Guest post and photos by the Hawthorne Hawkman
This blog has reported on issues with Mahmood Khan in the past, and recent emails have been circulating about 2222 4th St N coming up at a hearing at the city tomorrow. First things first, if anyone has comments they would like submitted, send them to jskrenes@hawthorneneighborhoodcouncil.org. If public comments are being accepted, I will bring them forth and have them on record.
Now, about that house. One resident said that they had been in the property recently, and the layout was very odd...
The living room and kitchen are on the first floor, and the bedrooms and more living room space is upstairs. According to this resident, however, the crazy part is what you have to do to get from one floor to the next. You have to go out the back door--that's OUTSIDE, mind you--and then back in another door. Can you imagine what it would be like in the wintertime to get your kids dressed for bed?
ADDENDUM: Subsequent information proved this belief by residents to be apparently false, click here.
I went around the property and looked inside as best I could, and this person's story appears to be true. I couldn't see another staircase visible from any of the first floor windows. Of course, Mr. Khan will have a chance to tell folks at the city if this is true or not at the upcoming hearing.
And just a few houses away, Khan owns another gem at 2135 4th St N:
On top of just plain exuding slumminess, I found this to be rather interesting:
Because when you go around back, what do you see?
Yes, I called it in to 311.
In the comment threads of a previous post, someone came forward and tried to defend Mahmood Khan. I publicly stated that I would take Mr. Khan up on that offer to tour the properties he has that are supposedly "nice." I am rescinding that offer. Mr. Khan, you have two houses in a very close area in my neighborhood that are in a state of disrepair that my residents find unacceptable. I believe that if I do my own examination of your properties throughout north Minneapolis, I will find many in similar conditions. I will also state that the truth in sale of housing report for 2135 4th St N has a required completion date of November 5, 2008, and compliance has not yet been recorded.
So if you want this blog to say that you're a good landlord who's just misunderstood, then comply fully with the TISH reports for EVERY SINGLE property you own in Minneapolis. In ninety days; you've had plenty of time by now. Then we'll talk.
I should also point out that this would be a whole lot easier for neighbors to keep track of if we could research properties with owner names as a search criteria.
I went around the property and looked inside as best I could, and this person's story appears to be true. I couldn't see another staircase visible from any of the first floor windows. Of course, Mr. Khan will have a chance to tell folks at the city if this is true or not at the upcoming hearing.
And just a few houses away, Khan owns another gem at 2135 4th St N:
On top of just plain exuding slumminess, I found this to be rather interesting:
Because when you go around back, what do you see?
Yes, I called it in to 311.
In the comment threads of a previous post, someone came forward and tried to defend Mahmood Khan. I publicly stated that I would take Mr. Khan up on that offer to tour the properties he has that are supposedly "nice." I am rescinding that offer. Mr. Khan, you have two houses in a very close area in my neighborhood that are in a state of disrepair that my residents find unacceptable. I believe that if I do my own examination of your properties throughout north Minneapolis, I will find many in similar conditions. I will also state that the truth in sale of housing report for 2135 4th St N has a required completion date of November 5, 2008, and compliance has not yet been recorded.
So if you want this blog to say that you're a good landlord who's just misunderstood, then comply fully with the TISH reports for EVERY SINGLE property you own in Minneapolis. In ninety days; you've had plenty of time by now. Then we'll talk.
I should also point out that this would be a whole lot easier for neighbors to keep track of if we could research properties with owner names as a search criteria.
3 comments:
2135 4th clearly shows something I've been meaning to ask you to address for a long time.
Note the tiny windows in the front - both downstairs and upstairs. These were once porches which have now been converted to bedrooms. Mr. Khan didn't do this, since I knew the previous owner, but in any case this type of conversion always makes properties more desirable to rental property owners: More bedrooms = more $ in rent and in particular more $ in rent from Section 8. It looks like sh%$ in my opinion, but that's how a lot of rental property owners think around here. Screw the aesthetics and concentrate on the potential income.
If you want a real laugh here is the original rehab plan.
http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/council/2009-meetings/20090109/Docs/2222-4th-St-N-RCA.pdf
I will bet that Mr. Kahn didn't spend $125,000 on that dump. I love the pretty landscaping he had proposed.
What did he do? Buy some cheap shrub, plant it in the middle of the yard and not water it all summer. I am sure it will be dead next spring.
Yup, we are working against ourselves.
Perhaps if the city wasn't so willing to pay the rents for dumps like this with subsidized public funds, renters would be more discriminating about what they where willing to shell out for a "home".
It is obvious that the profit potential for these rentals has clearly driven someone to ravage what was probably a very attractive single family home that contributed to the community.
Why can't our elected officials see what is happening and change the incentives that cause this?
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