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| Is The Genesee County Land Bank Flint's Worst Slum Lord? |
| Yes, they have bitten off more than they can chew |
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17% |
[ 6 ] |
| No, they are just trying to take over all the property in Flint. |
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26% |
[ 9 ] |
| RECALL DAN KILDEE - Lets Clean Flint Up. |
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55% |
[ 19 ] |
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| Total Votes : 34 |
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| Author
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Dave Starr
F L I N T O I D
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| The main priority for any politician is to get elected. Everything else is secondary. |
_________________
I used to care, but I take a pill for that now.
Pushing buttons sure can be fun.
When a lion wants to go somewhere, he doesn’t worry about how many hyenas are in the way.
Paddle faster, I hear banjos. |
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Mon Jul 21, 2008 10:24 am |
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Ted Jankowski
F L I N T O I D
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Wow, so few voices of reason.
Turning it over to HUD. Ok where are they going to get the money to mow the lawns?
People! The problem is is growing explendentially. Flint and Genesee county is just not rich enough to handle the decline!
The City has been developed to house well over 225,000 people. We are currently hovering around 100,000. exact numbers are are to get since people are leaving the area so fast.
There is just so much money to go around. Who do you think is paying for all this? Our tax dollars! THink of it like this. If you were paying someone to mow your lawn. as it stands now. you would have to be taxed extra to pay someone else to mow someone elses lawn in the city! Do you really want your taxes going up that much?
They only have so much money to do what they are doing. They have demolished more houses in the last four years than any other period in Flnit history. (well except maybe when they put in 475).
But, the bottom line is. How much are you willing to pay for? I guess many of you would be happier if Dan ran the Landbank the way THE DON runs the city. Just keep spending money he doesn't have so it can be paid for with penalities and interest down the road. He is working within what his budget allows for. What a NOVEL idea! The money he gets in grants for the Durant have to go to the Durant! Why do so many people attack those with integrity and defend those with none. I guess he could pull a DON and start paying for things out of other funds. Like paying the economic delveopment director out of the untilities budget, or his personal non police officer out of the police budget, or maybe even pay the water department director out of the water department. Oops, what poisition is that?
Many of you seem to forget. The city turned these falling down, abandoned houses over to the Land bank. While I'm not saying it is a perfect system. It does work. Slow at times. But, with the limited money and resources the land bank has. They are actually moving at lighting speed for the results they are getting. Some of you seem to think we can accomplish twice as much with half the money. Granted government has a tendency to waste. I don't see out of control waste when ti comes to attempting to keep up with the mega move outs and abandoned houses. Flint's houses are being abandoned so fast I don't know if anyone could keep up with it. |
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Mon Jul 21, 2008 10:49 am |
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Gumby
F L I N T O I D
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Excellent post Ted. I couldn't have said it better myself. its not like the properties the Land Bank is getting are immaculate. They are taking over properties that have not been maintained for years, give em a break. The Land Bank has been considered a success from everthing that I have heard and many other communities are using it a a model for their areas.
See Ted I am not oppoesed to agreeing with you.  |
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Mon Jul 21, 2008 11:00 am |
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Adam Ford
F L I N T O I D
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quote:
Ted Jankowski schreef:
The City has been developed to house well over 225,000 people. We are currently hovering around 100,000. exact numbers are are to get since people are leaving the area so fast.
There is just so much money to go around. Who do you think is paying for all this? Our tax dollars! THink of it like this. If you were paying someone to mow your lawn. as it stands now. you would have to be taxed extra to pay someone else to mow someone elses lawn in the city! Do you really want your taxes going up that much?
They only have so much money to do what they are doing. They have demolished more houses in the last four years than any other period in Flnit history. (well except maybe when they put in 475).
But, the bottom line is. How much are you willing to pay for? I guess many of you would be happier if Dan ran the Landbank the way THE DON runs the city. Just keep spending money he doesn't have so it can be paid for with penalities and interest down the road. He is working within what his budget allows for. What a NOVEL idea! The money he gets in grants for the Durant have to go to the Durant! Why do so many people attack those with integrity and defend those with none. I guess he could pull a DON and start paying for things out of other funds. Like paying the economic delveopment director out of the untilities budget, or his personal non police officer out of the police budget, or maybe even pay the water department director out of the water department. Oops, what poisition is that?
