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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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Ted Jankowski
F L I N T O I D
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Demeralda: Not condesending. Just wake up and get real! OUR PLIGHT is worse than we seem to be able to grasp. I would guess it's even worse than i believe it is. There is only so much any organization can do. So at what point do you believe that we can afford to cover all the costs of the land bank? If your going to complain how about a solution.
Adam, your missing the point. There is not enough money to cover our losses! If Flint was growing. We wouldn't have so many homes vacant. They would be getting filled and wouldn't require the maintenance that is needed.
quote:
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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.
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You are correct! Homes in Flint are emptying faster than anyone can track them. Every week I find more and mroe houses in my neighborhood that are being boarded up. Every week.
Dave Starr: 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.
So the land bank casued these houses to empty and not be maintianed? It's their fault GM left and our politicans have run this city into the ground?
Adam 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.
Actually we probably still can. However, I would bet money it's closer to 100,000 than it is to 110,000
Adam: 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! Actually Adam, It is being accomplished with grant dollars from Ford and many other funding sources. There isn't anywhere close to having
any profit to pay out over 10 million for the Durant project.
The idea is to use money it makes to go back into the program. ONLY FLINT IS NOT GROWING. There is no one to rent these apartments, and buy these houses at a profit.
Adam: 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
Fixing them up for whom? Who is going to buy or rent them? We don't have an influx of people running over each other to get into .flint housing.
Adam; 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.
OK adamn, how is that different from what they are doing. Your willing, to do this all by yourself? I'll give Dan a call and tell him your willing! I'm sure he'll be thrilled to hear that. your willing to over all the BIG money they are making and make the system work perfectly! |
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Mon Jul 21, 2008 3:15 pm |
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Adam Ford
F L I N T O I D
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I agree Flint and perhaps even all of our plights may be worse than any of us realize. If it makes you feel better the Land Bank's poor "leadership" could very well be better than FLint's incompetent leadership. It would probably take a dream team Flint administration and a dream team council to give us a chance but then there is reality.
I think if the land bank would have at least fought to hold their ground in the neighborhoods instead of going "all in" on downtown we would be in decent shape rigt now. I agree downtown is important but realisticaly how many people can live in the loft apartments?
The land bank screwed up by putting all their money into downtown and running their own real estate department.
We only have around 50,000 housing units. We could try and get welfare mothers to each have 10 kids and live with them but realisticly there are a lot of people that like living by themselves or only with one or two other people. When our population was booming we were in a baby boom and we didn't have a lot of our housing stock torn down.
I heard the downtown lofts are all rented out. I also heard some people are just renting them for the tax breaks and not really living there.
I tried to buy a house from the landbank. I'd still consider it if it wasn't such a pain and now we have a rental ordinance.
I'm saying I could do better than Kildee. Tell him to close shop and give me all the properties. If I fail he can have it back.
Unless things have changed there appears to me to be some fundamental flaws with the landbank system. I think the land bank system should be put out of their "misery" of owning too many properties. |
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Mon Jul 21, 2008 3:39 pm |
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Ted Jankowski
F L I N T O I D
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| NOt participating in the Poll because the correct answer isn't even listed! |
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Mon Jul 21, 2008 3:48 pm |
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Ted Jankowski
F L I N T O I D
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I had two of those polling places call me during the last Mayorial election. They asked completely scewed questions with equally as sqewed answers. Many I just refused to answer. It sucks when people ask questions about a topic that really doesn't contian the real problem or the correct solution. Thus this poll question is completely biased.
Is The Genesee County Land Bank Flint's Worst Slum Lord?
First off the Question assumes that the Land Bank is renting broken down property and not taking care of it.
The first answer is closest to the the right one. However, they didn't bite off anything. What it started out to be and what it has become was not envisioned. They offered to take it on. THen the snow ball hit. Someone rolled it from the top of a mountian and it turned into an avalanche! They are working with what they have doing the best they can. It wasn't envisioned to take over all these properties and never thought of that people would be moving out of Flint in Droves.
