The UNIT and the Great City

At his budget address last night, Mayor John Dickert expressed a goal of returning the City of Racine to its former greatness. It is a goal I heartily endorse. But can he do it?

Racine became great because there was a great deal of freedom here a hundred fifty years ago. And government was very small. A Mayor’s term, for instance, was only one year. And Mayors changed almost that often too.

Now government is very large and imposing. We can’t even hold a rummage sale when we want to. Just try to start a business in town. And people in government stay there way too long.

But what I am most concerned about is the violation of constitutional rights. You cannot have a great city while at the same time violating the rights of constituents. And we have an institution in City Hall that does just that. It is called the UNIT.

The UNIT issues fees which in reality are fines.

And in the assessment of these fines, the UNIT violates a citizen’s right to due process and there is no legitimate appeal.

In addition the fines are issued arbitrarily and capriciously. What they fine is not clearly defined by ordinance. When UNIT inspectors asked about this, their boss is reported to have told them, “Just look at it. If it looks OK, then forget it. Otherwise, write it up.”

If the inspector is having a good day, then it is OK. If he or she is having a bad day, then you get a fee. That is arbitrary and capricious.

When government violates the rights of its constituents, a wall of separation starts to build up a between the two of them. And then the government and its constituents become opponents in a game instead of team members working towards the same goal.

They start to live in two different worlds: the world of government, and the real world.

A while back I was talking to an alderman about this violation of constitutional rights. He did not like the idea of an appeal of UNIT citations. His statement was that when they get appealed to municipal court they just get dismissed!

Those in government understand his feeling. They want the money. Those of us in the private sector prefer our constitutional rights.

Recently the UNIT found a car parked on the lawn of a single family rental unit that we manage. Instead of fining the tenant, UNIT issued $125.00 in fees to the owner of the property, twice what the police department would have charged the owner of the automobile.

Those in government will rationalize that UNIT action. But most in the private sector find it appalling. Why not put responsibility where responsibility should be: fine the owner of the car.

At least there should have been a route of appeal for the owner of the property.

Like I say, government officials and their constituents live in two different worlds. And as these worlds grow further apart, those goals will become more difficult to achieve. Watch out when the T shirts appear saying don’t cooperate with the cops.

It’s an $84 million budget. The Aldermen can’t be that desperate for the $350,000 UNIT generates in the illegal manner I have described.

Unit can operate legally, just like it did before Gary Becker and Rick Heller devised the new system.

It must operate legally if we want to achieve the greatness for this city that we all desire.

(This is an edited version of my statments to the Common Council at its 10/20/09 meeting. You can see and hear them "in the body" on Car25.)