Many of you seem to forget. The city turned these falling down, abandoned houses over to the Land bank. While I'm not saying it is a perfect system. It does work. Slow at times. But, with the limited money and resources the land bank has. They are actually moving at lighting speed for the results they are getting. Some of you seem to think we can accomplish twice as much with half the money. Granted government has a tendency to waste. I don't see out of control waste when ti comes to attempting to keep up with the mega move outs and abandoned houses. Flint's houses are being abandoned so fast I don't know if anyone could keep up with it.
Ted the baby boom is over. I don't think we can realisticly house 225,000 people any more. I would peg us at 110,000 as a reasonable population.
Have you been to the Land Banks beautiful building downtown? That wasn't paid for from tax dollars it came from the profits from seized houses!
You're right. It costs a lot of money to do the Durant and downtown projects so to hell with the East Side and North end. They are doing a good job of demolishing houses. They should be fixing up houses in the North End and East Side instead of plundering them.
I'm willing to pay for zero but I would be willing to take over every property Land Bank owns for $1 and then I'd resell them/fix them up/rent them out (if it was legal) and they would be back on the tax rolls. |
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Mon Jul 21, 2008 11:08 am |
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LakeWoman50
F L I N T O I D
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| My problem is that they aren't practicing what they are preaching. My moms house is terrible because of the property the land bank owns. |
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Mon Jul 21, 2008 11:30 am |
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Dave Starr
F L I N T O I D
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quote:
Adam Ford schreef:
Ted the baby boom is over. I don't think we can realisticly house 225,000 people any more. I would peg us at 110,000 as a reasonable population.
Have you been to the Land Banks beautiful building downtown? That wasn't paid for from tax dollars it came from the profits from seized houses!
You're right. It costs a lot of money to do the Durant and downtown projects so to hell with the East Side and North end. They are doing a good job of demolishing houses. They should be fixing up houses in the North End and East Side instead of plundering them.
I'm willing to pay for zero but I would be willing to take over every property Land Bank owns for $1 and then I'd resell them/fix them up/rent them out (if it was legal) and they would be back on the tax rolls.
Look at the land bank's web site. There's an ad for apartments in "Land Bank Center". How will the profit from rents be used?
I've talked to a couple people that tried to buy land bank owned properties. They said there we so many obstacles thrown up that they felt the land bank didn't want to sell properties in some areas. Are they planning on waiting until an entire area is devastated, then enter into a sweetheart deal with a developer to build new housing?
If abandoned houses owned by the land bank become havens for rats, should the land bank be held responsible for the health hazard? If they own an unsecured house that becomes a drug house, should it be seized as a public nuisance? If someone is raped or murdered in an unsecured house, should the land bank be held civilly or criminally responsible? |
_________________
I used to care, but I take a pill for that now.
Pushing buttons sure can be fun.
When a lion wants to go somewhere, he doesn’t worry about how many hyenas are in the way.
Paddle faster, I hear banjos. |
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Mon Jul 21, 2008 11:31 am |
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LakeWoman50
F L I N T O I D
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Ted you say the city turned this houses over? After calling the land bank today I was informed 99% of all properties own are taken from non payment of taxes. I asked the woman if they could board up and keep up the house, she told me they are over whelmed and don't have the money nor man power. She said I should do it.
quote:
Ted Jankowski schreef:
Wow, so few voices of reason.
Turning it over to HUD. Ok where are they going to get the money to mow the lawns?
People! The problem is is growing explendentially. Flint and Genesee county is just not rich enough to handle the decline!
The City has been developed to house well over 225,000 people. We are currently hovering around 100,000. exact numbers are are to get since people are leaving the area so fast.
There is just so much money to go around. Who do you think is paying for all this? Our tax dollars! THink of it like this. If you were paying someone to mow your lawn. as it stands now. you would have to be taxed extra to pay someone else to mow someone elses lawn in the city! Do you really want your taxes going up that much?
