Open Letter To Dekalb City Officials In regards to the recent housing ordinance, some arguments have been made

concerning the constitutional and legal rights of rental property owners and their tenants. The conversation usually starts with an accusation of violating the right of due process or some other legal right, and ends with the response the ordinance doesn't violate any legal rights. In most cases no further evidence is given to refute the argument, and no in-depth conversation between the two parties occurs to resolve the issue. Let us look past the verbal reassurances of city officials and others to the actual ordinance as proposed to draw our conclusions on legal rights. Here is a link to the ordinance from the November 26, 2012 agenda. http://cityofdekalb.com/CityCouncil/Agendas/2012%20Agendas/112612.pdf After the document opens, find the search box in the top portion of your screen. Enter the term probable cause in the search box, and you will see the following section under Disorderly Rental Premises. An Order authorizing the inspection of all portions of the Rental Premises, including but not limited to the exterior, interior, interior common areas, and individual dwelling units. The City shall not be required to demonstrate individual probable cause for such inspections, but such inspections shall be ordered on a Rental Premises-wide basis. In lieu of requiring interior inspections generally on a regular basis, the City is, at this time, limiting interior inspections to premises subject to a declaration of being a Disorderly Rental Premises. Anyone familiar with the United States Constitution will see the clear and indisputable violation of the fourth amendment. All the city would like to require of itself before unlimited inspections is a declaration of being a Disorderly Rental Premises, with no evidence of probable cause. Here is the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. You might also try a search for search warrant to confirm the fourth amendment violation. (There is currently no reference in the ordinance to the issue of search warrants.)

Next up, enter the term proof of violation in the search box, and you will see the following under the section Rental Agreements. A single violation of any of the provisions hereof shall be deemed a serious violation and material noncompliance with the lease. Unless otherwise provided by law, proof of violation shall not require criminal conviction, but shall be by a preponderance of the evidence." So after the city has declared the property to be a Disorderly Rental Premises, with no probable cause required, they would like to only ponder the evidence before declaring a proof of violation. The vast majority of potential violations the city would like to regulate fall under the category of victimless crimes, of which no injury to a victim or their property has occurred. In Chapter 52 codified you will find a laundry list of such violations - abusive language, loafing on streets, loitering, obscenity, indecent or lewd writing, curfew, fireworks, and tobacco use/consumption/possession by minors. Furthermore, the city would like to expand their dragnet by including potential violations by guests of the Tenant, without even bothering to define the word guest. In other words, the term guest is all inclusive and would apply to anyone who has ever visited the premises. Do we really want city council members judging legal and constitutional matters, or allow them to vote through such matters in a democratic setting? Now you can see why city management has clamored for the registration of landlords as opposed to funding the inspections through the general fund. The city would appear to care less about treating landlords and owner-occupied property owners equally, and the funds generated from this program would simply be icing on the cake. What they really want is for everyone to sign on the dotted line and waive their constitutional and legal rights during the registration(contractual) process. If the city is allowed to proceed with the ordinance they will have free reign to fee, fine, tax, paperwork, and harass these people into the ground without any meaningful recourse. The city manager of Dekalb, Mark Biernacki, has repeatedly and systematically promoted these regulations and must be immediately removed from office. Any city council member that does not retract their vote and call for an investigation into this must also be removed from office. I have already spoken about the vote-rigging evidence and will delay an in-depth analysis of this aspect until further evidence is presented. The citizens of this community, in particular the residents of Dave Baker's ward who lacked any representation during the vote process, deserve an explanation of what has occurred as well as remedy to the voting process to prevent these type of corrupt practices from

happening in the future. Hopefully this article will clear up any lingering fantasies one might have about the constitutionality or legality of the housing ordinance.