Power Corrupts; Even At Low Levels

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DaddySatyr -> Power Corrupts; Even At Low Levels (9/17/2013 1:10:28 AM)
Wilkes-Barre Times Leader This is bullshit

DarkSteven -> RE: Power Corrupts; Even At Low Levels (9/17/2013 3:07:34 AM)
You're behind the times. That kind of law has been on the books for years in different parts of the country. Landlords have screamed and yelled, but it's still there. So they make damn sure what they're getting into. The poor kid was an idiot. He bought a house in the bad part of town and poured money into it. He was an absentee landlord, and fell for the old trick of having a respectable looking person rent it as a front, and then move druggies in. He evidently didn't check out his property manager, who likely pocketed his fees and didn't bother to check on the apartment. Any landlord association would have told him not to do the things he did.

DaddySatyr -> RE: Power Corrupts; Even At Low Levels (9/17/2013 3:27:33 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: DarkSteven You're behind the times. That kind of law has been on the books for years in different parts of the country. Landlords have screamed and yelled, but it's still there. So they make damn sure what they're getting into. The poor kid was an idiot. He bought a house in the bad part of town and poured money into it. He was an absentee landlord, and fell for the old trick of having a respectable looking person rent it as a front, and then move druggies in. He evidently didn't check out his property manager, who likely pocketed his fees and didn't bother to check on the apartment. Any landlord association would have told him not to do the things he did. While you bring up some valid points, I have some counter-points: People have been murdered before, too. One bad law in East Jesus Ohio doesn't make this a good law. As far as I know, there are also laws on the books that prevent a landlord from coming into my home, unannounced. They need to set up a time and you need to reasonably accomodate the request So much for "snap inspections" (which I wouldn't stand for, anyway). I'm sure landlords could start mounting video cameras for 24 hour security on their properties ... No wait! That's not such a hot idea, either. I have a right to privacy, in my home. My point is: Landlord's hands are tied to a large degree. They are not *able* to be responsible for the behavior of their tennants; nor - in my opinion - should they be required to be responsible. I spent about four months, "casually" living in Wilkes-Barre (my lady lived there). There was a shooting on the very street where she lived on Sunday. You want to know who the landlord of the biggest drug cesspool in Wilkes-Barre is? That would be Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, and the commonwealth of Pennsyltucky; Public housing in Wilkes-Barre is running about as well as public housing, anywhere. This is a classic case of what magicians call "misdirection". It's what real people call "Bullshit".

DarkSteven -> RE: Power Corrupts; Even At Low Levels (9/17/2013 6:03:38 AM)
Look at it this way. The guy is a business owner. He jumped into a tough business without doing his homework or learning what he was doing. As a result, his place got completely trashed. Considering the damage he incurred, the $3750 lost rent will likely be a drop in the bucket. I agree that his intentions were good, but if you run a business stupidly, you can expect to get burned. Look at the numbers. He bought the place and fixed it up for $50K. Two apartments at least, one renting for $600+. He was expecting a $1.2K or more return per month on a $50K outlay. In a bad part of town. He was setting himself up. That said, the stupid article claims that the apartment was shut down for six months because the smoke detector had a low battery. So be careful about believing it.

DaddySatyr -> RE: Power Corrupts; Even At Low Levels (9/17/2013 6:20:11 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: DarkSteven That said, the stupid article claims that the apartment was shut down for six months because the smoke detector had a low battery. So be careful about believing it. It also said that it was "shut down" because he should have known what the tennants were doing in the apartment. That was really my point. Now, we have the (local) government demanding that just because we own a property, we're responsible for everything that goes on inside it? I also like the use of the term "absentee landlord". Is this guy supposed to camp outside each unit and strip search people entering the property? Like I said, earlier: perhaps video cameras in each room of each unit? Getting down to the nitty-gritty, even the smoke detector is the responsibility of the tennant (unless things have changed a lot). The landlord has to install them and inspect them before and after each occupancy but, replacing batteries is the job of the tennant. It's a huge shit sandwich.

