menopausebarbees
... the tales of two sisters

Dana lives in Seattle, and Tracie lives in Germany. We are businesswomen, writers and humorists. We write about life, dating, and today's modern women.

The Eviction That Couldn’t Wait for the Law… Exposing Bad Actors

Last week, we honored posts with the 25th anniversary of our father, Gerald Frank’s passing. I would be remiss not to address the current climate of housing and the eviction moratorium.

As I have repeatedly blogged, with this Pandemic we MUST have compassion and support each other in need. Our family has assisted with waiving and reducing rents and working out rent payments as well as helping navigate work opportunities for those in need.

However, the BAD Actors, who are taking advantage of the laws refusing to pay and destroy property and endanger the lives of their neighbors must be exposed and held accountable. BAD Actors are now defined as occupants who are capable, yet unwilling to pay. They are taking advantage of the moratorium, living for free, often endangering their community and often times destroying the owner’s assets.

Take a moment and check out this King 5 report

Seattle landlord says more tenants than ever are skipping rent | king5.com

Watching this episode reminded me of one Sunday morning, I awoke to the front page Seattle Times news article with my father, Gerald Frank hurling a deadbeat resident’s items outside. The headline read, The Eviction that Couldn’t Wait for the Law.

A known drug dealer was residing in one of our multi-family properties. Residents were exposed to illicit traffic, drug paraphernalia, and late night disturbances by addicts screaming in the courtyard looking for their fix. Daddy, fed up with the system of going to court to no relief and having to produce an order to show cause for a rightful eviction finally took the law into his own hands. This was finally after one of the resident’s children was shot at. The resident ignored my father’s repeated request to cease his activity and to vacate. The surrounding families, many who were on low income did not have the means to relocate and literally lived in fear daily. So, Daddy, at the risk of his own safety and of being arrested, called the Seattle Times and recorded him personally evicting the trouble making resident.

He became a vigilante that day. A vigilante is defined as “a member of a self appointed group of citizens who undertake the law enforcement in their community without legal authority, typically because the legal authorities are thought to be inadequate.”

What would Daddy do?

He would definitely expose the injustice.

Right now, we housing providers are facing the utmost of injustice. What other industry requires you to provide a depreciating asset, make maintenance repairs, pay all your bills, (mortgage, taxes, insurance, and repairs) and not get compensated?

Thank you King 5 for exposing the viewpoint of us housing providers as well.