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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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Post |
 
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Ted Jankowski
F L I N T O I D
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quote:
Steve Myers schreef:
No the "Quickest Fix" would be cut out the Middleman and give the money to the city, so the city can manage these properties!
Follow me here.... WHAT MONEY?? |
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Tue Jul 22, 2008 1:47 pm |
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Ted Jankowski
F L I N T O I D
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Tue Jul 22, 2008 1:49 pm |
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Dave Starr
F L I N T O I D
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quote:
Mellow D schreef:
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?
The land bank owned houses in my neighborhood are beyond salvaging. They got that way after the former owners walked away from them & stopped paying the taxes. The land bank now owns the houses & does the same thing the former owners did - nothing.
quote:
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.
Our block club currently mows the yards of the 5 empty houses on our block because the owners won't. We can't afford to do any more. Like I said in a previous post, the land banks method of working with the neighbors is to tell us to do it ourselves. We do take pride in our neighborhood. Obviously, the land bank couldn't care less about the effect their properties have on the neighborhoods.
quote:
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.
Durant Hotel, Berridge Hotel, Land Bank Center apartments, Carriage Town, Hurley area, all land bank housing projects. What kind of economic stimulation are they? What about the north and east sides? I know quite a few people that think it's a deliberate attempt to let those areas go down the tubes so a developer with close ties to certain people can move in, buy the land for pennies, & redevelop it.
quote:
Of all of the crappy establishments to pick on in Flint, I can't imagine why anyone would concentrate on demonizing this one.
Maybe it's because they are slowly destroying the areas where a large percentage of the people live - the ordinary folks' neighborhoods. maybe it's because of the condescending attitudes of the land bank representatives that come to neighborhood meetings and tell us to do secure and mow THEIR properties at OUR expense. |
_________________
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 2:14 pm |
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Adam
F L I N T O I D
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quote:
Ted Jankowski schreef:
quote:
Steve Myers schreef:
No the "Quickest Fix" would be cut out the Middleman and give the money to the city, so the city can manage these properties!
Follow me here.... WHAT MONEY??
The money they get off the profits from the houses they sell. Flint is very incompetent though so the better bet would probably be to sell to the slumlords. At least then we'd get some tax dollars coming in. I'd rather live next to a rented out slumlord house than a vacant and vadalized land bank house. A slumlord is probably just as if not more likely to mow and/or fix their property as the land bank. There's no reason for the land bank to try and do things like maintain plumbing and keep the property liveable. A slumlord generally needs things like plumbing to be able to rent a house out although I'm sure "exceptions" sometimes occur. |
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Tue Jul 22, 2008 2:14 pm |
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Dave Starr
F L I N T O I D
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| it's very easy for a slumlord to get around the rental inspection ordinance. Just don't register the house as a rental. Buy houses, do not register them with the city as rentals, do not pay property taxes, don't put one penny into any maintenance. When they're foreclosed for taxes, just move on. Buy more houses & repeat. |
_________________
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 2:20 pm |
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Ted Jankowski
F L I N T O I D
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Dave, that is very true. Thus the reason I felt a new ordinance was a waste of time! No one is enforcing the old one properly. Why write a new one that no one is going to enforce.
ADAM:
quote:
The money they get off the profits from the houses they sell. Flint is very incompetent though so the better bet would probably be to sell to the slumlords. At least then we'd get some tax dollars coming in. I'd rather live next to a rented out slumlord house than a vacant and vadalized land bank house. A slumlord is probably just as if not more likely to mow and/or fix their property as the land bank. There's no reason for the land bank to try and do things like maintain plumbing and keep the property liveable. A slumlord generally needs things like plumbing to be able to rent a house out although I'm sure "exceptions" sometimes occur.
What MONEY???? They are selling houses for a BUCK! Sometimes collecting some back taxes. But, where is this BIG PROFITS that it takes to maintain so many of these houses? |
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Tue Jul 22, 2008 2:35 pm |
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Mellow D
F L I N T O I D
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Dave, I hear ya. I get that the LB has far more properties than they can keep up. And I totally dig that you folks are caring for the houses around you (is that the East Side Small Biz Association that used to meet at Browns that you are referring to?).
Still, given the alternatives to how we manage our shrinking city, I like this approach. These houses are available to people who want to own and live in them, and not at speculator's prices. And, Adam, I have lived on streets full of rental houses long enough to know how dangerous it can be. I prefer living next door to empty LB houses to living next to crack dealers any day.
The approach of improving the one concentrated area at a time (currently the downtown) and working their way out from that core is -at least- a well thought out approach. I grew up on the eastside and would love to see more investment over there, and maybe some day, we'll see the renewal reach that far.
In the meantime, I know a few new homeowners in my old stomping grounds who have used the LB programs to buy homes on the eastside, and when the LB got that award from Harvard, they featured people on the north end in the same position (you can watch the video by clicking on the black box on the bottom of
this page
).
I have a hard time with the characterization of the LB as a heartless, thoughtless, neglectful entity. The folks from the LB that I have known and worked with have all been thoughtful and passionate about Flint, with a special affinity for folks from the east and north sides. The idea that there is willful neglect is simply off base.
