OPINION —
The city of Auburn started in December 2021, issuing citations to property owners who operated a short term rental(STR) on their private property that was located in zones arbitrarily excluded by city council’s passage of ordinance 3288 in March 2021. Yet in May of 2022, the city deviated their citation protocol and issued a citation to a Louisiana family who was visiting Auburn, instead of issuing it to the property owner. Can you imagine the surprise and distain this out-of-state visitor now has for the City of Auburn? But why was the property owner not cited? According to requested documents provided to me by the City of Auburn in conjunction with public records, the house is listed as belonging to a person known/believed to be Mayor Ander’s campaign manager. I presented my question to the Mayor at the June 21 council meeting asking, “Why was there a deviation in the citation process?”
“Why was the property owner not cited?”
“Is there a two-tier justice system in the City of Auburn?”
I got NO answer. I didn’t even get a “I’ll get back to you on that”. It seems like a perfectly reasonable question to ask a Mayor running for re-election. So maybe I will just ask my fellow citizens in Auburn. “Is there a two tier justice system in Auburn?”
Susan Bolt
Auburn, Alabama
