Milwaukee is one of the nation’s last big cities with a residency rule, but Republicans in control of state government appear poised to change that. Gov. Scott Walker’s budget would free Milwaukee teachers of residency, and a GOP-backed bill would let Milwaukee police and firefighters live anywhere in the five-county area...I guess you learn something new every day.
All Milwaukee city employees are currently required to live within the city limits, a rule that has been in place since 1930, according to the mayor's office. Chicago, another holdout for residency, apparently will stick with it based on comments by incoming Mayor Rahm Emanuel...
St. Louis dropped its requirement in 2005 and 36 percent of those eligible to live elsewhere have so far chosen that route...
Philadelphia, for example, requires five years on the force before officers can live outside the city; St. Louis makes it seven.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
You Must Live Here
I admit, it never occurred to me some teachers might have residency restrictions, "work here, live here" rules. I've never experienced or even heard of such a thing, but apparently they exist in this country:
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3 comments:
Yep. Cops and firefighters and the like MUST live in Kansas City to keep their jobs. Soooo, they live in the teeny part of Kansas City that is in our (and other) suburban school districts. Nice, huh? The joke is no houses will burn down in Subdivision Y. And it's likely true. :)
Back in the early 90s in New Orleans the City Council, in a payback to the police union which had openly endorsed term limits passed a residency requirement on police, fire, etc. Now here is the funny thing…they made it retroactive. If you didn’t more into the city you could not be promoted and some on the council wanted to make it a termination offense to live in the suburbs.
So we had 50 cops living in a single house…or at least that is where their mail went to. And a lot of police with enough time said “screw you, I got my house and life in the suburbs, I’ll take my pension and run…” To the sheriff's office in the suburbs. So all the money in training, experience in operations, contacts with other agencies etc went with him. And the sheriff’s offices in the outlying parishes loved it.
As usual, the city shot itself in the foot.
Houston has from time to time floated the idea of a residency to be shot down. The city council doesn’t want to go against the police/fire unions on something like this. Bigger issues to handle (i.e. budget).
If Dallas passed such a rule, most of the cops and firefighters would send their kids to private schools. Schools and crime are two of the biggest factors that impact decisions on where to live. Nobody wants to live where their family will not be safe and I can't imagine that any police officer would want their family targeted by gangs or criminals. The one Dallas cop I knows lives in a suburb, has unlisted numbers and has gone after those groups that try to publish his private information. There's a reason for that.
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