Compromise Farce
By Robin Vinci at December 13, 2023 | 8:30 pm | Print
Mayor Tim O’Brien claims he reached an agreement with landlords Wednesday, but the agreement is not with the landlords who filed a suit against him and the City.
In fact, the agreement is with the former state Democratic Chairman who is an attorney for Pebblebrook Apartments’ Ed Markus.
Eric Polinsky, who represents Joe Carabetta of Stonegate Apartments said, “I want it public record that no one in the lawsuit is a party to this compromise.”
“Everybody should know Ed Markus struck this deal and it’s his deal and under this math they will pay the lowest amount. It is capped at $12,000 so they will conveniently pay $25 a unit,” said Polinksky. “We think it is disingenuous. If you look at the resolution as it is redrafted all that has changed is the inspections.”
The City may do periodic inspections. The mayor says five times it is meant to reduce blight.
“How can they at their whim do periodic inspections to solve the problem?” he said.
“We’ve listened to hundreds of landlords and we’ve negotiated with attorneys - I believe we have struck a fair compromise,” said O’Brien. “The reason I ran for mayor was to work with the council and city leaders to do all I could to build healthier neighborhoods and reduce blight. This new ordinance brings us closer to having a fair and effective anti-blight tool regulating the absentee landlord business.”
“They contacted politically connected landlords and of course they are going to go along with the program,” said Sam Zherka, landlord of Farmington Hills. “This has nothing to do with the landlords in the lawsuit.”
He said until they agree the compromise is a farce.
“It’s still unconstitutional,” said Zherka. “This is a dog and pony show being orchestrated and choreographed by a bunch of politicians who are running scared because they pissed off their constituents which includes veterans, tenants, landlords and business people.”
Zherka said he would like to challenge the mayor to a public debate on how these fees on out of town landlords would cure the blight problem, when the blight problem is created by the City. The City owns most of the blighted property, he said.
“I’m calling him out to a public debate,” Zherka.
The new compromise reduces the $150 per unit fee to:
$50 per unit for the first 3 Dwelling Units; plus; $40 per unit for the next 10 Dwelling Units; plus $35 per unit for each additional Dwelling Unit up to a maximum fee of $12,000 per Property Owner.
The Common Council Wednesday night sent the proposal to the Committee on Planning Zoning & Housing. It will take place during a meeting in January.
