The goal I had when I brought this forward is to make sure that these properties are maintained at a high level. I have always expressed that I want to be able to drive down the street and not be able to tell the difference between owner occupied, rental or vacant properties. In recent years we have seen a loss not a gain in propertiy values, I ask you why is that?
I recently was asked by someone what is driving me and I told them this story. When I was growing up I had a youth pastor that came to the area from Indiana, he chose to move to Raytown. Many years later I asked him why he chose Raytown to set his roots, the answer I got is what is pushing me. This gentleman told me that he narrowed it down to Raytown and Lees Summit, he said that he picked Raytown because they had better property value.
I am not trying to say that rental is what caused this decline in value, I am saying that it is a piece of the pie. I owe it the the people of Raytown who have chosen this city over other cities, people who have made an investment in Raytown, people who have chosen to make this their home.
The statistics I shown you are three years old, how many rental properties are there since then. If you are interest in this topic I invite you to come out and express to the board you opinion. If you do not come out and speak that night during public comments the board will never know. I can tell you this there will be people there that are interested in their rental property, they will drive to Raytown that night to express their opinion and the they will go home to the town they chose to live in.
We all need to come together to make this community a stronger place. I hope to see you at City Hall on Tuesday, September 21st at seven o’clock.
Alderman Joe Creamer