Archive for June, 2017
Tale of the Two- The Cost Part 2.
This should be the last post in this series of a broken ( in my opinion )system of Building Dept inspections and accountability in the City of Lorain. The series, (links to the whole series at the bottom of this post) has looked upon the history of inspections, non accountability and lack of enforcement over the past 12 years. It is my belief, based upon the research so far, as to why Lorain finds itself in a housing market that is (especially in the 44052-44055) floundering . The downtown commercial buildings I didn’t touch upon also has added another layer of burden to the taxpayer.
Before getting into the costs to us in Lorain for this system I would like to thank the City of Lorain- Ritenauer Administration for their prompt response for all the documentation requested under the Public Records requests and also to Lorain Auditors Dept and Lorain County Auditor for their very quick response for information.
I would also like to state, as promised in my “About Page” that should I have a biases I would state it. I have for many years – more than I care to remember – had issues with the Lorain Building Dept. written about the deterioration of this neighborhood, and for 30 years “tried” along with administrating a 501C3 preservation district to stop the rot that is the foundation of neighborhood- our homes and quality of life.
38 years vacant before finally being torn down .
However, I also was aggrieved and found myself part of the process when doing that “mission” being, in my opinion, faced selective enforcement and the harassment of one City of Lorain Board ( Design review Board member) using the Lorain Building Dept. Chief Inspector and the dept. to “enforce” petty non compliance issues with my home . You can access the situation here:
Dye- abolical – goose and the gander- Inspection Process – Lorain
This documentation on the blog brought on a concrete throwing and down spout ripping off my home by a Neanderthal … and of course the added expense of installing cameras.
The irony in this instance was the inspected downspout ( named Don) was knocked loose due to a falling branch from the very large tree on the adjoining lot which was “owned”, at the time, by the CITY OF LORAIN!!!!. INSULT TO INJURY 🙂
and the response which ended up in its own series
As I said, I have been writing about this housing and building situations for a very long time before the 12 years covered in this series . So it seemed amazing the Building Dept , Mr. Klinar and co were able to “jump” at the chance to “inspect my personal property within 4 days of the complaint when some situations in Lorain have taken decades…. (2015)
This is the sort of situation ( 1125) I had to put up with through 5 sets of landlords on the lot next door- and even when the tenants complained … what was done – nothing – then abandoned/ foreclosed until a tree took care of it .
Due to fact I published pictures of the same city lot next door which greatly ticked off a construction neighbor – parking illegally and the use of that lot for storing construction vehicles etc.
He made his retribution trip(2016) to the 5th floor of city hall. I was then once again inspected last year , this time for “weeds” growing through my chain link fence in the alley.
However the weeds, were Swiss Chard, Mint and Morning Glories and the boat was in compliance but wait they, the Building Dept. Inspectors had enough inspectors to come out drive up the alley inspect my property now for the third time in 2 years( first time was during the sumer inspection blitz where we were found OK) and send me yet another letter . The weeds????
Which would have been fine, in the way of things, if they had nothing else to do. BUT in order to inspect my vegetables and flowers, my downspout and garage paint they had for the past five years driven past a home on the alley that is literally caving in on itself –
weeds in the back of the alley were higher than an elephants eye and yet still sits as of yesterday with the same broken picture window it has had for 5 years ( boarded up – a property one of 16 owned by Mr. Brooks (spending time in jail drug dealing ) https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2013/09/30/grenade-and-garbage-lorain-
landlords-swatted/
So yes! the arbitrary and selective nonsense of retaliatory inspections on morning glories and downspouts, a garage that needed paint 3 inspections 2 years left me more than a little annoyed at the ” behavior” of the building Dept under the auspices of Mr. Klinar and of course the George Schneider advocate, Inspector Ralph Cantu ( now retired)
Hands Up I am biased!!!!!! against selective inspections and time wasting when a city is falling down around the 44052 and these situations can take years, in fact so long that in the case of 3620 Clifton we have to go back to the beginning because the “Statute of Limitations ran out.
Guilty!!!!!! I am biased – based on research and personal experience with the system
We have seen what it costs to have these homes sitting there for months and months years and decades. See part one of costs https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2017/06/26/tale-of-two-the-cost-part-one/
Now let us see what the cost locally Lorain for the cost each year to our budget so morning glories are inspected but 3620 Clifton , 1348 West Erie and the myriad of other homes in the 44052 44055 that are allowed to sit.
So what does this cost to run this “program” and department ‘ Firstly the Building Department does bring money into the City of Lorain coffers
”
The total amount of revenue generated last year was $788,898.54 and YTD is $238,208.62
Performance reports PDF file 2016 and 2017 found here
2016 Budget Performance Report for Building
2017 Budget Performance Report Building Department
Not bad just over 3/4 of a million dollars (2016)- now the costs:
OH OH we are already at a loss by $357.008.54 And we aren’t done yet because we also have the costs of the housing court and magistrate
Magistrate is paid from Court Improvement Fund. The City pays 60% of her salary and the other 40% is paid from the Lorain County.
