Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2012
By Lori Davis
If you live in Augusta Georgia, or the surrounding area, the neighborhood, “Harrisburg,” conjures up all kinds of thoughts and verbal reactions from those who are familiar. Those who are most familiar know that the remaining homeowners of Harrisburg have been fighting a no-win situation in the effort to take back the neighborhood from the area slumlords. For those of you who are new to this subject, Harrisburg is an historic mill village which is situated between Summerville and Downtown Augusta. It is an island unto itself of prostitutes, drug dealers and their slumlords who continue to enable this type of behavior with total disregard for those of us who live here.
We have waged a very public battle for over 5 years. (See the Augusta Chronicle for the many related articles). The traits that our most notable slumlords have in common are:
Their names are well known among their peers in the community.
They have excelled in their personal areas of business and are quite affluent.
Most are church going types.
They promise you that they would never knowingly rent to drug dealers as they collect their rent in cash.
They will tell you that until it can be proven in a court of law that problems are occurring on their property, they cannot evict.
And lastly, it is the problem of RCSO to take care of the issue.
Guess what slumlords, we have really had enough and will go to great lengths to expose you and the addresses where you harbor your antisocial renters. Know that we can expose those addresses at any time because they are a matter of public record. Facebook also is a powerful tool and will be used to our advantage…. To the slumlord who continues to set up boarding houses when he knows it is illegal, I hope your Daddy is proud of you. He has a very good name; what happened to you?
To the Slumlord who told an 80 year old woman she could move if she didn’t like her situation living between two of your crack houses, there are many who use your downtown insurance services that might just discontinue the patronizing of your business.
To the slumlord who got caught with the many custom outfitted boarding houses without a single fine from code enforcement, may your patrons leave your Walton Way bar.
To the slumlord who has rented for years to drug dealers on Tuttle St., and says it is the Christian thing to do, may you end up living next to them.
And lastly, To the slumlord whom we found out your identity today, may those who trust you as their senior account executive for their business advertising think twice before making you a wealthier man.
On a lighter note…. Many thanks to the Harrisburg landlords who do the right thing. Those that come to mind and have been most active in our efforts to clean up Harrisburg are Tyson Schuetze, Gail Kaitschuck, Butch Palmer, Fred Daitch, and Phil Williams. These landlords have a true heart for Harrisburg and show it by renting to those that they would not mind living next door to. This, dear Slumlord is, “Landlord 101.” May I suggest that you get a copy.***
LD
No comments:
Post a Comment