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Steve Myers
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City targets thieves, scrap yards to stem aluminum siding thefts
FLINT
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Sunday, April 02, 2006
By Robert Snell
rsnell@flintjournal.com • 810.766.6302
QUICK TAKE
How to stop thieves
Here are two suggestions Flint's East Side Business Association recently sent the city for thwarting aluminum siding thieves:
Have the city clerk issue permits for all siding removal, valid for three days, and restrict sale of siding to Flint salvage yards.
Require salvage yard owners to maintain a log of all purchases, obtain thumbprints of sellers, and collect permits and return them to the city clerk.
FLINT - The city has launched a crackdown on thieves who strip aluminum siding from homes and against the businesses that buy the metal.
More than 15 people - including two Tuesday - have been ticketed in recent weeks for violating Flint's ordinance governing scrap sales, and police conducted a sting at an unidentified scrap dealer near Western and Carpenter roads.
The crackdown comes a month after the East Side Business Association asked the city to enforce ordinances regulating sales of aluminum and copper, which are fetching premium prices and driving thieves to abandoned houses. The association's efforts were profiled in a Flint Journal article last month.
Residents, especially on the east side, are thrilled after seeing neighborhoods with abandoned houses picked nearly clean of aluminum siding and copper pipes - a blight afflicting communities from Washington to Georgia.
"I'm more concerned about that epidemic than I am the bird flu," said east side neighborhood activist Dale Scanlon. "I can see it. It deteriorates neighborhoods and looks like an epidemic."
Violators face up to 90 days in jail for the misdemeanor violation and a possible $500 fine - for now.
The police department and city attorney's office are talking about increasing the penalties, said Lt. T.P. Johnson.
"It won't be a slap on the wrist," he said. "Tougher jail time and ... the fines will be higher."
The crackdown and possible ordinance changes are a response to thefts growing in frequency as the metals hit near record high prices. A building boom in China is partly responsible for the increased interest.
City officials created an ordinance in 1988 that requires people to obtain a permit before removing siding and to show the permit before selling to scrap dealers.
Licensed dealers also must maintain records showing permit numbers and dates of purchase.
But residents say the rules aren't being followed.
"If they can stop salvage yards from taking the material and doing it the way they're supposed to do, with a permit, it would be problem solved," Scanlon said.
The arrests and possible ordinance changes please Don Lada, founder and chairman of the business association, which pushed for strict adherence to existing laws governing scrap sales.
"There has been progress," Lada said. "I just believe the system is working."
http://www.mlive.com/news/fljournal/index.ssf?/base/news-35/114397867471870.xml&coll=5 |
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Mon Apr 03, 2006 9:52 am |
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flintteach
F L I N T O I D
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What I don't understand is this. We have 4 newly built houses in our neighborhood and they have stood vacant for one reason or another for over a year. They aren't minus siding, shingles, fixtures or the like. Why is that? They only thing missing is landscaping.
With all the other "crimes" unsolved or on-going in the city of Flint. Why waste precious manpower and money on crackheads, theives, and the like who sell a grocery cart full of aluminum? I think it should be the landlords responibility to maintain and patrol their properties. |
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Just a Jarhead.. OOORAH ! I dig country music.. I love this country and her flag ! But my family comes first ! |
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Mon Apr 03, 2006 2:31 pm |
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Ted Jankowski
F L I N T O I D
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Hey teach,
If you put a for sale sign on a house on the east side. It only takes a week for it to begin to be stripped. It is a crime and needs to be focused on.
So what then? Should we focus more on higher priority things they’ve been enforcing like, driving around Flint taking down "Garage Sale signs" and handing out tickets to those people? I know, instead of going after the thieves. Just ticket the scrap yards. That will actually make money for the city. These are the idiotic things that Flint police have to do that are more important than fighting crime. Getting the siding stolen off your house while your vacationing in Florida, is a crime. It should be investigated and prosecuted. Especially, when the citizens and the LANDLORDS are not allowed to protect their own property. A landlord will go to jail quicker in Flint for fighting off siding thieves than the thief will. It's not as time consuming and difficult as the Police dept makes it out to be. Will all the video tape, and Eye witnesses.
