A court will consider whether homeowners have the right to rent out their property

[Tgace]

While I disagree with this on principle I UNDERSTAND why it's happening. This may come out sounding wrong...I apologize.

Some areas/neighborhoods are in "transition"...what once were middle-class neighborhoods are starting to "age-out" or dwindle due to urban-flight (and even suburban-flight). Property values dwindle and buyers gobble up homes for a song and turn them into low-rent properties. Upkeep of the property slides. This brings in an increase in crime and further dwindling of property value. While the "upside spin" is that this gives people in crime ridden ghetto-like areas a chance to move out what happens is the problem just spreads.

By all that I don't mean we should keep people IN ghettos to contain the problem...it's just that this is a complex issue that I have personally seen...I have no idea what the fix is.

I dont believe the fix is restricting freedoms though.


I don't know what the solution is....

 

[Makalakumu]

While I disagree with this on principle I UNDERSTAND why it's happening. This may come out sounding wrong...I apologize.

Some areas/neighborhoods are in "transition"...what once were middle-class neighborhoods are starting to "age-out" or dwindle due to urban-flight (and even suburban-flight). Property values dwindle and buyers gobble up homes for a song and turn them into low-rent properties. Upkeep of the property slides. This brings in an increase in crime and further dwindling of property value. While the "upside spin" is that this gives people in crime ridden ghetto-like areas a chance to move out what happens is the problem just spreads.

By all that I don't mean we should keep people IN ghettos to contain the problem...it's just that this is a complex issue that I have personally seen...I have no idea what the fix is.

I dont believe the fix is restricting freedoms though.


I don't know what the solution is....

I think the solution is talking to each other. I took my Masters degree from St. Mary's University of Minnesota, so I've spent quite a bit of time there. Winona is a sleepy town on the Mississippi River about three hours south of Minneapolis/St. Paul. There are a couple of colleges there that contribute to a large portion of its economy. The rest of it's economy comes from the farms that surround it. The population is aging because the youth tend to move out to the urban areas. As the colleges grow, more and more students move into the town and the parents of these students tend to be the one's buying up properties. The parents rent the property out to their children and their friends because it's actually easier and cheaper than trying to find a room or live on campus.

In the older neighborhoods, where the population is aging, this can cause a lot of friction. The older people aren't keen on the noise and other things they consider as nuisance, so they go to the town council and change the zoning laws. I understand why they would do this. I don't think the college students are to keen on respecting their neighbors and I don't think the neighbors have a real sense of community anymore and don't feel comfortable talking with the students. It's really sad, because Winona is pretty much Lake Wobegan. In the fall, the trees by the river flare up into brilliant colors. The bluffs of the river come alive with migratory birds. The people are generally nice and would give you the shirt off their backs if you really needed help.

I think the solution really is to start talking. It's easier to go to the city council and change the laws, but that doesn't do anything to grow that sense of community that used to exist in towns like Winona. The dividends good communication would bring would go a long way toward making Winona an even better place to live and study.

 

[Tgace]

Your situation is different from the neighborhoods in my town...which abut a high-crime district of the neighboring City. We get gang-members, drug dealing and homicides that "move in".