It was a shocking embarrassment when reporters learned last week that an Augusta commissioner -- Betty Beard -- had folks living in a rental property that the city regards as unfit for human habitation.
It seemed scandalous at first blush -- and certainly it's inexcusable, especially for a public servant of Ms. Beard's caliber, to be the landlord of a house with no electricity or running water and, therefore, no heat in winter or lights at night.
"It is incorrect to have property like this," Commissioner Beard admitted to a TV news crew. "I am going to say I am very sorry it is in the condition that it is in."
On Friday, Beard told the Chronicle that she plans to close the house as soon as possible and donate the land to Paine College for the planned revitalization of the Laney-Walker area.
It's a very emotional matter for Ms. Beard -- who not only went to Paine, but who also grew up in the now-dilapidated house in question, at 924 Boyd Lane.
But as scandalous as it is to have a county commissioner referred to as a "slum lord" in news accounts, the real scandal is that there is so much blame to go around.
Tenants have some degree of responsibility -- and, indeed, with a more effective code enforcement office, these tenants might have been held accountable along with Ms. Beard: Both she and her tenants were notified of code violations back in January.
That's where the blame gets spread even more.
Rob Sherman, head of license and inspection, admits now that "I dropped the ball" after inspectors told him of problems at Beard's property.
"In this case I think we may have extended ourselves a little bit more than normal," he obliquely told a television crew last week.
We wondered precisely what that meant. So we asked Sherman if Commissioner Beard received favorable treatment from the city's code enforcement office.
"If I said 'no,' I wouldn't be telling the truth," Sherman said.
When reminded that a lot of folks wouldn't feel it's right for a commissioner to receive favorable treatment from the city, Sherman said, "It's not. I'm not going to lie to you."
Later, Sherman seemed to back off that statement, saying his office tries to give other property owners plenty of slack as well.
But therein lies a problem too. If the city is littered with similarly unfit properties, as Beard says it is -- "Property just like (hers) is all over the inner city," she told TV -- then perhaps the city needs to give people less slack. A whole lot less.
Ms. Beard notes that she wasn't paid much in rent for 924 Boyd Lane in recent years -- only about $520 since October 2007, and nothing since last August. So if she's a slum lord, she's a pretty poor one.
Still, if she was letting people live there largely rent-free out of some sense of compassion, it was horribly misguided. There's little doubt they would've been better off living most anywhere else. And, oh, there's that little thing called the law.
By the same token, the city's "compassion" in working with landlords and property owners is just as misguided. Rules are rules, laws are laws, unfit is unfit. The law needs to be applied equally and fairly across the city. Going easy on the owners of decrepit structures only enables the eyesores to exist.
City administrator Fred Russell told us Friday he's investigating the city's handling of the Beard property -- and that, "Obviously, if we didn't do it right, there's going to be some disciplinary action."
That's a good start. But the next step is to engage the entire commission, and the community, in a discussion about the state of things in Augusta's inner city. Unfit structures must be dealt with and owners and tenants held accountable.
The city must be a slum-lord-free zone.
Comments
Can't print something bad like this unless it's true. Justus it must be hell being you and being angry all the time.
There's an idea. Force people to make home improvements during a Depression.
It's not economically viable to fix-up these types of houses. Does the Chronicle want to kick every poor person in Augusta out on to the street?
Justus it must be hell being you and being angry all the time.
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Think about that statement and consider all the others who post 1000+ on this site every year. Much bad animus.
"Slum Lord", how appropriate a term for Ms "hhigh falluting" Betty Beard!
Blacks sin and whites sin but; blacks admitting a sin seems to upset some blacks who think every sin has to be the fault of some white person. Confession of a sin stops satan in his tracks. That works for white or black and brings more freedom than any civil rights law.
Somebody answer the question was the electricity cut off because of code violations or lack of payment? It seems to me these people are happy living there, why stick your nose into someone's business. I would imagine it would be hard condemning a house knowing the people were poor and had no where to go. Go to Warrenton GA and see some of the living conditions there, some people are basically living in sheds. I have been in houses where you didn't need lights on during the day, because of all the sun that comes in through the cracks. People chose to live this way, it is better than living under a bridge.
LOL..justus if I really wanted to I could find out about the 11 kids...seems the property was owned by a commissioner or something?
Soldout you hit it right on the head! This country suffers more from class distinction than race, although few want to acknowledge its existence. People of the same socio-economic class tend to few things similarly. I believe the landlord is responsible for maintaining their own property. As a person of monetary means, why would you allow your property to fall into disrepair? I don't believe that Mrs. Beard is the only property owner guilty of this shameful practice.
justus....get a life, do you ever get off the computer? I dont care if Betty Beard is black, white , purple, green, etc... SHE IS A SLUMLORD, always has been and always will be. Maybe if she looked out of her windows from her high rise condo at River Place she could see her run down properties. Better yet, she could move them all to River place with her while she gets everything up to code. NAAAH... that will never happen, she is just too good to co-habitate with the common folk of Augusta..
Betty don't mind stealing $750k a year from the taxpayer for "re-development" but she ain't spending none of her money on improving the slums. Guess she recognizes a bad investment when she sees one.
two sides to this issue: on one side, the chronicle takes great pains to appear unbiased while using the subtlest language to paint a damning picture of mrs beard; on the other side, mrs. beard is no great sinner for owning property that happens to be blighted - but she is way up in the "idiot" category for giving the AWM an easy target with this TEE mess heating up.