Secretary pay is 55% General Fund, 20% Muni Court Probation Fund and 25% Court Improvement Fund.
Magistrate
Salary $74,394.00
Benefits $29,603.00
Secretary to the Magistrate
Salary $37,305
Benefits $25,305
We do have vehicles for the Inspectors to use some of them are pretty old but some were new back when these homes depicted were just beginning the inspection process
2003 Ford Taurus Building
2008 Ford Escape Building
2002 Ford Explorer Housing & Planning
2016 Chevy Equinox Housing & Planning
2016 Chevy Equinox Housing & Planning
2006 Chevy Silverado Building
and then there is their costs “The amount spent only for petroleum and auto parts and supplies in 2016 was $6,444.99 and budgeted for 2017 is $7,500.00.
We spent 3 times more in getting “gas” in one year than the fines for the hairnetted Broadway Building paid in fines over 10 years .
In my opinion, this isn’t a bad budget IF WE WERE GETTING DECENT PORTFOLIO OF HOUSING IN THIS COMMUNITY- HOMES UP TO A CERTAIN STANDARD – ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE COURT IN A TIMELY MANNER – A DOWNTOWN THAT IS NOT CLASSIFIED BY THE NEWS MEDIA AS A GHOST TOWN….
but we aren’t in the 44052/ 44055 we have a glut of disgraceful homes and buildings and who is to blame ??? and why are we paying for this???? Because WE ARE PAYING- paying with loss of property values in the millions, delinquent taxes in Lorain, ( note in the PDF file 500 is the classification for homes) found here Lorraine Ritchy Lorain City Delinquent Report by Parcels
Then another couple of million( counting in the fire/ police/ tax collectors salaries, stationary, cell phones , processing etc. having to deal with the abandoned homes and don’t forget we have to pay to have the high grass cut ( high grass cost put toward a property lean ( note) errrr people who are thousands delinquent in taxes are worrying about paying the city for grass cutting) to enable the process….. Over to you Lorain…..
THE SERIES
Part One– https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2017/05/11/a-tale-of-two-city-houses-downing-of-quality/
Part Two– https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2017/05/13/a-tale-of-two-continued-lorains-cast-offs/
Part Three – https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2017/05/16/a-tale-of-two-a-tale-of-woe-lorain/
Part Four- https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2017/05/22/a-tale-of-two-the-who-the-how-why/
Part Five- https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2017/05/24/the-tale-of-two-the-how-supporting-cast/
Part Six- https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2017/05/29/a-tale-of-two-the-why-land-of-iz-not-woz/
Part Seven- https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2017/06/19/a-tale-of-two-do-nowt-get-nowt-lorain/
Part Eight- https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2017/06/26/tale-of-two-the-cost-part-one/
Tale of two – The cost – Part one
Part One– https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2017/05/11/a-tale-of-two-city-houses-downing-of-quality/
Part Two– https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2017/05/13/a-tale-of-two-continued-lorains-cast-offs/
Part Three – https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2017/05/16/a-tale-of-two-a-tale-of-woe-lorain/
Part Four- https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2017/05/22/a-tale-of-two-the-who-the-how-why/
Part Five- https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2017/05/24/the-tale-of-two-the-how-supporting-cast/
Part Six- https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2017/05/29/a-tale-of-two-the-why-land-of-iz-not-woz/
Part Seven- https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2017/06/19/a-tale-of-two-do-nowt-get-nowt-lorain/
If nothing else the previous 7 posts in the series has confirmed there has been an ongoing problem for 12 years ( or more) the houses and their ONGOING problems may have gone through 3 administrations heaven knows how many different councils and council members but with ONE Building Dept and the way of non accountability. The only people cited who follow through seem to be the already law abiding property owners, the rest seem to “play the property / enforcement game – IN MY OPINION- based on the research over the years.
There is a cost to all this diseased, decrepit, dilapidated housing and in 2005 – 3 years before the sub-prime mortgage debacle The National Vacant Properties Campaign with the support of the Environmental Protection Agency came up with a 24 page report – 12 years ago just about the time our city was starting to go belly up…
Click to access true-costs.pdf
the above report is really worth the read and government with Community Development and Building and Planning surely should have accessed the report
If you ask any Lorainite in the year 2017 they will say this photo from the 2005 report is a familiar site , especially in the 44052 44055 where our poster child houses are located
2005
Cities must address the increasing number of vacant properties, not only because of the negative impact they have on the surrounding community, but because of the numerous costs they impose. They strain the resources of local police, fire, building, and health departments, depreciate property values, reduce property tax revenue, attract crime, and degrade the quality of life of remaining residents. In summary, vacant and abandoned properties “act as a significant fiscal drain on already strapped municipalities, requiring disproportionate municipal resources, while providing little or no tax revenue to municipal coffers.”
