[nagdu] Emotional Support Dog Article

Tue Apr 5 23:58:30 UTC 2011

Rebecca,

Thanks, but that was sort of my point about Oregon and the utter lack of
enforcement.  The people whose job it is to see that codes are observed and
laws obeyed don't do their jobs.   So you're on your own as a tenant or
buyer either way and just have to hope for the best.  Which isn't likely to
be what you're going to get because of the lack of enforcement of codes or
laws.  Trust me, I have tried, and I know people who have tried, and I know
some of the people who work for nonprofits trying to address the problem,
who agreed that everyone they know who has tried, including themselves and
their organizations, have achieved exactly the same results I have.

Spending many, many, many hours on the phone leaving messages until you
finally get a live human (it can take months) will only result in getting
more phone numbers to call in the hopes of getting a live human, which will
result in...  You can do this merry go round for months -- I mean, like, 6
months or so -- and will just find yourself on the same merry go round...
You can file reports over the phone, do forms and deliver them by hand, the
whole 9 yards...  When you get round to that agency or organization again,
you will discover that they have never heard of you before in their life!
Apparently, they teach special classes in losing paperwork to more than the
staff of the Oregon Commission for the Blind!  It is absolutely crazy.  And
universal; happens to anyone who thinks the system should work as it should
and that problems should be easy to resolve.  Not in Oregon, I tell you
what!

Thus, I get a really big happy even when I just have to read stuff from
other states about laws and codes being enforced and violators being
penalized.

I was talking to a fairly new Oregon resident just last week, who has been
learning what it's like around here...  As he put it, "it's the State of
Oregon against the people of Oregon."  That's very much it, with social
services, enforcement agencies, really weak protective laws to begin with, a
hopeless court system...  We will not talk about the schools, and Oregonians
seem to keep voting to make that worse, too.  

And now, of course, we have entire other states making the same bad voting
decisions according to the same flawed and destructive ideology --
deregulate it or strangle the enforcement agencies for funds -- so that any
number of us on this list may not get paid this month, since we're expected
to pay for the tax breaks for people making over a million bucks a year...
We haven't gotten a raise in 3 years now...  If you haven't taken a pay cut
yet, you almost certainly will within the next year or so.  We gotta cut
that deficit!

Sigh.  So Oregon following this philosophy has been leading the way on
bankrupt statehood, and things just keep getting worse, including homeless,
joblessness and crime...  So let's do it all over.

I'm glad things are still easy and work as they should where you are.  Let
us hope it stays that way!

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of PICKRELL, REBECCA M (TASC)
Sent: Tuesday, April 05, 2011 10:08 AM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Emotional Support Dog Article

Tami, 
If you're worried about stuff being up to code, I'd suggest you get hold of
the various service people who's job it is and have them take alook. 
My point is that you don't need to worry, finding the answers is easy to do.

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Tamara Smith-Kinney
Sent: Tuesday, April 05, 2011 12:21 PM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Emotional Support Dog Article

Hm...  For the purposes of the Fair Housing Act, which would apply in this
case, the landlord was out of bounds.  Emotional support animals *are*
covered under the FHA and often also under state housing laws.

So in my opinion, it is nice to finally see the law enforced, with penalties
attached to make other such intransigent property companies think again
before they decide to try their hand at lawbreaking.  Here in Oregon, even
our super weak land use and landlord/tenant laws are not enforced, and it's
a nightmare!  People have to put up with more crap just have a place to
live, and when it comes to living in a property that is maintained according
to code...  Well, you just have to trust in luck there.  Also, we have been
number 1 in homelessness for quite some time now, having given ourselves a
pretty good head start even before the housing crash.

So...  Having the laws that protect us and our guides as well as other
groups who use service dogs -- and, in housing, emotional support or comfort
animals -- enforced with real money penalties is a refreshing thing to me!
/grin/

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Aaron Cannon
Sent: Monday, April 04, 2011 8:32 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: [nagdu] Emotional Support Dog Article

My opinion:
This ruling certainly doesn't help our position.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2011/04/ruling_says_lan.html

Aaron

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