Last night I was at an Allied Drive meeting Ald Solomon held for tenants in some properties that are being foreclosed on and the police were there. Why?
The receiver for the property, the city attorney’s office, the County Board Supervisor Carousel Bayrd and housing counselors from several agencies (CAC, Neighborhood Law Project, Tenant Resource Center) were all there with the tenants of the buildings to find out and share information about if these properties were going to be subject to the chronic nuisance ordinance, when repairs were going to get made, what happens when people have leases but the receivor doesn’t want to honor those leases, what’s going to be done with the lack of records of past rent payments, when will people get their mailboxes fixed and locks changed/fixed, which tenants are eligible for rent control, who has to move so repairs can be made and when, etc etc etc.
This was the second meeting that Ald. Solomon held for the tenants of those buildings. While there is lots to be said about the situation and the wrong information that the landlord and city attorney told the tenants about their rights at these two meetings, I’ll get to that later.
Meanwhile . . . at both of these meetings, two Madison police officers stood in the corner for the entire meeting. They weren’t there to contribute to the meeting in any way, they didn’t say a word at either meeting, they didn’t talk to people after the meeting, they just stood in the corner.
Why? What was their purpose there? And, given all the concern about crime, was this a good use of their time?