DesideriScuri -> RE: Power Corrupts; Even At Low Levels (9/17/2013 8:19:40 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: DaddySatyr Wilkes-Barre Times Leader This is bullshit Too bad he didn't have more properties. He could qualify as "too big to fail." [8D]

DaddySatyr -> RE: Power Corrupts; Even At Low Levels (9/17/2013 8:26:21 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: DesideriScuri quote: ORIGINAL: DaddySatyr Wilkes-Barre Times Leader This is bullshit Too bad he didn't have more properties. He could qualify as "too big to fail." [8D] What amazes me is the duality of the situation (and, when I studied psychology in college, I was a Jungean). I am unaware of anywhere where a landlord can pull a "surprise" inspection. Certainly, I can't imagine a landlord sitting a stake-out or paying for security personel to do so, on all their units. So ... how is a landlord supposed to prevent someone from snorting a few lines or even smoking a little rock? So, we have laws preventing all of that (and we should) but, now, we're going to hold them responsible for all the ills that go on behind the chinese wall (That's a legl term) that the government has erected?

DesideriScuri -> RE: Power Corrupts; Even At Low Levels (9/17/2013 8:29:58 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: DaddySatyr quote: ORIGINAL: DesideriScuri quote: ORIGINAL: DaddySatyr Wilkes-Barre Times Leader This is bullshit Too bad he didn't have more properties. He could qualify as "too big to fail." [8D] What amazes me is the duality of the situation (and, when I studied psychology in college, I was a Jungean). I am unaware of anywhere where a landlord can pull a "surprise" inspection. Certainly, I can't imagine a landlord sitting a stake-out or paying for security personel to do so, on all their units. So ... how is a landlord supposed to prevent someone from snorting a few lines or even smoking a little rock? So, we have laws preventing all of that (and we should) but, now, we're going to hold them responsible for all the ills that go on behind the chinese wall (That's a legl term) that the government has erected? [sarcasm]Of course, the landlord is supposed to do his due diligence. Every day. I mean, just because the person is clean, sober, etc. at the lease signing doesn't mean the very next day s/he'll be clean, sober, etc. So, all landlords will have to re-examine the lessee on a daily basis. Is that really too much to ask that landlords do their fair share of police work? [/sarcasm]

DaddySatyr -> RE: Power Corrupts; Even At Low Levels (9/17/2013 8:35:02 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: DesideriScuri [sarcasm]Of course, the landlord is supposed to do his due diligence. Every day. I mean, just because the person is clean, sober, etc. at the lease signing doesn't mean the very next day s/he'll be clean, sober, etc. So, all landlords will have to re-examine the lessee on a daily basis. Is that really too much to ask that landlords do their fair share of police work? [/sarcasm] [sarcasm]I apologize. I lost it, there, for a minute. What could I have been thinking? [/sarcasm] On a serious note: Forcing citizens to police each other certainly sounds a bit too familiar to me.

MasterCaneman -> RE: Power Corrupts; Even At Low Levels (9/17/2013 8:37:02 AM)
I'm not sure what Commonwealth law is regarding entry, but here in the PRNY, a landlord has to give 24 hours advance notice (writing acceptable) to enter a unit, but if there's an emergency (fire, flood, structural damage) they can enter any time. The key word here is "emergency" and how it's applied. While I do feel a little bad for the guy losing out, on the other hand it seems he was looking for an ATM investment, the kind that keeps sending you money. We have a lot of them here, surprisingly young landlords too. The bottom line is, if you've got that much tied up into anything, it behooves you to at least do a walkaround to let the tenants know you're present, and it lets you know if your tenant is actually who signed the lease. What it sounds like happened here is, the guy was hit by an "apartment-finder" scam. One party, with a good background and who makes the right noises, signs the lease and immediately turns around and sublets it to someone who doesn't have a good track record with rental properties or who, for some reason, doesn't want their name on a lease. Go to a church, community center, or corner grocery with a bulletin board and you'll find an ad for one.

DesideriScuri -> RE: Power Corrupts; Even At Low Levels (9/17/2013 8:50:38 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: DaddySatyr quote: ORIGINAL: DesideriScuri [sarcasm]Of course, the landlord is supposed to do his due diligence. Every day. I mean, just because the person is clean, sober, etc. at the lease signing doesn't mean the very next day s/he'll be clean, sober, etc. So, all landlords will have to re-examine the lessee on a daily basis. Is that really too much to ask that landlords do their fair share of police work? [/sarcasm] [sarcasm]I apologize. I lost it, there, for a minute. What could I have been thinking? [/sarcasm] On a serious note: Forcing citizens to police each other certainly sounds a bit too familiar to me. Got any German in your bloodline?

