Your Opinion: When did ‘renters’ become negative word?

Michael H. Brownstein

Jefferson City

Dear Editor:

In a recent editorial, the News Tribune stated that the area of Case and Union and parts of Jackson is an area of renters and for that reason it is probably OK to tear it down to expand the high school. I feel differently. Since when did renters become a negative word?

This is not the first time I heard this. A city official stopped me in the street to tell me the renters in that area were going to be leaving soon. The area is not needed, he said. We do not have to rehab it. You know, renters live there. And then another city official said pretty much the same thing and another and another.

I’m sorry, is it because it is a poor area in town? Is it because poor whites and poor people of color live there together and thrive as friends and neighbors even though they are not all that prosperous? When did renter change its meaning to unsavory people we do not want in our town?