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'Problem Landlord List' Approved by City Council

By Ted Cox | January 21, 2015 11:20am | Updated on January 21, 2015 2:41pm
 Ald. Carrie Austin helped shepherd an ordinance through the council to create a "problem landlord list."
Ald. Carrie Austin helped shepherd an ordinance through the council to create a "problem landlord list."
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DNAinfo/Ted Cox

CITY HALL — The City Council moved Wednesday to create a "problem landlord list" to shame scofflaw landlords into addressing problems in their buildings.

By a 49-0 vote, the council approved an ordinance giving the Department of Buildings authority to create and publish the list. A landlord found "liable" in administrative hearings on two violations within two years would be placed on the list.

Buildings Commissioner Felicia Davis said in committee testimony Tuesday that the first list would be published on the department website on Monday.

Davis said common violations were the lack of working smoke alarms, insufficient heat or hot water, rodent infestation and dangerous porches.

 Consideration of a proposed ordinance to heighten costs developers pay to opt out of affordable-housing requirements was postponed by Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd).
Consideration of a proposed ordinance to heighten costs developers pay to opt out of affordable-housing requirements was postponed by Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd).
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DNAinfo/Ted Cox

Davis said landlords on the list would be ineligible to obtain new business licenses, zoning changes and building permits until they proved compliance.

Ald. Carrie Austin (34th) cited the testimony of Eric Smith, father of a daughter who died in a Roseland fire Sept. 8 in a house without working smoke alarms. She dedicated the ordinance to the four children killed in that fire.

The council also moved to expand the ban on police profiling to gender identity and national origin.

"We've come a long way, and I want to congratulate the Police Department for their sensitivity training," said Ald. Tom Tunney (44th). He called the security of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community "paramount."

The council also moved to expand stiff penalties imposed on crimes committed in school "safe passage" zones to parks as well.

Yet consideration of a proposed ordinance to heighten costs developers pay to opt out of affordable-housing requirements was postponed by Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd). The ordinance would establish three zones across the city — high-income, low-income and Downtown — and lower the price developers pay in low-income areas, while raising it in high-income areas and almost doubling it Downtown, where it would go from the current $100,000 citywide charge for an "in lieu" payment to $175,000 a unit.

Calling himself the "Downtown alderman," Reilly had questioned that during a committee hearing, but it passed without opposition. The council will consider the measure in March.

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