One of my avid readers, following my series of articles written in my effort to help the Lakewood City Council and Lakewood citizens understand how unfair and wrong the proposed Rental Registration and Safety Inspection Program (RRISP) is, asked me an on target question.
My reader asks, “How will the City of Lakewood Safety Squad enter the rental home?”
Think of this scenario. The renters, having made good decisions in life, are where most people who make good decisions are during the 9:00a — 5:00p city business hours. They are at work. They have jobs and they are paying their own way. Because of their positive decision making profile, they do not choose, nor are they forced to live in a slum property.
None-the-less, here comes the City of Lakewood Safety Squad demanding to get inside their rental home without a warrant for any wrong doing. Once inside, more likely than not, the Safety Squad will inspect a property that has no slum conditions. A total waste of everyone’s time and money.
Where is the landlord? Maybe the landlord can let the Safety Squad into the private rental home thereby serving as an agent for local government; a local government committed to violating renters Fourth Amendment rights or at least the spirit of their Fourth Amendment rights.
No, the landlord can’t let the Safety Squad in either. The landlord is at work. Most good decision makers have jobs.
Must the renters or the landlord take time off work? Will the city be willing to pay for their lost wages if the city insists on implementing their solution looking for a problem?
I suppose if the city fails to see what a terrible idea RRSIP is, they could easily suggest, “The City will force the renter to leave their house key under the welcome mat.” Criminals love keys under welcome mats.
Maybe the city could force the renter or landlord to drop a key off at city hall. That would eliminate the welcome mat criminals.
How will the renter know if an unscrupulous city employee has made a duplicate key? How will the city defend itself against an allegation that a member of the City Safety Squad has sticky fingers? Who is going to pay for the renter’s missing original James Thurber pencil drawings?
I supposed my reader’s entire concern could be a moot point if the city plans to work their City Safety Squad 24 / 7.
It seems there is no end to the list of reasons why the City of Lakewood’s Rental Registration and Safety Inspection Program is not a good idea.