Our View: Council looks toward alleviating eyesores
Kudos to Alliance City Council for taking common-sense, proactive steps toward eliminating eyesores.
Council approved changes in the city’s property maintenance code recently, prohibiting the use of indoor furniture outside and regulating the placement of outside storage facilities.
Sofas, loveseats and couches are sometimes seen on front porches and even in yards throughout the city, creating both an aesthetically unpleasing look and a health hazard. Such furniture, dilapidated and sopping wet from the elements, does nothing to entice homeowners to the area. Plus, it attracts rodents and smells terrible.
Council also prohibited storage units in front lawns, mandating that they should not be seen from street or sidewalks. Residents also are not allowed to live in boat trailers, campers or other such vehicles on private property, nor can they use these items for storage.
Phillip Mastroianni, councilman-at-large and chair of the Planning, Zoning and Housing Committee, was quoted in a Review story as saying the goal is not “to nitpick every single item,” but rather “to try and clean up these properties that are excessively breaking the rules.”
That’s a fine line to walk, especially with some residents who may see the new regulations as a green light to report every supposed infraction by their neighbors and demand instant resolution. It’s also problematic for residents cited for violations which they themselves may not deem as excessive.
Fair enforcement will be key to alleviating misunderstandings on both sides of the equation — for those who file a complaint and those who receive a citation.
Still, the new regulations are a place to begin, a necessary firming of previous regulations that didn’t go far enough to create a more presentable look to the city.
Don't hold third-graders back because of test
Holding students back who cannot pass the statewide Ohio reading test in the third grade was a laudable attempt to address educational inequities, but it must ultimately be dubbed a failure.
A recent Review story noted a bill by two lawmakers, state Rep. Gayle Manning, R-North Ridgeville, and Rep. Phil Robinson, D-Solon, to end the so-called Third Grade Reading Guarantee, citing a large body of data that indicates retention doesn’t work.
One of the biggest reasons is the colloquial term used for retention, one likely familiar to many readers: flunking. Students who are held back, even for the best of educational reasons, are at much higher risk of not graduating, often because of the social stigma that comes from “flunking.” Such students are also more likely to come from impoverished backgrounds.
The Third Grade Reading Guarantee became an unfunded mandate for many districts that were already struggling with finances. Wealthier districts, where more students didn’t begin their education already lacking in pre-literacy skills, weren’t as impacted by the mandate.
A better answer is to allow students who score poorly on the test to move up with the rest of their peers, providing extra support and interventions in the fourth grade and beyond. This erases the stigma while still providing help. The state must also help to fund this extra support so that districts don’t have to do it alone.
Make no mistake, reading is an essential skill, and its lack can lead to a lifetime of inequities and challenges. Ohio’s students must be able to read proficiently.
The bill by Manning and Robinson isn’t a sign that Ohio is going soft on education. Rather, it is an indicator that the state is willing to correct course when a well-intentioned plan leads to a cascade of unintended consequences.
This article originally appeared on The Alliance Review: Our View: Alliance Council looks toward alleviating eyesores
