There has been some chatter on the listserves lately regarding vacant property. It seems that the council wants to roll the vacant property tax from 10% back down to 5%. As reported by the Examiner...and BS is quoted & understandably irate. But I am not irked...because it really doesnt matter what the percentage rate is, the city has to actually collect the tax! And time after time we see the same vacant properties magically get exempted, especially the ones owned by churches & developers. This morning I took a photo of some poo in front of the 900 block of mega-marriott hell shoulda been built 6years ago. I will spare you the nausea. when i say "some poo" i mean multiple poos and the human kind. Vacant property tends to be a poo magnet. Will marriott get fined for having front lawn feces decor? No of course not. Will they get billed for weeds & trash? No way! Will they get charged vacant property tax? never! All this talk of budget shortfalls and DC utterly fails to enforce its own regulations and remedies. If the government actually collected these taxes and fines, they might even make an a$$ load of money off these slumbankers. Jack Evans attitude of doign away with the penalties because the system doesnt work is just baffling. Make the system work. There is your revenue stream!
Dont get me started on traffic violations...another revenue stream, hell a legal commuter tax :)
I was thinking the other day, while it was nice that the DC government was enforcing laws by evicting the people who used to live across my alley, it would be nice if they had followed up to make sure the property doesn't become a poo/pee/crack magnet that it is now. A rickety house under code with people in it is much better than an empty home with crackheads and poo around it.
Posted By jimbo / At 8/5/09 10:33 AM
