Community Meeting

Odd night, it was...

We had a neighborhood N.I.C.E. meeting last night. City officials were there to answer questions. To be brief, I will quickly list the topics:

Good: M. Cooper is interested in finding a group of neighbors from areas around the focus area in the mayor's plan. He gave me his card and said, "Call me". (I picture Mike Meyers saying this in So I Married an Axe Murderer.) There were many present that were interested in my ideas: donating time and materials to improve properties of those less fortunate. Such as painting or repairing the house of a less fortunate person, or painting or repairing a house owned by a slum lord that will not do it himself. Beautification of parkways.

Once again K.R. came and talked to me about promises that a certain slum lord is on the brink of death. (I don't believe it. Only the good die young and this guy is going to live forever.) Apparently his wife said that when he dies, the houses will be sold before the funeral. This guy must be really awful to live with, too, if his wife is promising to settle the affairs before the funeral. Apparently she already has a place down in Florida that is sitting empty waiting for her.

T. Smythe, slumlord mentioned in previous posts, is facing a 405 page injunction. The scope of his slumlordiness is larger than previous thought, as he is in cahoots with another person who is now going down with him. He said at one point that he had 20 some units in Sioux Falls and neighboring areas. I know that I have seen more than that listed in the foreclosures already listed in the Argus. He is going through bankruptcy now and K.R. said if I call back in a month I should be able to obtain an update on this situation.

Bad: Vagueness on the neighborhood improvement. Called M. Cooper yesterday and call was not returned.

Questionable: A new ordinance that the city council approved Monday that will supposedly be more effective in cracking down on slums and according to K.R. will take care of the vacant house behind us. This won't go into effect for 20 days and I am unable to find any information on the content of the ordinance.

Ugly: Unbelievable!!! I brought up landscaping on the parkways to help make the neighborhood more attractive. The forestry person from the parks department told me that doing so would be in violation of city code that permits only trees and grass. I said that we may just have to change that ordinance. One of the people at the meeting brought up the fact that some people already do this, to which he replied: Where? We will address this!! Nobody gave an address. What an a$$hole!

Well, I had better get back to my homework.