The Federal Governments Neighborhood Destruction Program

[Bill Call]

The federal government is engaged in a deliberate campaign to destroy middle class communities.

Government sponsored mortgage giants like Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae offered to buy zero down, no income, no asset mortgages. That easy credit arrangement caused an unnatural churning in the housing market which led to boarded up homes and abandoned communities.

FHA loosened its standards to such an extent that people who couldn't afford to rent were given houses to own.

The most pernicious neighborhood destruction tool is the Section 8 Housing Program:

Slightly Smaller Link

To add insult to injury the middle class is asked to pay for this plan of action with higher taxes. The officials at HUD must get a real kick out of that. It's like Fidel Castro laughing when he explains that the families of executed political prisoners are made to pay for the bullets that killed their relative.

Ha Ha.

[Jim O'Bryan]

The federal government is engaged in a deliberate campaign to destroy middle class communities.

Government sponsored mortgage giants like Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae offered to buy zero down, no income, no asset mortgages. That easy credit arrangement caused an unnatural churning in the housing market which led to boarded up homes and abandoned communities.

FHA loosened its standards to such an extent that people who couldn't afford to rent were given houses to own.

The most pernicious neighborhood destruction tool is the Section 8 Housing Program:

Slightly Smaller Link

To add insult to injury the middle class is asked to pay for this plan of action with higher taxes. The officials at HUD must get a real kick out of that. It's like Fidel Castro laughing when he explains that the families of executed political prisoners are made to pay for the bullets that killed their relative.

Ha Ha.

Bill

You always bring a smile to my face.

While you are finally on the right track, you must step back and look at even even larger picture.

Section 8, just another tool, in a very impressive tool belt.

Section 8 really isn't even that impressive as a tool in this struggle. In Lakewood I believe a majority of Section 8 is still elderly and white. There is no friction there. We also learned from the last election that "Section 8" should be some of the nicest most law abiding citizens in Lakewood. As was pointed out by Mayor Edward FitzGerald and Ryan Demro, Section laws when enforced and turned over to CMHA provide for an unruly "Section8" recipient to lose benefits and be put on the street.

No this is much bigger than that. Instead of the tools look who is using them and for what reason. Developers, by nature need things to develop. Well there is no money in buying property at high dollars, when you can drive those costs down, down down. Right?

So, how do we create the perfect machine, that cause the perfect ripple to allow for buy low, sell high forever?

How do we create a machine like "WalMart" than can take hard working blue collar workers, and convince them, that shopping there helps them, and has no effect on their job or the jobs of your American brothers and sisters?

Section 8 is not enough, it only appeals, and discourages small bands of people.

This is one of the most fascinating operations I have been able to see in action in a long time. One of the most incredible chess boards of life one can behold. We are living in the middle of it. The other fascinating part is how Orwellian it, and life has become. It is as if advertising agencies have been given the job of selling us "life."

This process has been talked about in depth on this Deck.


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[Jim O'Bryan]

Bill

It would seem that many do not have the stomach or the chops to talk about this.

Here is my question. Which is the biggest threat to Lakewood?
a) Section 8
b) Mega Churches in the suburbs


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[Donald Farris]

Hi,
The greatest threat to Lakewood is the value of our properties to slip away. Not in Lakewood but in nearby Detroit, A house that sold 2 years ago for $65,000 is listed for $1 with no takers. See: http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080813/METRO/808130360

"It about doesn't make sense to put the family out," Upshaw said. "Once people are gone, you're gonna lose the house in this neighborhood."

It is much like a row of dominoes. One house slips into foreclosure, then another soon the entire area is devalued. Given this, why does our local and county elected officials seem so eager to speed up the foreclosure process?

The solution must be to help those that need it stay in their homes.

[Jim DeVito]

Bill

It would seem that many do not have the stomach or the chops to talk about this.

Here is my question. Which is the biggest threat to Lakewood?
a) Section 8
b) Mega Churches in the suburbs


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I do not believe section 8 is a threat to Lakewood. While Mega Churches are IMO a threat to religion, I am still up in the air as to weather or not they are a threat to Lakewood.

I still think ONE of the biggest threats to Lakewood is Absentee Landlords who care less about the city. We need to drive them out. Sorry if that sounds to militant for some but that is the way i see it.

[Jim O'Bryan]

I do not believe section 8 is a threat to Lakewood. While Mega Churches are IMO a threat to religion, I am still up in the air as to weather or not they are a threat to Lakewood.

I still think ONE of the biggest threats to Lakewood is Absentee Landlords who care less about the city. We need to drive them out. Sorry if that sounds to militant for some but that is the way i see it.

Jim

You are correct though we should always think "some" absentee landlords. I know some that are good people.

Meanwhile Mega-Churches tend to attack parishioners from around the region. As they drive to the suburbs, people look at homes for sale, join local groups and before anyone realizes their lives have leaked out of Lakewood, and they move.

My point was not to point fingers, but to underline how many different things are working against Lakewood right now. It is not section 8, it is not some landlords, it is a vast combination working against Lakewood.

