Proposed City Ordinance Cracks Down on Slumlords

Post and stock photo by the Hawthorne Hawkman.

The Department of Regulatory Services in Minneapolis is proposing changes to rental licensing and associated penalties.  Currently, the most severe penalty to a landlord happens only after two rental licenses are revoked within five years, at which point he or she loses all rental licenses within Minneapolis for a five-year period.  In theory, the way this works is that a landlord loses one license, and then is on a short leash for all the other properties.  In practice, slumlords like Mahmood Khan (who owns the property photographed above) lose rental licenses and have those losses overturned in court before the second revocation can kick in.  (Search 2906 Emerson Ave N on the city's website for an example of that)  Or in the Folger case, a landlord suddenly loses all of his licenses, and the tenants are the ones who suffer.

The issue communities have been facing is that in spite of attempts to contain and then decrease problem properties, notorious slumlords like Khan, Moghul, and Reitman seem to continue adding to their empire.  The proposed changes would put a stop to that by...

Mahmood Khan and Johnny Northside Inspire Me

Post by the Hawthorne Hawkman, photo by NoMi Passenger, originally appeared on the Johnny Northside blog.

When NoMi neighbors first notified me that Mahmood Khan was on the cover of the Star Tribune, my initial reaction was one of shock and disbelief.  I wanted to fire off another heated post about irresponsible journalism.  That is, until I read the article and saw Khan readily admit his shortcomings.  The city "expects Edina, but this is not possible in this part of the world," said Khan, a Roseville resident.  Thank you Mahmood for showing your true colors to anyone who wasn't already aware.  North Minneapolis is apparently another part of the world than Edina, where quality housing simply isn't possible in Khan's vision.

For the record, the Strib article spells Khan's first name as Mahmoud.  Given that city records show Khan owning a rental property at 2906 Emerson Ave N (where neighbors have reported suspicious drug dealing activity) and his name is spelled "Mahmood," that is the spelling I will continue to use here.

I want Khan's low standards to be exposed, even indirectly, in a cover story by the Strib.  And I'm glad to see Stephen Meldahl included in the article too.  Whenever the spotlight is on our problem landlords, that has to be considered a good thing.  They'll either be exposed for what they are, or they will improve their performance knowing that the community and the press are watching.

That being said, the article did inspire me to do more than simply write an opinion piece.  John Hoff routinely publishes the Hennepin County jail roster so that names show up on Google searches.  The same thing can be done with slumlords who appear on...

New City Website to Hold Slumlords Accountable!

Remember this garage?

Post and photos by the Hawthorne Hawkman.  Stock photos are of Gregge Johnson properties, as he was a north Minneapolis slumlord who is listed on this website.  Another Johnson link can be found here.

Several months ago, city officials had spoken both privately and at Councilmember Hofstede's 3rd Ward CARE meetings about the prospect of creating a "Slumlord Hall of Shame" on the Minneapolis city website.  Even though the plan was discussed openly, northside bloggers held off on announcing anything prematurely due to the fact that the city attorney's office and others were reviewing exactly what kind of content would be there.

Well, the link is live now.

In all honesty, this so far seems too dry.  I was hoping for something closer to the Allentown,  PA website, which goes right to the point and calls it a Hall of Shame.  In one instance, the Allentown mayor took a sledgehammer to a slumlord's building as part of a ceremonial start to the demolition process.  Their website shows the dilapidated buildings of slumlords and also posts pictures of the ritzy houses where they either live or receive mail. 

Here's what Mayor Pawlowski said about a recent inductee: “Mr. Miller is not being a good neighbor nor is he meeting his financial obligations to the city,” said Pawlowski. “At last check, he owes water and sewer bills on three properties in the city totaling more than $32,000. He owes more than $4,000 in fines for code violation cases. He owes more than $1600 in SWEEP violations on his three properties. He does not have an active rental license.”

It sure would be nice if our mayor went on record and publicly shamed slumlords who were costing our city over $35,000 in unpaid fines. Northside bloggers could focus our efforts on other things then.  But this site for Minneapolis is a good beginning.  For one thing, it starts to come up with empirical, standardized ways to classify someone as a slumlord.  Hopefully its features are expanded, and that one day we'll be able to search the city database using property owner names as criteria.