Better To Curb Quick-Fix Remedy

Eviction actions are traumatic for both fed-up landlords and ousted tenants, but private spats shouldn’t spill into the rest of the neighborhood.

Such disputes do become public concerns when the owners of vacated dwellings dump abandoned personal belongings at the curb, creating an eyesore and perhaps a public health hazard.

Someone has to clean up the mess, and if the dislocated tenants won’t, the city has to haul it off as solid waste, billing the property owner.

In north Spokane, some residents don’t like the idea that the post-eviction clutter can sit around for up to 10 days before it’s removed. They are pressuring the city to act sooner - within 24 hours, to be specific.

The citizens’ concern is understandable but the remedy they urge, while expedient, is not the best one on the table. The city itself is pushing a more attractive alternative, one which recognizes that the basic problem is in state law, not city code enforcement policies. By statute, a landlord left with a rental unit full of belongings can either work out a storage arrangement with the ex-tenant or move them to the nearest public property - usually, the parking strip in front.

City officials want the Legislature to take away the second option. So long as lawmakers deal fairly with dislocated tenants and make realistic allowance for their circumstances, the city’s proposal is reasonable. Public space shouldn’t be trashed over a landlord-tenant squabble. And the city’s code enforcement crews - already overburdened with thousands of complaints ranging from adult book stores to rusting auto hulks - shouldn’t have to referee.

Those problems would not be resolved by the approach being advanced by the code enforcement subcommittee of the Community Assembly, a body of representatives from the city’s neighborhoods. They want the city to give evicted tenants only 24 hours, rather than 10 days, to collect their belongings before they are discarded.

That method has two shortcomings: It doesn’t prevent a mountain of items from being placed on public property, if only for one day, and it may well expose the city to the expense of litigation brought by disgruntled tenants.

The legislative process will take more time than merely amending city policy but the extra time poses no significant risk. Only once this year has the city faced one of these situations that wasn’t handled immediately. Interestingly, that lone case prompted a letter from an attorney who accused the city of wrongful action.

A legislative correction would keep the city out of litigation’s crosshairs and place responsibility for a resolution where it belongs, with the private parties involved.