I know I was always thrilled when I came back to my house after working in Indy for three months only to find that My house was broken into and Police wouldn’t even take fingerprints off the window that were imbedded into the paint from where they broke the window free from where I latched it with two 6 inch long screws. They eventually got a jack and pried it open. Then when I found some of my stuff in the neighbors yard that spring and the police again refused to do anything about it.. I conveyed my displeasure with my neighbors to them directly. They moved within three weeks. I cannot say what it was I expressed. But it did the trick! I decided from then on. Pitbull protection for my house when I’m not home. The worst part is. Police will show up within 10 minutes if a crack head felon calls because the dogs bark at them or will not let them check out the house so they can break into it later. Think I’m wrong? I’ve got it documented.
You've obviously not been to my website. www.cityofflint.net |
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Mon Apr 03, 2006 9:45 pm |
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rapunzel
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STEVE>>>> I would have though as a landlord you would have been saying OOORAH! instead of WOO Hoo?
The property value of the neighborhood should be a concern?
RAP |
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Mon Apr 03, 2006 11:42 pm |
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Steve Myers
Site Admin
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I am happy!! Woo Hoo!! Homer Simpson !
Iam not much of a landlord, I have not made a dime!!
I have had 5 tenants and 3 still owe over 2000.oo in back rent and damages.
Currently my apartments are vacant and I plan to keep them that way!! Dam east-side scumbags..
Sorry got off topic!
Last edited by Steve Myers on Tue Apr 04, 2006 12:02 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Tue Apr 04, 2006 12:05 am |
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Ted Jankowski
F L I N T O I D
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| Actually your still "On topic" |
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Tue Apr 04, 2006 6:51 am |
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flintteach
F L I N T O I D
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| OOHRAH is reserved for JARHEADS ! Sorry Steve, you mentioned you were in the Army ! |
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Just a Jarhead.. OOORAH ! I dig country music.. I love this country and her flag ! But my family comes first ! |
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Tue Apr 04, 2006 8:21 am |
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Steve Myers
Site Admin
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| We say HOOAH!! In the Army! |
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Tue Apr 04, 2006 12:04 pm |
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flintteach
F L I N T O I D
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| I'm sorry, LOL |
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Just a Jarhead.. OOORAH ! I dig country music.. I love this country and her flag ! But my family comes first ! |
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Tue Apr 04, 2006 3:56 pm |
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cornholio
F L I N T O I D
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| Why couldn't the city issue permits for scrap collection? That way, it wouldn't be the scrap yards' problem to regulate. It would be the responsibility of the person hauling the scrap in for sale to have a permit specifically for the items he's selling. It would cut down on the theft if only legitimate people were collecting the scrap, and it would potentially make a boatload of money for the city. Guys picking up junk cars would still do it, even if they had to get a $5 or $10 permit. Homeowners would still be able to dispose of their own crap and keep their property tidy. The city would make money. Crackheads aren't likely to go get a scrap permit before stripping the siding of your house. |
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'cause cornholio said so! |
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Sat May 13, 2006 4:26 pm |
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Ted Jankowski
F L I N T O I D
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| Actually, that is a pretty good idea. It could be either a permit or have a business license. One or the other. But, it still doesn't really attack the main problem. Thieves steal the siding and the police have tons of evidence, video, license information, pictures of the thieves. And still cannot catch them. |
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Sat May 13, 2006 7:29 pm |
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cornholio
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True, but why would you, as a thief, steal something you could neither sell nor use? If you came to me trying to fence your stolen siding (since, sans permit, you can't take it to the scrap yard yourself), I would say no way, because it would be my permit and my heinie twisting in the wind for scrapping it.
Sure, there would still be some illegal trade, because after all, people are people and money is money. Crackheads, though, won't be willing to expend those extra brain cells, and they'll move along to some hopefully less unsightly form of crime. |
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'cause cornholio said so! |
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Sun May 14, 2006 5:25 am |
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Guest
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| Yo, I hope you didn't pay for those rolls ! |
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Sun May 14, 2006 7:39 am |
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cornholio
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They're
rows
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Way to be culturally diverse. |
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'cause cornholio said so! |
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Sun May 14, 2006 8:25 am |
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| Rolls? I was talking about something else, LOL ! |
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Sun May 14, 2006 9:36 am |
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