As far as Mr. Kildee is concerned. He is the only one I've talked in government that has a clue what it is going to take to bring Flint into the 21st Century! The only local policitian I've seen yet that really deserves people to actually look up to. And not just because he is taller than me.
Wait a second. Watch my show then come back and talk to me.
http://www.tedjankowski.com/The_Ted_Jankowski_show/show_3_2008.htm
It was a pretty good interview. I wish I would have put some of the stuff we talked about off camera on there also. First off he actually has a vision. 2nd he has a direction. Willing to modify it as it becomes neccessary. 3rd he actually understands where Flint needs to go. And is actually doing something to push Flint that direction. And flint people are fighting it kicking and screaming all the way! [/code] |
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Mon Jul 21, 2008 6:22 pm |
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Dave Starr
F L I N T O I D
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quote:
Ted Jankowski schreef:
First off he actually has a vision. 2nd he has a direction. Willing to modify it as it becomes neccessary. 3rd he actually understands where Flint needs to go. And is actually doing something to push Flint that direction. And flint people are fighting it kicking and screaming all the way!
Maybe he should convey that vision to those that work for him. They come to the Tuesday ministation meetings and act like they think the people in the neighborhoods are a bunch of dummies who should be happy to maintain the land bank's properties for them. One lady - sorry, didn't get her name - actually got angry that we would dare to question anything the land bank did. |
_________________
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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Tue Jul 22, 2008 7:54 am |
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Ted Jankowski
F L I N T O I D
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| Dave, I can see that. Sometimes people forget who they are serving. maybe someone should remind them. But, I also understand how someone asks a question can have a lot to do with what answer they get. I wasn't there. |
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Tue Jul 22, 2008 8:18 am |
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LakeWoman50
F L I N T O I D
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| Ted did bring up a good point, maybe they aren't slum lords, but they sure are not being responsible with their properties. They are neglecting them and causing havoc on the neighborhoods they are in. Not to mention adversely effect the neighbors that they surround. |
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Tue Jul 22, 2008 8:32 am |
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LakeWoman50
F L I N T O I D
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Slumlord
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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A slumlord (also spelled slum lord) is a derogatory term for landlords, generally absentee landlords, who attempt to maximize profit by minimizing spending on property maintenance, often in deteriorating neighborhoods. They may need to charge lower than market rent to tenants. Severe housing shortages allow slumlords to charge higher rents.
The phrase slumlord first appeared in 1953, though the term slum landlord dates to 1893.[1]
Traditionally, real estate is seen as a long term investment to most buyers. Especially in the developed world, most landlords will properly maintain their properties even when doing so proves costly in the short term, in order to attract higher rents and more desirable tenants in the long run. A well-maintained property is worth more to potential buyers.
In contrast, slumlords do very little maintenance on their property (ordinarily, just enough to meet minimum local requirements for habitability), and in turn offer low rent rates to lure tenants who will not (or cannot) pay high rent (and/or who might not pass background checks should these be required to live in the higher rent areas). Slumlords of this kind typically prosecute many evictions.
It is not uncommon for slumlords to buy property with little or no down payment, and also to receive rent in cash to avoid disclosing it for tax purposes, providing lucrative short term income. (Thus, slumlords would normally not participate in government-subsidized programs such as Section 8, due to the requirements to report income and keep properties well-maintained.) A slumlord may also hope that his property will eventually be purchased by government for more than it is worth as a part of urban renewal, or by investors as the neighborhood becomes gentrified.
Some slumlords are more interested in profit acquired through property flipping, a form of speculation, rather than rental income. Slumlords with this "business model" may not maintain their properties at all or pay municipal property taxes and fines they tend to accrue in great quantities. Knowing it will take years for a municipality to condemn and seize or possibly raze a property, the slumlord may count on selling it before this happens. Such slumlords may not even keep up with their mortgage payments if they become equity-rich but cash-poor or if they feel they can sell the property before it goes into foreclosure and is taken by their lender, typically a 6-8 month process at the quickest.
