BlueGrassRoots Ben Carter

Kentucky's courts have prepared forms for landlords to help them prosecute evictions efficiently. They call landlords and their attorneys when they don't show up to court. Yet, when the Kentucky Equal Justice Center and other organizations ask for the Courts to provide necessary, important information to Kentuckians facing eviction, the Courts—top to bottom—say they can't because they have to be "impartial."


I just totally reject that.


Links:



Update on our federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Jefferson District Court's eviction processes (contains links to briefing filed to date)
KEJC's letter to the Kentucky Supreme Court and Administrative Office of the Courts begging them to provide more information to people facing eviction
AOC's Response saying they couldn't provide any additional info because that would be "impartial"
Shinkle v. Turner: Kentucky Supreme Court case recognizing that the laws governing evictions in Kentucky are “at least a hundred years old and arguably [are] now ill-suited to the reality of modem landlord-tenant relations” and that these laws are "difficult to apply in the modem court system." Shinkle v. Turner, 496 S.W.3d 418, 420 (Ky. 2016).

KEJC has been using Community.Lawyer to build legal apps during this pandemic. One of them, HomerenterDeclaration.org, has been used by more than 10,000 people to protect themselves from eviction during this pandemic.


Check out the case study at Community.Lawyer..


Here's the app.
Links:
HomerenterDeclaration.org from KyEqualJustice — Landing page for the HomerenterDeclaration.org app. You can duplicate the app here. Community.lawyer: Build apps to power your law practiceScaling Legal Aid Through Technology | Commumity.lawyer — Full case study from Community.Lawyer. Community.lawyer (@LawyerCommunity) / Twitter𝙱𝚎𝚗 𝙲𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚎𝚛 🏡 (@notbencarter) / TwitterKentucky Equal Justice Center (@KYEqualJustice) / TwitterCDC Declaration Form in Languages Other Than EnglishHOME | KEJC

Thanks to LEO Weekly for publishing this essay. Please check out the links in the show notes! Especially: please help us spread the word about HomerenterDeclaration.org. People can't get the eviction protections if they don't know they need to take action.
Links:
COVID-19 evictions: Healthy at home for some... - LEO Weekly — This essay originally appeared in LEO Weekly on October 7, 2020. CDC Eviction Declaration | KyEqualJustice — KEJC's app, HomerenterDeclaration.org, allows renters to review, sign, and send the CDC's Declaration to their landlords in just a few minutes. Anyone in America can use it from a computer or smartphone: no printer required. Eviction Filings by Big Landlords Surged After Trump Issued Ban - Bloomberg — Landlords trying to rush evictions through before people learn about the CDC's eviction protections. GitHub - alsnhll/COVID19EvictionSimulations: Simulates the impact of evictions on the spread of SARS-CoV-2 — GitHub repository of the UPenn researchers' study of the connection between eviction and the spread of SARS-CoV-2. Linked within is the Affidavit a researcher filed in support of Philadelphia's eviction moratorium based on this research. Just Print the Money. Americans need it. Donald Trump and… | by Ben Carter | Medium — The essay Ben wrote in late April about the need for more and more generous COVID-19 relief. As of October 13, still no further relief from Congress. BlueGrassRoots Episode 3: Just Print the Money: America Needs It. Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell Have It. — This is Ben reading his essay, "Just Print the Money." Post-It Pad Order App (CDC Declaration) | KyEqualJustice — You can download or order Post-It pads to do door-to-door outreach to people who rent their homes to encourage them to get the eviction protections available under the CDC's Order by using HomerenterDeclaration.org.

The audio version of an essay I published on April 23 about our public health and economic crises.
Links:
Just Print the Money - Ben Carter - Medium — Americans need it. Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell have it.

Links:
My Fake Law School Commencement Address — BlueGrassRoots — I am here to tell you that you’re more than a mercenary, that choosing sides because of your values, because it’s “who you are” is okay. It’s more than okay. It’s a sign of being human.

Hi. I'm Ben. I used to do some podcasts. Now I have one again.


I'm not quite sure why I have a podcast again, but that's not stopping me from being pretty excited about it.
Links:
Odeo - Wikipedia — Odeo was a directory and search destination website for RSS-syndicated audio and video.WRFL // Home — Where Ben did his first podcast. 5by5 | Back to Work — A good podcast by my podcast friends, Merlin Mann and Dan Benjamin. 5by5 | Road Work — Dan Benjamin and John Roderick talk. Roderick on the Line — Of all the great shows, probably the greatest. Merlin Mann talks with John Roderick. Go ahead, start at Episode 1. Ira Glass on Storytelling — This is Ira Glass talking about "taste" and how your own good taste can actually be a barrier to making stuff if you let it. (I try to remember to watch this video once every six months or so.) Ben Carter 🏡 (@notbencarter) on Twitter — This is where to find me these days. Twitter. Let me know if you have any good ideas for topics or questions you want me to try to answer.