They only have so much money to do what they are doing. They have demolished more houses in the last four years than any other period in Flnit history. (well except maybe when they put in 475).
But, the bottom line is. How much are you willing to pay for? I guess many of you would be happier if Dan ran the Landbank the way THE DON runs the city. Just keep spending money he doesn't have so it can be paid for with penalities and interest down the road. He is working within what his budget allows for. What a NOVEL idea! The money he gets in grants for the Durant have to go to the Durant! Why do so many people attack those with integrity and defend those with none. I guess he could pull a DON and start paying for things out of other funds. Like paying the economic delveopment director out of the untilities budget, or his personal non police officer out of the police budget, or maybe even pay the water department director out of the water department. Oops, what poisition is that?
Many of you seem to forget. The city turned these falling down, abandoned houses over to the Land bank. While I'm not saying it is a perfect system. It does work. Slow at times. But, with the limited money and resources the land bank has. They are actually moving at lighting speed for the results they are getting. Some of you seem to think we can accomplish twice as much with half the money. Granted government has a tendency to waste. I don't see out of control waste when ti comes to attempting to keep up with the mega move outs and abandoned houses. Flint's houses are being abandoned so fast I don't know if anyone could keep up with it.
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Mon Jul 21, 2008 11:32 am |
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Dave Starr
F L I N T O I D
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quote:
LakeWoman50 schreef:
Ted you say the city turned this houses over? After calling the land bank today I was informed 99% of all properties own are taken from non payment of taxes. I asked the woman if they could board up and keep up the house, she told me they are over whelmed and don't have the money nor man power. She said I should do it.
That's their standard answer: do it yourself.
I wonder if anyone's considered a civil suit against the land bank for causing property values to decrease due to their neglect of properties that they own. |
_________________
I used to care, but I take a pill for that now.
Pushing buttons sure can be fun.
When a lion wants to go somewhere, he doesn’t worry about how many hyenas are in the way.
Paddle faster, I hear banjos. |
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Mon Jul 21, 2008 12:14 pm |
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Ryan Eashoo
F L I N T O I D
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The Land Bank is doing a ton of great things, however they lack in the maintence department.
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_________________
Flint Michigan Resident, Tax Payer, Flint Nutt - Local REALTOR - Activist. www.FlintTown.com |
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Mon Jul 21, 2008 12:38 pm |
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Adam Ford
F L I N T O I D
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quote:
Dave Starr schreef:
I've talked to a couple people that tried to buy land bank owned properties. They said there we so many obstacles thrown up that they felt the land bank didn't want to sell properties in some areas. Are they planning on waiting until an entire area is devastated, then enter into a sweetheart deal with a developer to build new housing?
I was going to buy a house from the land bank but quickly gave up on that idea when I realized what a pain in the ass it was. I remember they only show properties on certain days and certain times. You had to fill out forms to be able to apply to buy the property. You had to go down to their office or call them to try and figure out what you could try and buy the property for and I think their website was misleading/missing pictures. That was a few years ago but I doubt it has been improved. Looking back I would have felt bad if I had bought a property from them because I'd feel bad helping to steal someone's house so Dan Kildee's organization could make a profit and look good. |
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Mon Jul 21, 2008 1:08 pm |
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Adam Ford
F L I N T O I D
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quote:
Ryan Eashoo schreef:
The Land Bank is doing a ton of great things, however they lack in the maintence department.
Do they even have a maintance department? I think they also lack in the sales department. Why can't they just hire a contractor like they do with everything else? Perhaps they could bring in some more out of town contractors and employees since they can't find any locals to hire. |
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Mon Jul 21, 2008 1:12 pm |
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Demeralda
F L I N T O I D
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I wonder if Ted could sound any more condescending?
Please don't treat "us all" as if we share a brain. I assure you we're all fully formed individuals.
And as long as you're going to talk down to us, e.g. "People!", you should also know that "expledentially" is not a word. I'm guessing you mean "exponentially".
Dude, this is SO not a way to win votes... |
_________________
I'm no model lady. A model's just an imitation of the real thing. - Mae West |
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Mon Jul 21, 2008 1:46 pm |
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Dave Starr
F L I N T O I D
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FROM TED
Many of you seem to forget. The city turned these falling down, abandoned houses over to the Land bank. While I'm not saying it is a perfect system. It does work. Slow at times. But, with the limited money and resources the land bank has. They are actually moving at lighting speed for the results they are getting.
