Friday, July 4, 2014

DTC Chair Fails at Basic Math

DTC Chair Fails at Basic Math



In a recent update to his blog (nbpoliticus.wordpress.com), DTC Chairman John McNamara accuses Republican Aldermen of trying to “weaken” New Britain’s blight ordinances. He then goes on to assert that this is “payback” to unnamed “out of town landlords”. This tired allegation did not stop the people of New Britain from electing Erin Stewart over Tim O’Brien by a thousand vote margin, but apparently Mr. McNamara doesn’t know a losing argument when he hears one. Maybe he feels these baseless accusations will have more traction the second time around.
But let’s take a second to look at his actual claim. The current ordinance imposes a $250 after a 30-day grace period to repair the violation. The amended ordinance would call for a $90 ticket per violation that is issued at the time a violation is cited and if that ticket is not paid within 15 days it is subject to an additional penalty of three times the original amount.
Mr. McNamara is claiming that:
No matter how you do the math the $90 fine even when it triples weakens anti-blight enforcement and takes  an important economic tool away from the city to crack down on blight..
However, a quick look at the math proves him dead wrong. Here is a likely scenario, a building inspector notices a blighted building. The grass is overgrown, there are a few broken windows, perhaps some other notable problems. Now what happens under the two plans:

O’Brien’s Plan

Under this plan the inspector cites the violation and the property owner has 30 days to fix the problems. If he fixes them, no penalty, but lets assume he does not. At the 30-day mark he is hit with a $250 ticket, the officer then needs to return every day to issue another ticket in order to make the $250/day citation work. What if the owner cleans up the problems from the original citation but now there is a NEW problem? Well, then the 30-day grace period starts all over again.
The bottom line? At the end of the 30-day mark the city has between $0-$250.

The GOP’s Plan

Under this plan the property owner is immediately hit with a $90 ticket at the time of the violation. They then have 15 days, not 30, to fix the problem. If the ticket is not paid by the 15 day mark then the bill jumps from $90 to $360 ($90×3, plus the original ticket). If the property is not cleaned up by the 15 day mark the city can then go in under the clean and lien policy and fix the problem and bill the property owner (in addition to the ticket). What if the property owner cleans up the property? They still have a $90 ticket that they need to pay. This is important because if you give every violation a grace period and no penalty there is no incentive to upkeep your property. Just wait for it to get bad enough that you are cited and then go in and clean it up.
The bottom line? At the end of the 30-day mark the city has between $90-$720 and also has the opportunity to go in and clean up the property.

What’s better for the City

Part of the reason O’Brien’s blight policies were a complete failure during his tenure was in addition to having endless revolving grace periods he was unwilling to committed the needed city resources to address the problem. Smart property owners could easily game the system to their advantage and avoid paying fines while honest working citizens were often targeted for minor infractions with no knowledge of how to comply or fix the problem. The new plan closes glaring loopholes in O’brien’s failed policies and also creates a strong disincentive for property owners to allow their property to repeatedly fall into decline.
One only has to look at the lack of “blight” revenue raised during O’brien’s entire tenure to see that his policies were abject failures. For Mr. McNamara to defend them shows that he cares far more about stirring the pot of partisan politics than he does about actually improving the blight conditions in our city.
- See more at: http://www.nbrtc.com/archives/1969?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=dtc-chair-fails-at-basic-math#sthash.oqKQ1t4T.dpuf

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why would he understand basic math?

Didn't he attend an inferior unionized public school where everyone passes on to the next grade whether or not they can actually perform the work?

Anonymous said...

Today we celebrate our independence from the King of England only to end up even more enslaved with less freedoms than we enjoyed from his Majesty the King because we are now ruled by communist, America-hating, Democrats.

Anonymous said...

Isn't O'Brien's plan simply to get a made up job where he gets paid a huge salary and free healthcare for a state job that was made up by DeFronzo just to give a free paycheck to a fellow socialist extremist?

Does he even have to show up for work, or do they simply mail the pay check to him every 2 weeks?

Anonymous said...

Democrat Math Strikes Again:

One in two people in America have elected a bunch of idiots, and don't even know it.

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