Sounds like a police state

  I just read the "Informational Bulletin" printed by the city of Waukegan about the Inspection Program. This program has recently been implemented to inspect, yearly, all 12,000 rented homes for any kind of code or safety violation.

  In the Informational Bulletin it states: "A tenant has the right to refuse to allow his unit to be inspected."

  If you read the rest of the Informational Bulletin you will be told that if you exercise your "right to refuse" the city will obtain an administrative search warrant and be back at your door with the police to show you that you do not have the right to refuse. To further convince you, just in case you want to stand up for your rights anyway and still refuse, the search warrant will have your landlord's name on it as well. Sounds like we have no rights at all. Sounds like a police state to me.

  The city recently had a meeting with religious leaders in our community. What are these esteemed people supposed to do? Soothe our fears about having our constitutional Fourth Amendment rights violated? Convince us that this is for our own good?

  The inspections were suspended temporarily in January and we were told that the ordinance was going back to committee to be rewritten. March 1 (after the primary elections) they started inspecting again. No changes had been made. Now we understand they have been suspended again until after April 1. Will there be any changes made before it is reinstated again? Has it even gone back to committee?

  My thinking as a United States citizen who happens to live in Waukegan, is that any way the ordinance is written that involves the city government forcing its way into my home is unacceptable. If they want to inspect on a complaint basis, great. A complaint about a specific violation may be cause for investigation. But to arbitrarily inspect everyone as if we don't have enough common sense to complain to our landlord if something need repair or to complain to the city if our landlord won't fix a life safety issue is insulting and condescending. Ordinances are already in place in this city to handle that type of complaint.

Linda Esposito, Waukegan

Published in the News Sun, March 28, 2003