Well Commissioner Gunter is at it again. He doesn’t want the city to give you an extension on your utilities if you win at the Local Internet Cafe’s, he doesn’t seem to mind the business’s on 19 being required to maintain their buildings, but if you own a building downtown, or your related to him, or he knows you socially, then he doesn’t want the Government to meddle in your affairs.
If you own property in the City limits, there are ordinances that you have to obey, you have to keep your property mowed, and any buildings have to be in decent repair, why doesn’t this apply to the buildings downtown? Our downtown area is a shambles, we’ve already lost the old Peacock building, I expect Bloodworth’s to be next, if you can’t afford the upkeep on a building why buy it? I’m sure a few buildings are owed by out-of-town interests, yet I’ll bet most are owned by local people, obviously people Councilman Gunter, and Councilman Dowdell know. Why was it Ok to force the owners on 19 to repair and maintain their buildings, but not the downtown buildings? Seems to me if you have pride in ownership, what the committee recommended would already be something that you would do anyway, why would this ordinance effect anyone that maintains their building properly, the city is very fair in giving property owners time to repair any violations, this is our downtown heritage falling apart, if nothing is done, and owners aren’t required to maintain their buildings, all of downtown should just be converted to parking, the buildings on Green Street that are not occupied are going to start falling down soon, if a brick, window glass, or awning were to fall and injure someone walking on the sidewalk, I’m sure a good lawyer would include the city’s lack of oversite as liability. What’s good for the poor, and people you don’t know, is good for everyone else, Councilman Gunter, not only should you not vote on this matter, you should have no comment either, you have a very deep conflict of interest in this matter, but this is very typical of Repubs, if it applies to them, and they may have to spend money they don’t want to, then that’s big government getting into their lives. If however you aren’t known to them, and you’re not in their social circle then the Government should tell you what you must do, and if you partake in any activities that these folks deem dis-tasteful then you should get no help from the government, and life should be made as difficult for you as possible.
Submitted by: Look Out Emily
Interested to hear what the other citizens think…
You are wrong about the highway 19 cleanup. Drive south on 19 on the right is WACO then a motel that needs city and owner attention, but for some reason the city fails to show the strong arm it has shown to other highway 19 businesses. I wonder who the owner is?
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The Everetts own the motel in question…
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I concur that Council person Gunter, after declaring a conflict of interest, should have abstained from the dicussion and not influenced the other council members. If you declare a conflict and state that you will not vote, it is ethically challenged to continue to voice a verbal vote against an issue. This is Commissioner/councilperson 101 stuff folks and Gunter knows this! If Pam Feagle had done this during her tenure on an issue there would have been an outcry from Ketring, Cook, Brown and cronys in attendance. I am more shocked to think of the downtown property owners being exempt from code enforcement “codes”. If these property owners cannot afford to upkeep their property, they should not have purchased or rented their property. The paint that is falling off these buildings is likely lead paint and when a brick falls out and hits a citizen, who is liable? The City of Perry has enforced code violations on many individuals, groups and families who could not afford to fix their properties, have issued fines to the same. The downtown property owners should do the same. I guess we have an example, albeit on a small scale, of the 1%’ers vs, the 99%’s in our community. A shame, business as usual at City Hall. Everyone needs to remember this in 2012. As it was said many years ago, “sweep out the courthouse and city hall”! Someone needs to buy a truckload of brooms!!!
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