Homeowners, not rental speculators, need protection

Reading the attorney's presentation of his case in the pages of the Atlanticville, it would seem that there couldn't possibly be another side to the one CO per year issue.

But rest assured there is. The rental speculators, found a lucrative cash cow in college rentals and these are not without victims.

The college students have managed to amass a staggering number of arrests and summonses for their disruptive and often illegal behavior. The quiet enjoyment of property is gone and with it the neighborhoods.

So who shoulders the costs? The existing homeowners who have seen a decrease in the ability to sell. Families no longer buy in these areas, only more rental opportunists.

The taxpayers who foot the bill for the increased demands on the burdened police departments and for the increased need for code enforcement pay as well.

There are plenty of losers, and a one CO per year ordinance is the very least that can be done. The attorney spoke of 30 years of precedents, maybe they need revisiting, just as the Supreme Court of the United States revisited Brown v. Board of Education.

Although I don't agree with that particular reversal, a change in course is justified. It is time that some small measure of protection was offered to the true homeowners and not the rental house owners.

One thing is for certain, the issue will not be decided in the press but at some level in a court of law. Hopefully the judge or judges will do the right thing to protect the people.

Sydney Lekach

Oakhurst