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Limited money?
Durant Hotel, Berridge Hotel, Land Bank Center, 400K to rehab 4 houses near carriage town & hope they can sell them at a profit.
In the neighborhoods, board it & mow it yourself.
A land bank rep told me they're working on the houses they got in 04 now. Maybe they shouldn't have accepted all those houses if they knew they didn't have the funds to at least board them up & keep them mowed. |
_________________
I used to care, but I take a pill for that now.
Pushing buttons sure can be fun.
When a lion wants to go somewhere, he doesn’t worry about how many hyenas are in the way.
Paddle faster, I hear banjos. |
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Mon Jul 21, 2008 2:54 pm |
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Mellow D
F L I N T O I D
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Over on the East Side, Clifford Sterling is the biggest slumlord. He bought up over 80 houses between Davison Rd and Richfield, Lewis and Dort Hwy. IMO, he is largely responsible for turning that small area into a total slum. He bought more houses than he can care for and turned the entire neighborhood into pure rentals.
Once the Land Bank was formed, they were able to take the foreclosed houses before Clifford could get to them. And thank goodness. The houses remained empty for a while, but there are now families living in several of them. And these are families who could not have afforded to own a home without the Land Bank's programs. One lady bought a house and the four adjacent lots, privacy-fenced it all in, and now has a huge yard with pool, volleyball net, garden, all on the East Side. She's the first person in her extended family to have ever been a home owner.
It gives me hope that now young families have more opportunity to own homes in our community than old Clifford does. Seems like that is working in my benefit.
They are eager to sell the houses, too, as long as it is to a homeowner who plans to reside in the house and not turn around and rent them out. They accept all kinds of bubblegum and scotch taped mortgage packages when they find people who would like to live in these empty buildings, and collaborate with other agencies to help these new homeowners get things like roofs, paint, and siding. They also have a foreclosure prevention program so that these (and other) folks don't get booted from their homes in the county.
I have also participated in their Clean and Green Program, through which neighborhood clubs clean and plant gardens in empty lots. Far smarter to engage the community than for Dan to run around doing it himself. Since our neighbors got out and cleaned, we've kept it up, since we spent all that time getting it the way we wanted it. I made a few new friends out of my neighbors that week, but I like this program especially well since it takes a problem (the county tax money isn't enough to clean up all of Flint's abandoned properties, as you say) and turns it into a neighborhood "community building" exercise.
And those are just the examples that I have been involved in.
I've also been looking to buy a house in Flint through the Land Bank. I've since learned that the Land Bank renovates between 25 and 50 houses a year. Usually on the north end, but sometimes on the east and south sides as well.
The Land Bank has gone after grants and brought in millions to Flint to do things like the Stockton House, Former Berridge Hotel, Former Classic Painting Systems, the Stone Street Development, and now the Durant to name a few. That is more economic development in four short years than I have seen the Genesee Regional Chamber do, or even the Mott Foundation do, in the 27 years I have lived here.
Sounds like one busy man with an extremely successful model of urban renewal, IMO.
Are the Land Bank and Dan perfect? No. Few things are.
Would they work with you to make a problem in your neigborhood better if you were as motivated to improve things as you are to complain? You bet'cha. That's how I got involved.
Last edited by Mellow D on Mon Jul 21, 2008 3:12 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Mon Jul 21, 2008 2:58 pm |
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Josh Freeman
F L I N T O I D
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Not trying to defend the Land Banks lack of mowing.... but have you ever seen a map of the number of houses that they get through foreclosure each year? It's mindboggling.... I'm not sure how any governmental agency can keep up with that. Not sure what the alternative is. We certainly do not want to go back to the old way of handling them..
The houses in Carriage Town are actually being paid for through CDBG or HOME dollars from the City of Flint. Flint NIPP is doing that project using houses that were owned by the Land Bank (someone correct me if I am wrong on this). |
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Mon Jul 21, 2008 2:59 pm |
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