Page Four

SCARLET AND BLACK

Friday. December '0, I9"

 

First Des Moines Rent Strike
Successf I, Two Others Foilow

By HENRY WILHELM

This week the ilrst rent strike
lupported by the Des Moines
Project ended successiully when
Mrs. Darlene Baker’s landlord, the
Winick Realty Company, agreed to
let her use the rent money that
she refused to pay because of the
condition of her house residence on

needed repair, most of which \vere
stated violations of the Des Moines
housing code, and presented it to
Winick. Among her complaints
were: the root had been leaking
for several months Causing plaster
to drop off the bathroom ceiling
and walls which clogged up the
sink and bathtub drains, the bath-

needed re- W,

pairs at 1068
Eighth Street in
Des Moines. _

Billy King, who
is working as a
community or-
ganizer in Des
Moines with the
Eu 1) p o r t of a
group of inter-
ested students at
Grinnell, 5 a l d
that because of
the success of
this first strike,
two other houses
in the same area
have also re
fused to pay
their rent to
lh e i r landlord,
the Ryan Realty
Company, until
necessary
1- e p a i r s are
made.

Mrs. B a k e r,
who works at the
lunch counter at
t h e Greyhound
Bus Terminal in
Des Moines, said
that she had been thinking about
refusing to pay her rent for some
time, even beiorevBilly talked to
her about it. She said that she Come
plained to her landlord repeatedly
concerning the condition of her
house; however, they made only
promises that they would take care
or things “as soon as they could,"
but they never did anything At
the beginning of the rent strike,
Mrs. Baker listed the things that

$3 tn

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

meta ' 2%

THE TRAP on the kitchen sink in Mrs.
Tim's house has been leaking in several
months, causing the floor under it to rot
and awe way.

room light shorted out and had to
be removed because of the water
lrom the roof. the Water heater
leaked gas so seriously at times
that her eyes watered, there was
only one wall outlet in the living
room which resulted in a maze of
extension cords to lights and the
TV set, etc., there was almost no
heat in her son's bedroom (she said
that “water had frozen in there on
a cold day"), and there was a hole

5" .

BILLY KING and Cathy Cromielt look at an open aban-
doned well near Mrs. Msrﬁnez's house. She is worried that

one oi her children mighi tell
her landl'ord to cover it.

in and has repeatedly asked

 

in the kitchen ﬂoor that resulted
from water and termites and cre-
ated a draft because the crawl
space under the house was not ade-
quately bricked up.

The Des Moines Project, on be-
half or Mrs. Baker, ﬁled a com-
plaint with the Des Moines Health
Department requesting that they
send an inspector to her house.
The inspector came but did not
file any condemnation notices; i

stead he “went to talk to Winick.” '

Sherry Robinson, head of the En-
vironmental Health Division later
said that "we don’t want to get
caught between any landlord and a
tenant in any argument That is
not our job.”

As the rent grew more past due,
Winick contacted Billy King and
arranged a meeting with him. Mrs.
Baker, and Winick’s lawyer, The
meeting. which was attended by
several Grinnell students who
have been working on the Project.
\vas held at Mrs. Baker's house
and after Winick's lawyer. Mr,
Kramer, looked at things and
talked about the complaints, an
agreement was reached that he
would tell Winick that certain
things ought to be repaired.

Later Winick, who owns about
13% of the houses in the area, told
Billy that Mrs. Baker could use all
or the $5u that she withheld and
$25 oi next month’s rent on re-
pairs. Mrs. Baker later com-
mented that she “only did It be-
cause Sam (Winick) lied to me
when he said that he was going to
fix something.” She added, “1
work hard and my teet hurt every
day and 1 hate to pay someone
something that they didn’t earn.”

Mrs. Baker, who is separated
and lives With her teenage son,
said that she was prepared to move
elsewhere if evicted as Winick had
originally threatened to do if she
didn’t pay her rentr

Barbara Martinez, who lives
with her (our children at 1065 Sev-
enth Street, has iniormed the Ryan
Realty Company that she will with-
hold rent until they repair the
door latches, several clogged sink
drains and pipes that leak, and
cover or fill an open well located
near her house. She is afraid that
one of her children will fall in. She
said that a drunk did {all in one

 

AFTER REACHING AN AGREEMENT with her landlord,
Mrs. Baker talks in her home with Billy King and Grinnell
Itudents Dave Gibson and Jean Vandervoori.

night but wasn't hurt “because he
was drunk."

Mrs. Martinez, who receives Aid
to Dependent Children (ADC) also
received help tram the Project
when the Welfare Department
threatened to cancel her check be-
cause she was having male visitors
to her house.

Cathy Cromielt, a Grinnell stu-
dent, visited the Welfare Depart-
ment and found out that there
were no restrictions concerning
male visitors; however, She was

informed that “some social work-
ers do not like it." Billy King later
had a talk with a Department of-
ficial, Who pointed out that she
would like to see ADC mothers re-
marry, and the threat of cancella-
tion was dropped.

The other house on strike is the
residence of Leslie Mae Tims and
her husband at 1071 Seventh Street.
She has complained to the Ryan

RENT STRIKE—
(Continued on Page 8)

 

Take Time Out
From Those Exams

for CI iauni out 4th Avenue to

TOWN and COUNTRY

(Just east of St. Francis Hospital)
2020 4th Avenue

wheie you‘ll rind as exciting a selection of gift idear
from around the world that you'll find in one shop any-

where!

Note: Justin — earrings of wood for
pierced ears!
Now Open Every Night to 9:00

 

“RGTS OF RUCK”

ON FINALS

If you can't find anything to do next week we

will be happy to help with your Xmas shopping.

 

