Attention Mayor Kirsch and Richfield City Council

Richfield For the fourth week in a row, the Sun-Current had an article related to property rights/eminent domain. I have not had the time to fully comment on the past ones, but I was delighted to see a letter in the Richfield Sun Current tonight. Lynn Jakubik did an excellent job sharing an opinion that I have heard express several times the last few weeks.

To the editor: It can take a decade or more before the city "leaks" out about its next project before the homes and businesses involved are taken. In that time, the homes start to be less desirable for buyers and steadily decrease in value, with buyers not wanting to buy in an area that the city will eventually deem "blighted." The city then buys these homes at the newly devalued price - and the homes are thrown into a pool that all realtors use to value property in Richfield. The result eventually is that this affects the value of each and every one of us with a home in the city. In last week's paper, Mayor Martin Kirsch is quoted as saying he is concerned with "keeping the first and second cities in good condition." One has to be somewhat amused with this when the city and its council members seem to overlook its own basic laws about upkeep and zoning.The solution: Step up and enforce our property and zoning laws. Have a citywide cleanup day where the city takes unwanted items for free. Enforce its current zoning laws so that neighbors are not forced to move because of illegal businesses and rental houses, traffic, noise and trash on our streets. Enforce its dog barking and vicious dog ordinances. In general, concentrate its efforts on being the city that can insure buyers that they and their investment are safe - that we care about our residents and our homes. The families will come back and the city and its tax base will flourish. Fifty years from now, a well kept, mid-century home will be a treasure. Will we be able to say that about the new SuperTarget and parking lot down the block? Lynn Jakubik Richfield Source: Richfield Sun-Current 3/15/06

The first point she makes is the most critical. If the city wishes to redevelop part of a city, all they need to do is begin "exploring" the idea. The instant a city starts talking about redeveloping part of a city, the chances are very high that area will begin to look "blighted". It is a self fulfilling prophesy because any property owner with the smallest amount of fiscal common sense will stop or seriously scale back spending any resources on property upkeep or improvements because they risk losing money if they do so. This all relates back to the issue of eminent domain and the fact that a small number of people believe they know best and the rest of us better just learn to live with that fact. This last "open house" for the redevelopment plans of the Penn Avenue area is a prime example. We received a letter about it less than a week before it occurred. I'm not sure about you, but we tend to plan our evenings a little more than a week in advance. The city council and Mayor Kirsch better do one of two things, stop planning our lives for us or do a better job explaining the benefits of these changes. If they don't, their current term will be their last if even a remotely qualified candidate challenges them with property rights as one of his or her main issues. (FYI - this candidate will most likely NOT meet these two measuring poinst.)