The Sublime, the Ridiculous, and the Slumlords

Thursday’s “Tilghman Times” ran an op-ed by two local slumlords that is one of the most amusing pieces that I have ever read. I just don’t believe that the authors meant it to be funny.

Local slumlords Stuart Leer and Robert Malone claim that they, and their buddies in the Slumlord Guild (SAPOA), are victims in the devastation plaguing the Camden Heights neighborhood of Salisbury. They claim that it is the Tilghman administration and grassroots groups that they label “very vocal anti-landlord groups” which are to blame.

Flip it around guys. It is YOU and the Tilghman administration that are to blame.

I want to start by stating that this is not a criticism of the “Tilghman Times”. I have no problem with the paper printing the piece. I just can’t believe that anyone can take it seriously.

Messrs. Leer and Malone start off with what seems like a sound argument. The Salisbury Historical Commission inflates the cost of owners keeping their property up. It makes sense to me and I certainly don’t have any evidence to refute their claim. Unfortunately, what starts off as a sound argument then takes a hard left into the bizarre.

The gentlemen claim that rather than going after the “few bad landlords” the city goes after all of them. Sorry guys. There is little to no evidence that the city goes after any slumlord.  The “Tilghman Times” recently ran an article that made it sound as if the city was going after slumlords who happen to be “widows and orphans” over landlord licensing fees, but other than that what has the city done?

The city makes no attempt to enforce zoning laws when slumlords are involved. The housing appeals board is composed of 40% slumlords and the chairman, Richard Insley, is reported to be the biggest slumlord in Salisbury. Slumlords are given ample time to appeal decisions when the city’s Department of Neighborhood Services actually does hold a slumlord liable and I am aware of few material appeals that are not found in the favor of the slumlord.

I suspect that this piece was done at the request of the Mayor herself, or one of her minions. Why? The city has just announced that they are shutting down two police substations - one in Camden Heights and the other in the Princeton homes neighborhood. The vast majority of dwellings in both of these neighborhoods are owned by slumlords. In the Camden Heights area I know of at least two homeowners who are fleeing the city thanks to the conditions they are forced to live under.

As these neighborhoods continue their downward spiral and residents complain, the Mayor and her allies in the press will simply state that “you can’t have it both ways”. The slumlords blame the Mayor and the residents of the neighborhoods blame her. I could write the article myself. The Mayor will be portrayed as a sympathetic character who is merely a victim of circumstance while attempting to save her city.  She must be doing something right if everyone is mad at her.

As to the assertion of the authors that it makes economic sense to keep their properties in good repair, this would make perfect sense except for two things:

• A great many, if not the vast majority of, slumlords are far more interested in cramming as many paying tenants as possible into a given building.

• If they were truly interested in preserving the stability of a neighborhood, and therefore the value of the properties, they wouldn’t oppose enforcement of the zoning regulations.  Instead, these “pillars of the community” want to turn properties which are zone for single families into de facto boarding houses.

What makes the assertions of these self-appointed spokesmen for the slumlord guild even more ridiculous is their seeming animus towards Mayor Tilghman.  If these folks actually believe what they have written, why are they so supportive of the Mayor and her lackeys?  Note that during the last council election various members of the slumlord guild illegally spent thousands, if not tens of thousands, of dollars in mailings and other support for the Mayor’s hand picked candidates.  This included the infamous letter to tenants that basically told them they would be thrown in the streets if Terry Cohen and Tim Spies were elected to the city council.

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