In the 15 months that Adam and I have lived in our new house in the heart of historic downtown New Albany, we have been attempting to work with the neighborhood association and other concerned citizens of New Albany to encourage and motivate the government to enforce policys and ordinances that will curb the garbage and neglect of the housing. Especially rental property.
This has been met with jeers by others in the city that we are "out to get the poor" and we are selfish. Make no mistake this has nothing to do with your income level or your social status. It's about personal responsibility. In this day and age where people are so afraid of stepping on someone else's toes or hurting someones feelings, often times it leaves us spinning our wheels never really able to stand up and say what needs to be said. I have stated in city council meetings several times that, like it or not, I represent the future of New Albany. My income, my work, my ideas, my family will all leave if these challenges are not acknowledged (at least) by the administration. I mean really, what's keeping us here? (our neighbors and thats about it right now)
Over the summer we had two newschannels come and do stories on the dumping problem that's going on (and has been going on) by slumlords and their slumtennants. Because some of us decided to stand up and fight for a clean safe and respectable neighborhood, we were told by people "downtown" that we were an embarassment to the city.
We are often told that the correct people (building commiss, councilpersons, and other city officials) don't know about these problems. As you look at these pictures below, I ask you, how can you miss this?
Please don't misunderstand and think that we are only getting together and complaining. We have had several city forums for people and invited city officials to come together for a meeting of the minds and come up with solutions. The attendance by city officials has been apalling to say the least. Private citizens have even come together and done research on how other cities handle the challenges that we face, yet every time we are told that we don't have enough money, or we just can't do it.
Again, I ask, how long do you expect us to live among this?
