Rantz: Let’s not turn junk cars into a social justice cause

There are few benefits to living next to a house with a broken down jalopy on the front lawn. You know, the one with no wheels, propped up on slabs of asphalt, the front bumper somehow missing and the car seats are gone.

That’s why lawmakers in Burien are considering an ordinance that would give the city the right to go onto private property and remove the broken down cars. There are currently about 14 open cases and the city estimates enforcement would cost about $25,000 a year.

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However, Burien City Council member Lauren Berkowitz opposes the ordinance, saying it does not address the root of the problem and is an attack on the poor.

KIRO Radio’s Jason Rantz feels the criticism is a bit over the top, saying everybody has seen egregious examples of these jalopies, and that the problem isn’t just that they are ugly but also potential safety concerns.

“Let’s be honest, it can sort of be scary,” he said. “It indicates that you might be living in a neighborhood that is not the most safe. Whether or not that is a reality doesn’t matter, because that’s the perception, and perception is incredibly important when we’re talking about our own safety in our own neighborhoods.”

Critics say some people don’t have the money to get their car running when it breaks down, but Rantz believes there’s a clear difference between cars like that and ones that have no shot at ever being repaired.

“This is the equivalent of when you have that couch at the corner that the fraternity dropped off because it’s covered in the most disgusting of bodily fluids imaginable and it’s got all these bugs in it,” he said. “You’re never going to recuperate that couch.”

Berkowitz told Rantz that she’s also concerned about specifics from this ordinance, that it won’t be applied evenly to all citizens.

“I’m not convinced that this is a serious problem that the city should be addressing,” she said.

Rantz says there needs to be a way for people to be concerned about both the people who are struggling in a neighborhood while also being concerned about the neighborhood as a whole.

“I kind of get annoyed when we try to turn absolutely everything into a social justice cause,” he said. “Can we just stop that for a moment and understand that you can still be in favor of helping the poor and impoverished residents and still want to get rid of these cars?”