The question is: Are Lakewoodites up to the tasks at hand?

When government, media, schools, religion, social structure, peer pressure, developers and more are working together it becomes a very tough proposition to withstand.

At one time, I thought we were.

FWIW


Don

Foreclosures are merely the outward signs of the virus.

But as you brought it up.

Why are politicians so quick to foreclose? Which is more glamorous? Saving a home, or announcing a new development? Who gives more? Developers, or the person struggling to make ends meet?

Again the question is...

Lakewood, worth saving, or let it go to hell and catch it 30 years later on the rebound?

FWIW


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[William Fraunfelder III]

Jim,

How many of us (and by "us," I mean those who regularly follow the thrusts and parries of Mr. Call and yourself and care enough to continue to read in spite of it all) were born and raised in Lakewood? Consider it "HOME," and not just a stop after grad-school, have a couple of kids and empty-nest out of here? I've been here for almost 39 years and seen those I grew up with migrate mostly due to jobs, spouses, and in a few instances, short-sighted peer-pressure (Taxes and Sec. 8 housing top that list).

What has always made Lakewood stand far above other places to live is honest-to-goodness neighborliness. Having your neighbors living 20 ft. away in most cases forces people to deal with one another in a unique interchange that most other municipalities cannot either fathom or replicate. Whether it be sharing yard tools, watching houses while others vacation, taking gifts as a child to elderly neighbors on Christmas morning - that is what makes Lakewood great. The people. If a particular issue (dog parks/dogs banned/dogs in parks/development, or the lack thereof) so rankles someone so much that they miss the forest for the trees, I hope they don't let the door hit 'em in the ass on the way out. I'll see you in 30 years from the comfort of my big front porch, as they wheel you into the Westerly.

The schools here are second-to-none (3rd gen. LHS grad/all college grads and my wife is an elementary Art teacher here, so we know the staff and administration better than most), and if you can't stomach public, the parochial alternatives can't be beat. So it's not "the schools" argument. Lakewood's main problem is that nobody stays. The city's going on its' fourth generation of "Hey, this is a great town, I may just buy a house/raise a family/damn, these taxes are killing me/RockyRiver-Westlake-Avon is looking pretty good right now." I've seen it; I've lived it. Mayor Fitzgerald comes from the same background. The real question is: Rather than obfuscate us with dog bans and community resolutions, what will the Mayor and Council wow us with next? Proposals, or Dog(!) and Pony shows?

[Bill Call]

Thanks for the time you took to respond.

.... migrate mostly due to jobs, spouses, and in a few instances, short-sighted peer-pressure (Taxes and Sec. 8 housing top that list)

Shorted sighted peer pressure? You have a point. When friends and neighbors move away people feel left behind. Who wants to be the person to turn out the lights? Another way to say it is that Lakewood has poor morale and a poor self image. Section 8, housing and taxes are not just the excuse they are also real concerns.

People need to feel confident in the future value of their investment, their monetary investment and their emotional investment.

....
What has always made Lakewood stand far above other places to live is honest-to-goodness neighborliness. .......)

Does neighborliness mean anything in an age where 8 people sharing a table are not talking to each other because they are text messaging someone who isn't there?

Lakewood has a small town feel. Are there people out there who care about neighborhood and community? I think there are. What can the City do to help them discover the City?

.... The real question is: Rather than obfuscate us with dog bans and community resolutions, what will the Mayor and Council wow us with next? Proposals, or Dog(!) and Pony shows?

The Mayor and Council are doing a good job of tackling the financial issues facing the City. 4 years ago the City had $5 million in the bank. This month the balance is less than $50,000. We have a long way to go.

I have to admit that I was a little disapointed that the first major legislative initiative dealt with dog fees and pit bulls. On the other hand last week a pit bull lunged at my 2 year old grandson as I took him for a walk. Luckily the owner had a tight grip on the leash so the dogs fangs were only two feet from my grandsons face.

[Jim O'Bryan]

William

The parries and thrusts of Bill call and myself are more show and blow then substance. Bill and I get along pretty well, especially at Sullivan's.

Nice post, but it is a combination of all that, and the new blood that sees Lakewood as a block of clay ready to be molded into their vision. You know the group that couldn't afford Tremont, and now want Lakewood to be Tremont, or Bay, or Roscoe Village or Highlands, or Boca Raton.


Bill

I am not sure there was a $5 million dollar surplus. If I remember correctly Mayor Cain talked about it, and Mayor George inherited that along with $4.5 million in unpaid bills.

This administration has done a great job slicing the budget, now it gets interesting.


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[Bill Call]

The parries and thrusts of Bill call and myself are more show and blow then substance.

Hey!! I thought we were changing the world one blog at a time!!!

I had my hands on an interesting memo but my mind was elswhere and I didn't realize it till an hour later how interesting it was if it was I'll see if I can get my fingers on it again if so and if it as remembered it my be fodder for a post right now all I have is the title of the post A Curious Memo Came My Way unless if I do get my hands on it and the remembering was more interesting than the reality as is sometime in which case never mind.