One of the many bad parts of living in a subsidy city is that the overall attitude is that people living in squalor are incapable of doing any better and need to be subsidized by people that make an effort to live a little higher up the human scale. These lazy parasites are accepted as "normal" and to say otherwise is racially derogatory. Enforcing the laws that prevent this kind of squalor is racially derogatory. Ms. Beard is representative of the people she represents. Why does the media feel the need to fake this shock?
Ride thru the area of 10th st., 15 the st. and all around there and you will see run down homes. The peop,le who origanly owned them are dead and the homes were left to the children who moved and have no interest in fixing them up. Check the tax records and you will see where the tax bills are mailed. Justus, Phoetus Upshaw also owned alot of the properties and has always been known as the biggest slumlord in the inner city. Also, Justus, I do not think the inspection department in Burke County had issued an order to repair the property where the kids lived.
I do believe it was another Black commissioner who owned the house referred to in justus' post. Was it Marion?
Seems that if they were living there free that they could get the water and lights in their own damn name huh? Mrs. Beard has been smeared here over her opposition to the TEE Center. Shameful of Don Grantham to stoop this low...he did threaten her that he would get even, I guess this may well be the first barrage on her.
You better be careful when throwing rocks. If ever there was a glass house it is the AC. The folks over at WGAC are pretty teflon because the record becomes an unclear memory after it is aired. So reiterrating it in the paper just makes the Chronicle look bad. The way I read this though is "Betty...don't come to us with your hand held out this election. There is more ink on this side of the levee than there is water on the other side. Ink is power and don't let anyone fool you into thinking otherwise." Which is worse, someone who doesn't pay his bankers and files bankruptcy forcing many people to lose their money and their jobs or someone that doesn't have the gumption to just close a house up forcing people to make other arrangements?
Good point judge, I agree.
After the power has been disconnected for a certain amount of time, GA power requires an electrical inspection prior to restoring power. I doubt this house would pass the inspection.What should Augusta do with condemned housing and the tenants?
"...Betty Beard -- had folks living in a rental property that the city regards as unfit for human habitation." And I was considering returning to Augusta and living in Olde Town, Betty Beard's district. If this is going on, what else is Ms. Beard up to? What other politicians have such corrupt and uncaring behavior? How about you, Mr. Mayor? I know Mr. Sherman, a very good man. He was pressured from all sides of a corrupt political system. Political corruption, the worst education system in two states, crime in the streets and behind closed doors...on and on. And I was considering returning to Augusta. Shame on me.
Isn't the homes owned by beard in the district that is suppose to get money in the splost? Won't this benefit beard by fixing up this area with taxpayer money? If this is correct, won't beard get her homes fixed up with taxpayer money? In other words, she gets her homes fixed up and doesn't have to do it herself.
Converted Southerner may have hit on the reason why Ms. Beard has not improved her properties at her expense. She must be waiting for the Hotel/Motel tax checks to come into the Laney Walker district. It's her stimulus check, and it keeps on giving.
Nevertheless, despite how Ms. Beard manages her properties and tenants, her position on the TEE Center is correct. It is time for honest debate, not time to ram home Don Grantham's "my way or highway" deal on the TEE. We do not need a TEE Center in Augusta, and I hope you will call your commissioner and tell him so.
This housing arrangement is a matter of private contract between Betty Beard and the tenants who are living in the house. If they are both voluntarily engaging in a mutually acceptable business arrangement, it is none of the government's business. Apparently, the tenants and Betty Beard have voluntarily and mutually reached an agreement whereby the tenants could live in the house virtually rent-free. It's a win-win situation for both of them. Betty Beard has a occupant for an otherwise empty property; the tenants don't have to live under a bridge. Get the government, and the political hacks and do-gooders who use situations like this for their own political purposes, out of these private contracts and let people make a life for themselves in their own way!
There are probably hundreds of properties in Augusta similar to the one which is being used to provide housing for these particular tenants. And there are probably hundreds, if not thousands, of people in the communities in Augusta who could make use of them. Get the government out of the housing and rental market - including eliminating property taxes! - and let landlords and tenants agree among themselves what are acceptable terms for creating voluntary and mutually agreed contracts. The problem of homelessness would disappear if tenants and landlords were free to engage in voluntary contract negotiations.
Beard should not get one dime of tax payer money to bring her properties up to code. The favorable treatment for politicians in Augusta/RC is what is wrong with it and Augusta/RC will never move forward until everything isn't a black/white/50-50 governing body. If the folks responsible for enforcing the law/rules/codes isn't doing his job, he/she should be fired. However, I agree with Beard that Augusta needs the TEE senter like another hole in the road.
Similar to the way in which "Jim Crow" laws in the South back in the day imposed government restrictions on the private property rights and the right to contract to the detriment of both African-Americans and white business and property owners, so do housing regulations - and property taxes - today impose restrictions on private property rights and the right to contract to the detriment of both poor people and property owners. If you are concerned about "homelessness" you would demand that government eliminate these restrictions immediately since for the most part, it is government interference - with its regulations and its property taxes - which causes homelessness.
Read between the lines. Think. This is not an expose'. This is a "Dear Betty" letter.
If you think RC and Georgia governments are bad, wait until the Feds start "dictating" what can and cannot be done. I am not quite a libertarian but I think the governments should "butt out" of most situations. Yes we need regulations but sensible ones or things would really be a mess, expecially in the cities.
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