TRIP

  Along with candidates, Jim Gordon, Billie Jean Greene and Debra Lockrow, I met with Pat Madden and Hilary at TRIP Tuesday morning.
   I felt it was a good meeting which was very informative. One of our cities most serious ongoing problems is vacant buildings and negligent absentee landlords. In a college town there are going to be a lot of rental units and probably therefore many absentee landlords.
   TRIP is a tremendous asset in dealing with these issues. They currently own 45 buildings and manage about 200 rental units. They do pay property taxes on these buildings of close to $200,000 a year.
   They have a landlord training program and a screening process for prospective tenants. They also help people become homeowners with a lengthy education process.
    I was impressed and I certainly believe in their mission of trying to help people as they seek to become homeowners. Their counseling and educational programs are invaluable and I foresee working closely with them should I be elected. We must address the housing issues in our cities as they have a tremendous impact on the quality of life in our neighborhoods.