It's no secret that Winnipeg has a lot of vacant and derelict buildings. It's no secret to the families living next to these places that they're common targets for arson and vandalism, when they're not already home to organized criminals.
And thanks to our grandstanding council members, it's no secret that Winnipeg's Vacant and Derelict Buildings Bylaw (no. 35/2004 if you want to look it up) is supposed to be one of the most cutting-edge property laws on the continent, designed specifically to get rid of vacant and derelict buildings.
But it can hardly be cutting-edge if the city doesn't have the guts to use it correctly, now can it?
I'm Young Josh, and I've spent the past three months looking into the Vacant and Derelict Buildings Bylaw; what it does, how well it works, and how the city uses it. You've heard me talking about the Bylaw with Marty on The Great Canadian Talk Show, and if you've tuned in over the last two weeks, you've heard me lay out a Five-Point Plan for city councilors and administration to get more use out of this "cutting-edge property law", and help make sure our city isn't home to more arson, more vandals, more criminals, and more danger.
I'll be laying out that Five-Point Plan below, but first, I'd like to comment on precisely how disheartening this has been.
I vote in civic elections with the expectation that people in the running will put some real effort into making Winnipeg a better place. After a little digging into one bylaw, I have officially been "given the run-around", as Marty puts it. I've spoken to three departments and over a dozen people, I've had one contact receive a memo specifically telling them not to answer my questions, I've had two requests for information outright ignored, and I've had PR themselves tell me they've sent information when I haven't received a thing. I did not vote for these people in order to have information hid from me when I, and TGCTS listeners, needed it.
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So: here, posted on the Internet for posterity, is our Five-Point Plan for the Vacant and Derelict Buildings Bylaw, as presented on The Great Canadian Talk Show.
5. Increase the penalties for not complying.
As it stands, the minimum penalty for a first offense is $500. It's $1,000 for the second offense, and $2,000 for a third. This is absolute pocket change for many property owners, and it would be no problem for them -- or for members of the criminal element -- to pay off the penalty and keep right on going. In order for the Bylaw to work, it has to deter property owners from letting their properties become derelict. If another zero is added to each penalty, making it $5,000, $10,000, and $20,000, we might have something that does what it's supposed to.
4. Expedite the process.
It takes three months for the city to identify a property as vacant or derelict and take title to it. Once the city has the title for a property, it takes another fifteen months -- that's 450 days -- for them to put it to use. This is ridiculous. Expedite the process by cutting down the periods for appeal, and this can easily be brought down to six months at the most.
3. Attract investors and developers.
There are 12 properties that the city can take title to right now, under the Bylaw, and start the 15-month process of doing something with it. If we had business investors and property developers interested in making use of these properties, that process would fly by quickly, and the crackhouses and fire-traps could start to vanish from our streets. The councilors need to use the bylaw to sensationalize property development, instead of sensationalizing themselves (more on that later), in order to do something with it.
2. Add more inspectors.
Right now, the city has two inspectors, each with their crews, working to enforce this Bylaw. Two.
Marty and I did the math for this on the show: each crew, if they inspected two houses every business day, could clear out 500 houses a year. Instead, the city takes care of 260 at the most, and we're left with a waiting list of 880 houses -- some of which have been there since 1999 -- clogging up Winnipeg streets.
1. Use the bylaw to get rid of vacant and derelict buildings, instead of using it to look like you're accomplishing something.
The 2007 amendment to this Bylaw had some major media coverage, mostly of councilors patting themselves on the back. Most of this amendment involves fixing spelling mistakes and adding minor penalties. Not exactly a major accomplishment.
But that's not all. One employee of the city told me, on the record, that the administration's actual goal with the Vacant and Derelict Buildings Bylaw is not to get rid of vacant and derelict buildings. Instead, they just want to make sure that these buildings are kept clean and up to standards. You'll never hear the city tell you a fact like that in a press release! This "goal" is what I'm referring to when I say the city doesn't have the guts to use the Bylaw correctly.
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That's our Five-Point Plan. I look forward to seeing some progress with the Vacant and Derelict Buildings Bylaw in 2008, and maybe seeing a few more houses drop off that waiting list. Send feedback to talk@kick.fm!
In the meantime, I've got a few other stories in the works with Marty for January, including one that could have me taking a walk down Magnus Avenue and seeing just what the community's doing to rescue their streets. Stay tuned!
