:
SECTION 4. PROCEDURE; PETITION. Whenever a petition is filed with the enforcing officer by at least five residents charging that any structure is dangerous unsafe or unfit for human habitation, or whenever it appears to the enforcing officer on his or her own motion that any structure is dangerous, unsafe or unfit for human habitation, he or she shall, if his or her preliminary investigation discloses a basis for such charges, report such findings to the governing body.
SECTION 5. SAME; NOTICE. The governing body upon receiving a report as provided in Section 4 shall by resolution fix a time and place at which the owner, the owner's agent any lien holder of records and any occupant of the structure may appear and show cause why the structure should not condemned and ordered repaired or demolished.

Here is Ordinance 423 on the City's website;  https://media.rainpos.com/816/ordinance_no_423_unsafe_structure_20130502143902.pdf

So, there we have it, a mere five people in this town can petition the City to have your personal property condemned. And you will need to hire an 'agent' to protect both your rights and your property. I cannot believe a local government would have the simple-mindedness to create an ordinance with such a petty and pet-peeve basis. I wonder who on the City Council voted for its approval in 2013?

There is a second backstory to this. When I moved here I discovered Longton is a gossip grinder, news about other people travels all the time. And it is bad news, often as not. I have heard something bad about dang nearly every person in this town, whether I know them or not. And it sounds, from several of the gossip grinders, that the bad stuff goes back deep and far to families, that for some reason, took a dislike to each other. Family grudges are held in this town. That may be so for all towns, and this one is just small enough that I hear it all.

Now, back to the Attack on Longtonites. Given the above, do you realize how easy it is to get five people in this town, who dislike your family because of grandpa's misdeed sixty years ago, or whatever, to sign a petition against you and your property? What does that say about the frivolous, petty, and discriminatory nature of Section 4 of this ordinance? "Hate your neighbor? Then sign this petition!" 'What's it for?' "Does it matter? You don't like the family. I'll buy you a cup of coffee." 'Sure! Where do I sign?' Sorry, but speaking of frivolous, I had to scribble a little soap opera dialog.

Why do I bring all this up? Because, this past year our City government has behaved like a soap opera. And now, as of February 8, 2023, just such a petition was in our reopened cafe, hoping for signatures to force the owner of the old haunted house on Kansas Ave. to demolish the building. There you go, Section 4 has been placed in action.

Why is the City doing this, essentially instigating neighbors to rat on neighbors? Please note, the City is not doing it. The City clerk is not doing it, nor a disgruntled volunteer fireman, nor City council, nor an individual Council member. And no, the Code Enforcement Officer is not doing it. Any bets who, then?

Who else? The Mayor is doing it, and doing it without a vote of City council. And doing it without the authority to do so. That authority to initiate such a petition lies with displeased residents, not a government employee. And having the Mayor initiate it as a resident is a huge conflict of interest. In the face of others objecting to the petition, the Mayor has decided to call it a complaint, not a petition. As if that makes a difference at this point.

So, why is the Mayor doing it? Is it to push the Enforcement Officer to condemn more properties? We all know from the Blight Questionnaire that the Mayor sees very little right with Longton, or with Longtonites' lifestyle. Why is the Mayor lobbying against the people of this town?

Is the Mayor doing it because last June the public wasn't interested in forming a Land Bank to buy up so-called blighted properties, tear down buildings, then have a corporate-government 'business' find buyers (just the way so-called urban renewal 'projects' in the big cities have made a few 'investors' very rich)? Is it because the Council had the wisdom not to condemn the Lindsay property last year? Is it because the Council had the wisdom not to condemn the trailer that will be moved from 303 Montgomery to 401 Montgomery, hopefully this month? Is the Mayor grasping at straws? Is the Mayor trying to sidestep Council?

Is the Mayor doing it because the haunted house is owned by a contractor who once worked for the Mayor, one who was fired? Is this a personnel vendetta being exercised by using the Office of the Mayor? That, again, would be a huge conflict of interest, and might be a worthwhile misconduct investigation by the County District Attorney, or the City Attorney, as appropriate.

Back in the fall of 2021 the Mayor-to-be's campaign emphasized the Mayor-to-be was local, having grown up and having graduated from high school in Longton. What was not emphasized, and what voters let pass, was that the West Coast had called, and the Mayor-to-be became Californicated. Moving forward, we cannot let that pass again.

And we cannot forget that the Mayor garnered a seat on the Board of the Historical Society, then fomented a big to-do between that Board and the Library Board, that resulted in the library being evicted, then somehow being given City Hall as a new library location. So far, the taxpayers have been forced to spend approaching $40,000 on a new City Hall location, without taxpayer approval. And there will be more checks to write. Believe me, that project will come back to bite the City in the derrière. I have talked to a licensed contractor about what is unfolding. Just wait. All of that is on the Mayor, and most of us in town know it, including many who voted the Mayor into office.

Mayor, listen closely. I could lower myself to your standard, and easily get five signatures on a petition to condemn your old bank building. That old brick carcass sure looks dangerous, sitting right there on the most prominent street corner in town. The southwest corner of the building looks ready to separate in the next high wind, or in a period of heavy rains and saturated soil when foundations like to move. And the sidewalks around it are dangerous for downtown walkers. Look at those roof trusses stacked right next to Kansas Ave, slowly warping until they are useless. They may already be too deteriorated to be safely used for construction. There your junk property sits, for all to see.
But I won't start that petition/complaint to condemn your property. I won't come down to your level of manipulation. Neither will the other townspeople, they have given you a break, just like the break they expect their neighbors and their government to give them with their properties. That's called decency, in case you missed that lesson in life.
So please, end your attack on us, get off our backs, stay off our properties, and let us live our lives. Please resign, and go back to California. You may be content there, you never will be here. Your values are not ours. And we will not succumb to your petty antics, poor leadership, avarice, or displeasure. We do not need your rich-girl-returns-to-oversee-the-poor-blighted-hillbillies attitude. And please, do not bother knocking on my door to talk about this.[/i][/font][/i]

Longtonites, I know many of you voted for the Mayor, I think the number was fifty-four of you. I also know four of you, who voted for the Mayor, have told me you wished you had not. And I expect that number can be multiplied by five or six times throughout town. I encourage all of you to ask the Mayor to resign, as I just have. I am unwilling to start that condemnation petition/complaint because it is the Mayor's private property, not mine. And being the kind of person that whines about neighbors is not what community should be about, is it?

But I am only a few months from being willing to help organize a petition to hold a Special Election to recall the Mayor. If any of you would like to be part of that recall process, please private message me via this Forum. I will honor your privacy the same way I honor your private property.


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[upoladeb]

thank you for posting this,it gives answers to things that ive noticed going on around town.