DaddySatyr -> RE: Power Corrupts; Even At Low Levels (9/17/2013 8:53:00 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: DesideriScuri quote: ORIGINAL: DaddySatyr quote: ORIGINAL: DesideriScuri [sarcasm]Of course, the landlord is supposed to do his due diligence. Every day. I mean, just because the person is clean, sober, etc. at the lease signing doesn't mean the very next day s/he'll be clean, sober, etc. So, all landlords will have to re-examine the lessee on a daily basis. Is that really too much to ask that landlords do their fair share of police work? [/sarcasm] [sarcasm]I apologize. I lost it, there, for a minute. What could I have been thinking? [/sarcasm] On a serious note: Forcing citizens to police each other certainly sounds a bit too familiar to me. Got any German in your bloodline? Would my maternal granparents being born there qualify? They were George Heinrich and Marta Borrmann (please notice the double "R" and "N"s. No relation to the idiot that actual worked for poor, misunderstood, Adolf).

OsideGirl -> RE: Power Corrupts; Even At Low Levels (9/17/2013 8:59:48 AM)
We had one here in San Diego. The tenant of the house was making explosives. It was determined that the house was too cluttered to safely check for more bombs, so the authorities decided to burn it down. He did not own the house. He was a renter. The local government destroyed the house. The insurance companies would not pay the homeowner because it was destroyed due to criminal acts. I thought the homeowner got really screwed. http://www.cbs8.com/story/13635073/burning-of-bomb-factory-house-could-be-delayed

Moonhead -> RE: Power Corrupts; Even At Low Levels (9/17/2013 9:04:14 AM)
Would you rather landlords or tenants get fucked over? Your problems with the reasonable points raised about this idiot being responsible if he rents to criminals suggest that you see that as an either/or decision. You'd be happy having a landlord ride roughshod over your rights as a tenant to make sure you couldn't cause them any trouble, would you? That sounds like the side you're taking in your op, despite the fact that you state that you'd never put up with that in your posts since. If you can't decide where you stand on the issue, taking issue with other people's approach to it is a bit of a cheek...

thompsonx -> RE: Power Corrupts; Even At Low Levels (9/17/2013 9:06:38 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: DaddySatyr Wilkes-Barre Times Leader This is bullshit It looks to me like the city may be looking at a law suit that any compitent lawyer would make money on.

MasterCaneman -> RE: Power Corrupts; Even At Low Levels (9/17/2013 9:07:59 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: OsideGirl It was determined that the house was too cluttered to safely check for more bombs, so the authorities decided to burn it down. http://www.cbs8.com/story/13635073/burning-of-bomb-factory-house-could-be-delayed That sounds like a perfectly stupid way to check for explosives. Effective, yes, but what happens if the guy managed to cook up some really hot mix? Or maybe some heat-activated chemical weapons goodness?

OsideGirl -> RE: Power Corrupts; Even At Low Levels (9/17/2013 9:21:46 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: MasterCaneman quote: ORIGINAL: OsideGirl It was determined that the house was too cluttered to safely check for more bombs, so the authorities decided to burn it down. http://www.cbs8.com/story/13635073/burning-of-bomb-factory-house-could-be-delayed That sounds like a perfectly stupid way to check for explosives. Effective, yes, but what happens if the guy managed to cook up some really hot mix? Or maybe some heat-activated chemical weapons goodness? Again, our Sheriff is Bill Gore of Ruby Ridge fame. He's not known for the best decisions.....

DaddySatyr -> RE: Power Corrupts; Even At Low Levels (9/17/2013 9:22:57 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: MasterCaneman That sounds like a perfectly stupid way to check for explosives. Effective, yes, but what happens if the guy managed to cook up some really hot mix? Or maybe some heat-activated chemical weapons goodness? That was exactly my first thought. Too many termites? Okay. Use fire. Too many lice/bedbugs? Okay. Use fire. Too many mice/rats? Fire works, here, too. "*more bombs"? Ummmm ... Not the kind of situation where fire use is indicated. "Too cluttered to check for more bombs" ... I guess that means they were fearful of booby-traps and they couldn't send in the robot that a lot of departments have, now. I don't know what the right answer might have been (other than very gingerly cleaning the place out) but I can think of a few things that are NOT* the right answer in that case.

Moonhead -> RE: Power Corrupts; Even At Low Levels (9/17/2013 10:23:48 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: DaddySatyr "Too cluttered to check for more bombs" ... I guess that means they were fearful of booby-traps and they couldn't send in the robot that a lot of departments have, now. Do you have any idea what those robots cost, and the operators' hourly wage? Burning the place is a lot cheaper.

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