About the busy part, as you can imagine I have been spending a lot of time at city hall looking through books and reading old documents. It, truly, is fascinating to me. One of the most interesting things I learned is that my great-great-great-great-great-great (You get the point) grandfather was Chairman of the town board of trustees in Bedford over a hundred years ago. Some of these documents date back over a 160 years and they need to be preserved but in all honesty the city does not have money for that at this time. God willing, I will find a way to get the money to preserve those aged materials in the future. For now, I have present day things to work on but I will keep you posted on that.
Whether I am at city hall or anywhere else in town, I keep hearing that Bedford is a slum town. I abhor the word “slum” but that is the most used description I hear. As a commissioner, I was part of a group that would send letters to people telling them to clean up their property. In 1997, the city had sent a numerous letters to a certain landlord that hid behind his bible. At a commission meeting, I boldly said I will go see him. I’ve been reading my bible since I was six years old and quite confident that I understand the King James Version pretty good. When I first arrived at the landlord’s home, he was very nice and pretty much what I expected. But after I started showing him pictures of his properties, that I had taken, his pulpit demeanor came out and he started preaching hellfire and brimstone to me. Had I not been a well-read bible person, he would have most certainly convinced me I was going to HELL for questioning his business dealings with renters in town. I had the last word that day by reminding him that Jesus told people to obey the laws of the land. To the average citizen, his rental properties didn’t look a whole lot better but his renters were grateful because he started making much needed steps to repair and clean-up his properties. He didn’t go above and beyond what the law said, but he did work on it. It’s worthy to note, his health went downhill not long after that and he died. Coincidence? You decide.
The city has an ordinance that lays out what is called a nuisance. It’s very detailed and in common language so that even a primary school student can understand it. However, I think it needs to be tweeked just a bit. It’s going to take some time to complete it.
More on the ordinance, I must first remind everyone that our country was founded on the principles of protecting citizens from the government. After all, our nation’s founders knew first-hand what it was like to be oppressed by an all-powerful government and they wanted America to be different and unique in the sense that it would be set up on the premise that the people rule the government not the other way around. But as far as getting people to pick up trash on their property, I think they would agree with me that having a law in place is a good idea.
Over the last few days, I have been to a bunch of different places in town talking to renters about cleaning up around their dwellings. What I found most often brought me to tears. At one place, the person explained to me that they were paying $500-$625 a month. When I informed the person that I would talk to their landlord, I was asked not to do that because the landlord would evict them and their family had nowhere else to go right now. My icy heart melted, because I see the catch-22 that is in front of me.
I have said this before, but it needs restating from time to time to remind people that the city of Bedford is not run by one person. It is a Commission form of government. That means virtually everything is done with consent of the majority. On the issue of cleaning up Bedford, I have confidence that I will be able to present my plan to the commission and we, as a group, can work on it and start effecting change by spring. I believe the landlord is the responsible party and law enforcement should start with them. In case there are some landlords reading my blog, go look at your properties and ask yourself this question, “Would I live there?” If the truth were to come out, the answer would not only be “No” but it would be a “Hell NO!” My feeling is that if a person has the financial means to own rental properties, he or she can afford to keep up with those rental properties. But that’s just my opinion. If necessary, the court will decide and we can go from there.
That is all I have for today. I appreciate your time to read my lovely blog. God willing, I will be feeling better next week and will have something happier to say. If you pray, say extra prayers for me.
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