Monday, September 20, 2010

"Racine housing program creating lead hazard, city employee says; Stimulus project may violate lead-safe practices"

Seems that a city expert on lead abatement discovered that Mayor Dickert's "Neighborhood Stabilization Program" is violating state standards for lead removal. When he pointed it out, he was told to shut up. When he persisted, he was suspended without pay, and expects to be fired. Two police officers then stopped by his home just before midnight, delivering a letter that prohibits him from entering stabilization properties and other city-owned areas.

Read about it at the RacinePost: http://news.racinepost.com/2010/09/racine-housing-program-creating-lead.html

15 comments:

OrbsCorbs said...

If the Journal Times runs this story tomorrow, they will cite "an online source."

Beejay said...

You give 'em hell, Orbs...this has been going on for so long...when we owned property in Racine, we were cited for a lousey jigsaw puzzle piece outside of a dumpster. We finished that rehab and never did another...here, these guys are poisoning the neighborhood with lead and nothing gets done....

We had to have tests done on our woodwork, etc. we used special vacs, we washed walls with Cascade (automatic dishwashing detergent)...we went the extra mile and now this...don't even get me going....grrrrrr.

Thanks for a job well done!

SER said...

IMPEACH MAYOR DICKERT
IMPEACH MAYOR DICKERT
IMPEACH MAYOR DICKERT
IMPEACH MAYOR DICKERT
IMPEACH MAYOR DICKERT

SUE HIM FOR IMPERSONATING A HUMAN BEING

What a fricken (I'm being nice) knob!

OrbsCorbs said...

The obvious out here will be that it's the contractors' fault, but the handling of Mr. Bielefeldt, the housing technician, is a big blunder. Why not just say, "Oh, really? Thank you for notifying us," and then get on the contractors' asses?

Unless, the contractors never were "lead-safe"?
I don't know.

Beejay said...

I thought they had to be certified in lead abatement to work on buildings with lead? Am I wrong?

RWWackoStu said...

Nero fiddles while Rome burns...Racine version.

Abdication of citizen safety if a breach of office and public trust, in my opinion.

OrbsCorbs said...

O'Connell said the contractors were "lead-safe." I'm not exactly sure what that means. I would assume that means they are certified to remove lead.

Again, so why not just shift the blame to the contractors? There's been talk that the contractors are friends/cronies/contributors of lying John, that they're not local, and that illegal aliens are involved in the work. It could be that Dickert doesn't want anyone snooping around any part of this program. We don't know at this point. And without the Racine Post, would we ever?

Lol at my comment about the Journal Times running this story. Sometimes I forget and think of them as a real newspaper instead of lying John's publicists.

Beejay said...

Not local would make my blood boil...why not try and keep the money in the county? Oh good grief.

racineuncovered said...

Orbs, I posted the Racine post link in the open forums asking what's going on at city hall in the Journal Times, my entire comment was removed, even though you can see someone responding to it.. Talk about a bunch of political chit!

kkdither said...

Sounds like not much has changed over there. Selective journalism. If it doesn't support their opinion or cause, people just don't need to hear about it....

OrbsCorbs said...

The JTI formed in response to that kind of BS at the Journal Times. They deleted a lot of my stuff. I bet I'm the most banned member there.

It's disturbing to think that "our" "hometown" paper is in bed with the mayor. Mark Lewis comes here from Hawaii, decides he knows more than the 80,000 who live here, and becomes a mouthpiece for Dickert. It's like a dirty little film noir feature. Instead of reporting the news, they actually repress it.

Remember growing up in school and learning about dictatorships and totalitarian regimes where they censor people and they cannot speak? And then we learned about the great freedoms of America, including the "freedom" of the press. And then the reality of Racine sets in. Such incredibly petty shit from those who supposedly "lead" the community. That's why I call them swine. They are traitors to their offices and to the people who elected them. And that includes the appointed oinkers, too.

OrbsCorbs said...

Really, using the cops to make a midnight visit to deliver a threatening letter is out of a late 40's B movie. Outright Gestapo tactics - the secret police.

Why are our police used to do this? Why is it allowed? Who is in charge? Can O'Connell call up the cops and say,"Send a couple of the boys over here, I have an errand for them"?

OrbsCorbs said...

Oh, and kk, you recently wished for a city scandal to stir things up. You lucky girl, you.

OrbsCorbs said...

My parents fled a regime where the police would come knocking on the doors of innocent people in the middle of the night. That's why I was born in America.

OK, I'll shut up now.

SER said...

A few years back I was overseas on a business trip. While on the plant floor I call the president of the United States a fuck’in asshole!

Some of those people over there freaked out and told me I cannot talk like that about the president; I just started laugh’in about it. They told me if you talk like that about politicians over there you could end up in jail and fined!

Maybe the people who work for the JT were trained over there!