I do wonder about the LB making back-room deals with the commercial properties, though. Is there any evidence that suggests that a good 'ole boys club is benefiting from the commercial development that they do? |
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Tue Jul 22, 2008 2:40 pm |
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Adam
F L I N T O I D
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quote:
Dave Starr schreef:
it's very easy for a slumlord to get around the rental inspection ordinance. Just don't register the house as a rental. Buy houses, do not register them with the city as rentals, do not pay property taxes, don't put one penny into any maintenance. When they're foreclosed for taxes, just move on. Buy more houses & repeat.
I also heard it was easy to get around the income tax ordinance but I met a guy that got put in jail and got his car confiscated for that. The only legitimate way to get around it is only do land contracts. |
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Tue Jul 22, 2008 3:21 pm |
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Adam
F L I N T O I D
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quote:
Ted Jankowski schreef:
What MONEY???? They are selling houses for a BUCK! Sometimes collecting some back taxes. But, where is this BIG PROFITS that it takes to maintain so many of these houses?
They do sell adjoining vacant lots for $1 on ocassion but lets say you stop paying taxes now. You owe $1,000 and they take your propert. I pay $5,000 for your property. They make around $3,000-$4,000 in profit!!! In nicer areas there is a lot more money to be made. They probably don't make much in Flint anymore though. They do use a lot of their profits on things like demolition and are tecnically a non profit agency but they could be doing much much better. I don't think obtaining 100's properties and letting them sit, get vandalized and stay off the tax rolls makes much sense unless your for the lights out approach. They shoudl remain on the tax rolls be utilized and the profits used to fix up/renovate key seized neighborhood properties and not funneled all to downtown Flint while we transistion to a fully market based system. |
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Tue Jul 22, 2008 3:38 pm |
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lunchlady
F L I N T O I D
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I think the Land bank is one of the best things we have going here. They ARE making a difference. They are really helping our neighborhood association and give us a say so in what happens with the properties here. They are a very cooperative but overwhelmed organization. We have to be patient. I hate to see people calling them slumlords etc. It must be very frustrating for them to be working so hard and not be appreciated.
Steve, you cracked me up when you said to give the properties to the city so they could have the money. 
It is such a huge problem that took years to grow to this point, how can we expect it to be resolved all at once? |
_________________
Whatever... |
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Tue Jul 22, 2008 3:57 pm |
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Ted Jankowski
F L I N T O I D
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| Will the real Lunch Lady Please stand up! That doesn't sound like the one I've seen. Maybe I'm thinking Mlive... Thank You. Those are words of experience and commonsense. |
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Tue Jul 22, 2008 4:14 pm |
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Dave Starr
F L I N T O I D
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quote:
Mellow D schreef:
Dave, I hear ya. I get that the LB has far more properties than they can keep up. And I totally dig that you folks are caring for the houses around you (is that the East Side Small Biz Association that used to meet at Browns that you are referring to?).
No, it's the group of block clubs that meets every Tuesday at 10am, at the mini station at ML King & Bishop. There's a couple Thrift City folks that attend, too. |
_________________
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 5:06 pm |
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Dave Starr
F L I N T O I D
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quote:
lunchlady schreef:
I think the Land bank is one of the best things we have going here. They ARE making a difference. They are really helping our neighborhood association and give us a say so in what happens with the properties here. They are a very cooperative but overwhelmed organization. We have to be patient. I hate to see people calling them slumlords etc. It must be very frustrating for them to be working so hard and not be appreciated.
Steve, you cracked me up when you said to give the properties to the city so they could have the money.
It is such a huge problem that took years to grow to this point, how can we expect it to be resolved all at once?
May I ask, which neighborhood?
Again, when land bank reps came to a meeting of North side block clubs, they came across as very arrogant. I mentioned 3 houses on the next block from us that have never been boarded or mowed, with yards full of old tires & all sorts of trash. The young lady, rather angrily, told us to "Buy some plywood and a lawn mower and do it yourself".
I'd like to be wrong, but it seems like some areas get good service & others get ignored. Right now their priorities seem to be downtown, The University Drive corridor, Carriage Town & the area around Hurley. |
_________________
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 5:13 pm |
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lunchlady
F L I N T O I D
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Dave,
I am a member of the Grand Traverse District Neighborhood Association. You should talk to Heidi Phaneuf our president. She knows more about our dealings with the Land Bank.
I am wondering who from the LB came to your meeting. I have only known them to be very helpful- but as far as they are able to be. We do have to do a lot of work too. It sounds like you do the same thing in your hood. Have they explained why they can't help you right now? I can see why it is impossible for them to keep up all properties because there are SO many.
Ted, I am sure I have never said anything negative about the LB. As far as I know I am the only Lunchlady. |
_________________
Whatever... |
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Tue Jul 22, 2008 6:52 pm |
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Adam
F L I N T O I D
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What are they going to do when they actually get flooded with properties? My understanding is they "only" have hundreds. What happens when they get up to 2 or 3 thousand?
The other issue is what about the issue of taxes. The faster we carry out the lights out approach the faster revenues dwindles. (less police and fire protection)
I don't see vacant houses and unkempt yards as a good strategy for neighborhood renewal.
I think there are some fundamental flaws to the strategies we are pursuing. |
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Tue Jul 22, 2008 7:54 pm |
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