CRA- Chandra and look who is talking too!

by Loraine Ritchey thatwb@yahoo.com

So here we go again the Chandra or Media Mogul is playing the media card again NOW THERE IS A SURPRISE!!!!!
http://www.wkyc.com/news/local/news_article.aspx?storyid=94465&catid=45

So once again the question begs to be asked who contacted who in the land of media manipulation and getting your story out?

Because it states in the piece-
Both Lorain city officials and city attorneys declined comment for this report

Maybe Chandra should check the time lines once again of when these abatements were handed out ! Here you go, it can all be found here for the researchers – we are paying how much an hour for this research ? ( more to come on that later) you can have it for free!
https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2008/01/28/cra-or-confusion-runs-amuck/
and since YOUR research shows:

Chandra said his research has come up with no examples in Ohio or other states of tax abatements being granted to property owners for doing nothing.

“Tax abatements may be granted for a public purpose,” he said. “Where there is no new construction, there’s no public purpose. Where there’s no public purpose there can be no tax abatement.”

ERMMMMMMMMMM what about the “new builds” why are they being denied? Cannot the Lorain County Auditor Mark Stewart
differenciate between those that have built new in CRA4 from the new builds he has OK’d in other CRA areas such as( herewith documented)

Mr. Stewart maintains the fees are illegal and unfair, so why would Mr. Stewart, through Deputy Auditor Ana Griffith on September 11th , 2007 send a letter verifying to a property owner in CRA 1 that not only will they receive 2.5 reduction in land and abating the home (100%) through 2020.This Infill housing was also included in the CRA program JUNE 2006.

Mr. Stewart dictatorial stance :

‘Since there is a lawsuit pending in the Ohio Supreme Court and other litigation in Lorain County Common Please Court, Stewart can’t grant the tax breaks to homeowners whose properties might “morally” qualify unless an arrangement is worked out in media-tion or comes from a court order, Chandra said.

Ed Note the emphasis is mine but there was a break in the paragraph in the article so it read “in media” and tion on another line… can it be a

“sign” 🙂

Why are the 40 or so homes he mentions in a recent Morning Journal article being penalized- are we under blanket denial – in CRA 4 ? not very FRIENDLY?????

WHOSE PURPOSE IS SERVED BY THAT I WONDER ? Certainly not the people who have literally come into a community that is struggling to bring in a “middle class” – whose council person is the deputy auditor- Craig Snodgrass

What purpose or whose is HE serving the City of Lorain or the Lorain County Auditor’s another at will employee …who serves a “purpose”?
The same question can be asked of the other “at will “ employee often quoted and Lorain City Council person Greg Holcomb– Oh forgot they are under the gag order from the city ! (NOTE the PD article is no longer on line but can be found in Chandra’s evidence to the Supreme Court.

Although both did have a few quotes in the Morning Journal last month- Illegal ordinance haunting west Lorain homeowners / Matt Suman
( Note to MJ it is Chandra and Stewarts opinion and Holcomb and Snodgrass'( PD article) that the ordinance is “illegal” that hasn’t been decided as yet – again the mythering of the public- you have to be more careful when speaking to Chandra – have you not learned by now!

Snodgrass said he hopes residents that are in the middle of the fight get an answer soon so they are not left in limbo
“I do want to see us get a resolution to this ‘ he said

and yet another at will employee and city councilman did manage a few words-

Councilman Greg Holcomb D-6 who works as a tax settlement specialist in Stewarts office, said updates he has received on the legal disputes from the administration are few and far between – Holcomb said he would also not vote on anything related to the dispute”

I would have thought a simple NO COMMENT might have been the way to go BUT then ?????

And we have read about the other “at will “ employee Phil Betleski who is now looking for “another government job”- OOOOO I know I know he too could join the lunch bunch after all since he is unemployed now ( unless he has that new job at this writing) maybe his brother the judge( oh yeah the one sitting in judgement on the CRA case ) Source Peek a Boo I see you!

can pick up the tab
http://www.chroniclet.com/2008/07/30/jetting-off-gets-county-worker-jettisoned_122/
and just a reminder of “relationships”

Mark Betleski, The Judge
is the brother of Phil Betleski

the former Lorain City Councilman who voted AYE on the amendments and then was running against Dan Given for Council at Large, contacted the Chronicle with his concerns, which the Chronicle then wrote about AFTER the election,

LORAIN — Councilman Phil Betleski has accused two fellow councilmen of violating the Ohio ethics code and is calling for one of them to resign from a committee position. Betleski, D-2nd Ward, sent an e-mail to Councilman Dan Given dated May 1 in which he asks Given to recuse himself as chairman of the Tax Incentive Review Committee. He also wrote that Councilman Tony Krasienko, another committee member, was in violation, too.

Then we have Judge Betleskis Law Clerk- John Keys -who just happens to be married to Linda Keys who sent out the letters of denial ( you guessed it )works for Mark Stewart as well
The abatements were first called into question earlier this year when they came across the desk of county auditor employee Linda Keys…… The chief deputy for the real estate section in the Lorain County Auditor’s office, Keys is the official who processes abatement applications.

Ah! the song and dance and media love affair continues and we the tax payers still pay the piper!

For the sake of transparency -as stated many times before- my daughter is “morally” and contractually involved and NO !!! 10 months and still no answer to her letter to Stewart, but then again he has been a tad busy -maybe Chandra could answer after all he is being paid to do so out of her taxes too!