Many people have a negative opinion of slumlords, blaming them for declining property values and whole neighborhoods of shanty buildings. They say slumlords leech away the wealth of the poor with little regard to future generations or the local people. In effect, they work in the opposite direction of gentrification, where landlords try to make appealing improvements to property in order to attract more affluent renters.
Decay is a natural outcome of this strategy but defenders assert slumlords offer a valuable service for those who care more about price than quality. Economist David Osterfield wrote, "...the slumlord, regardless of his motives, helps the poor make the best of their bad situation."[2]
As many of these neighborhoods are often populated by poor minorities, the term ghetto landlord has also been used. Another type of slumlord is called a retail slumlord and keep shopping malls in a bad shape until finally the government buys it or confiscates it. |
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Tue Jul 22, 2008 8:32 am |
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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. |
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Tue Jul 22, 2008 8:51 am |
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Ted Jankowski
F L I N T O I D
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quote:
LakeWoman50 schreef:
Ted did bring up a good point, maybe they aren't slum lords, but they sure are not being responsible with their properties. They are neglecting them and causing havoc on the neighborhoods they are in. Not to mention adversely effect the neighbors that they surround.
Well I just look at it like if you really want them to be able to handle all the properties 100% There are a bunch of things that have to happen before that whole program can be turned around.
Quickest fix. Raise taxes so they can afford to pay for more help to manage these properties!.
Most logical fix.
Fix Flint!
Get rid of the DON. Bring Ethics and accountability to Flint Politics!
Start fighting ALL Crime. (Car Thefts, Break ins, and baggy pants)
Which will make Flint a place people and business will want to move to!
People will move back inot the area and Flint will prosper. |
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Tue Jul 22, 2008 10:32 am |
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Dave Starr
F L I N T O I D
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quote:
Ted Jankowski schreef:
Dave, I can see that. Sometimes people forget who they are serving. maybe someone should remind them. But, I also understand how someone asks a question can have a lot to do with what answer they get. I wasn't there.
Question - In a neutral tone: "The unboarded, unmowed land bank owned houses are ruining some neighborhoods. Why can't they be secured & mowed?"
Answer - In an angry tone: "Why don't you do it yourself?"
I was not the one that asked the question. I was also not the only person unhappy with the answer. Several people pointed out that the land bank seemed to have plenty of money for their other projects. |
_________________
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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Tue Jul 22, 2008 12:20 pm |
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Steve Myers
Site Admin
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quote:
Ted Jankowski schreef:
Quickest fix. Raise taxes so they can afford to pay for more help to manage these properties!.
No the "Quickest Fix" would be cut out the Middleman and give the money to the city, so the city can manage these properties! |
_________________
Steve Myers |
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Tue Jul 22, 2008 12:27 pm |
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Mellow D
F L I N T O I D
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I wonder what shape these houses would be in if the Land Bank did not exist? Do you imagine that some slum lord in Alabama would do a better job? Or that a series of renters would take better care of these homes?
Working with communities and asking them to take responsibility for their neighborhoods doesn't seem all bad. The county could go on endlessly repairing houses and cleaning lots. Or they could work with the neighbors to take pride in their neighborhood.
And a long-view of Flint might suggest that putting all of the Land Bank $ into housing with no plan for economic stimulation wouldn't pan out too well. After all, without a vibrant economy, all the lovely housing in the world is not likely to attract a bunch of homeowners.
Of all of the crappy establishments to pick on in Flint, I can't imagine why anyone would concentrate on demonizing this one. |
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Tue Jul 22, 2008 12:29 pm |
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Mellow D
F L I N T O I D
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quote:
No the "Quickest Fix" would be cut out the Middleman and give the money to the city, so the city can manage these properties!
ROTFL!! Just peed my pants! Can't... catch... breath! Whoooooo.
Thanks. I needed that.
I'm glad someone thinks that this city is efficient. Haven't had a laugh like that in a while. |
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Tue Jul 22, 2008 12:32 pm |
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Steve Myers
Site Admin
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You are welcome!  |
_________________
Steve Myers |
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Tue Jul 22, 2008 12:45 pm |
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