The Cowboys of Lorain- ( Building standards) Part One

Being the expat I am, I bring with me some terminology sometimes lost to my US readers and “community” . For more years than I care to remember I have “bitched” about the quality and lack of care given to the “rehabs” by the mega landlords who

“run their BUSINESSES of rental” in this community . Look on any of the streets in this old neighborhood the examples are there - there are those rehab to minimum standards- all that is “legally required of them”…. more on that later.

THE COWBOYS

Before it had any special application to America, cowboy was used in England with the obvious meaning: “a boy who took care of cows.” Or he could have been a man, for boy implied not only youth and boyish attitudes but also low status.
SOURCE

Although the descriptive but uncomplimentary word cowboy was already around, Americans did invent two new meanings for it. The first, now forgotten meaning came during the American Revolution. It was the revolutionary patriots' term for pro-British raiders who operated in the boundary between American and British forces in Westchester County, New York. They harassed and plundered the rural districts; a later writer said;they went around in the bushes armed with guns and tinkling a cow-bell so as to beguile the patriots into the brush hunting for cows.

after the Civil War, when for two decades thousands of cowboys drove millions of longhorn cattle from Texas to the new transcontinental railroads in Kansas and Colorado. The English speakers who first settled the Southwest had learned the skills of controlling cattle from Spanish-speaking vaqueros, a name translated crudely as buckaroos.

SOURCE

But those who hired the minimum-wage, equal-opportunity horsemen for the big cattle drives of 1866-86 simply called them cowboys, a term attested as early as 1849, and that was the name that stuck. And though they were poorly paid and worked under the harshest conditions, or perhaps just because of those circumstances, the cowboy became the most enduring legend of the American West. Building on this legend, cowboy today still is used to mean someone who is reckless, impulsive, and dangerous

http://www.answers.com/topic/cowboy#ixzz2IY0AKBh3

In Britain “cowboy” is a slang term for
An unscrupulous, incompetent, or reckless person in business, esp. an unqualified one. We have a lot of fly by night “so-called ” unlicensed contractors whose work is in the best scenario lacking in quality and in the worst case down right dangerous.

The cowboy builders , contractors and they can be a problem in my “old country”

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2139559/Cowboy-builder-nailed-TV-sting-370-000-rip-jailed.html

Avoiding cowboy builders
http://www.ratedpeople.com/m/advice/trade-insight/building/cowboy-builders.html

but surely here in Lorain the “cowboy ” has to TO ANSWER TO LAW AND ORDER- THE BIG GUNS SO TO SPEAK

About Building Department – Lorain Ohio

Functions

The Department was established tos administer and enforce the provisions of the Lorain Building, Housing and Zoning Codes plus the National Electric Code and State Building, Plumbing and Elevator Codes.
The Department’s two primary functions:
•Plan Examination and
•Code Enforcement

The Department registers building contractors, issues permits, maintains records, inspects all new construction and major rehabilitations engages in systematic code enforcement programs for existing properties and provides nuisance abatement to properties and buildings in disrepair.

Mission Statement

To contribute to Lorain’s urban renaissance by preserving and strengthening neighborhoods through ambitious code enforcement.

Code Services

To inspect structures for the purpose of enforcing the City of Lorain’s building, housing and zoning codes and to Ohio’s Building Codes, maintain uniform standards and requirements of residential, commercial and individual buildings.

Future Plans
•Foster higher levels of expertise in the building inspection department by encouraging education and growth among existing staff.
•Develop Housing Division to spearhead property maintenance and zoning issues.
•A Revenue Development to insure all funds currently allowed by legislation are collected for the common good and stability of the city.
•Re-establish City of Lorain Board of Building Commission to further reinforce standard for quality in residences, buildings, and structures throughout the City of Lorain.

THE QUESTION ? ARE THE INSPECTORS THE ONES HANDCUFFED?????? TO BE CONTINUED…….