As the years passed and we continued our downward slide and lack of enforcement there were other reports written.
http://www.cleveland.com/cleveland-heights/index.ssf/2015/08/abandoned_homes_affect_communi.html
http://www.cleveland.com/rocky-river/index.ssf/2015/08/rocky_river_westlake_hide_vaca.html
Then we get to the 2017 White paper on Blight another must read
For a single home, one can attempt to calculate these costs.
Using the following conservative assumptions the foreclosure of a home will cause a loss of value of at least $130,000 as a result of the following:
1. The home if owner-occupied would be worth $200,000, which is just under the national mediansales price of $235,000. The loss of value to the
home itself is 38 percent, the amount expected by buyers and in the midpoint of the range ofestimates. This is a loss of value of $76,000.
2. Assuming 21 houses within 500 feet. This is
a conservative assumption based on houses that are roughly one-fourth of an acre that have100x100 foot square plots. Thus, there are five
houses on both sides of the affected property as well as another 11 across the street. This number could be substantially higher in urban settings
(condominiums or row houses) and also lower for rural settings or areas where there are not uniform plots or housing on both sides of the street. Each
of these houses experiences a 1 percent decline in home value. For the $200,000 home, that is $2,000. That is a loss of value of $42,000.
3. There are another 12 houses beyond 500 feetbut that are still affected. Recall some studies used the one-eighth of a mile (660 feet) while others showed effects all the way out to 1,000 feet and even further in some to half a mile. For this estimate we are assuming an impact of another 300 feet in all directions, which is conservative given other findings. These impacted houses have a 0.5 percent decline in value, or $1,000. That is a
loss of value of an additional $12,000.For those who find the methodology of studies that find losses of
2 percent in value of neighboring properties closer and 1 percent
of those farther away more compelling, then the total losses
jump to $184,000. In this scenario the property loss suffered by
neighbors is actually greater than that suffered by the foreclosed
home itself!
Click to access CBS_White_Paper_2017.pdf
And the latest complaint in Lorain is 330 W 9th Street.
This too was a Fannie Mae dump selling in 2010 for $44,000.00 and dumped by Fannie Mae to a Bayvillage resident just 7 months later for $13,500. and there you have it proof once again the system sucks!!!!
The typical foreclosed home imposes costs of more than $170,000. Approximately $85,000 of this total is directly attributable to a property being vacant and the condition in which that vacant house is kept.
 Over half the total cost of a foreclosure’s impact on neighboring properties comes from the fact that the property is abandoned.
ď‚· Foreclosures that involve vacant properties lead to increases in violent crime. ď‚· The impact of vacancy on crime increases as the property stays vacant for longer periods, likely plateauing at between 12 and 18 months.
ď‚· Vacant buildings are major fire hazards; vacant residential buildings account for one of every 14 residential building fires in America.
Yes there is a municipal cost, a cost to property worth for the surrounding houses BUT there is also a cost I will explore in the next post to the taxpayer of Lorain for the system that enables this system- salaries, vehicles, law courts………. coming up in part two of the broken system. We can’t say we weren’t warned of course we also paid in our taxes for the costs of the reports, whitepapers and studies………..
To be continued …………….
A tale of two- do nowt – get nowt- Lorain
Part One– https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2017/05/11/a-tale-of-two-city-houses-downing-of-quality/
Part Two– https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2017/05/13/a-tale-of-two-continued-lorains-cast-offs/
Part Three – https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2017/05/16/a-tale-of-two-a-tale-of-woe-lorain/
Part Four- https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2017/05/22/a-tale-of-two-the-who-the-how-why/
Part Five- https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2017/05/24/the-tale-of-two-the-how-supporting-cast/
Part Six- https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2017/05/29/a-tale-of-two-the-why-land-of-iz-not-woz/
And here we go back onto the non express journey of one of the two properties used in this series. This house has a lot of history!
May 2012-
1348 West Erie ,located on the entrance way to Lorain’s entertainment and business district ( also a bit of an oxymoron), has had a plethora of news articles, blog posts, discussions and yet today sits pretty much in the same condition as it was ( except this week the grass was cut and the window in the attic closed the door in the garage is still wide open !)but apparently some repairs were made in a couple of years of back and forthing – roof not being one of them
Oh! complaints were made for years- the Morning Journal used it as an example in their Point of Sale post – in 2014
http://www.morningjournal.com/general-news/20140620/lorain-house-sets-record-with-45750-escrow-requirement
realtors squabbled – this is why you will never sell another house in Lorain brigade -( Point of Sale) Well that didn’t stop the owners of 1348 West Erie – what is the point?????
Another bank dump from Fannie Mae and past the date of Point of Sale –
The Housing Tale- a history- not a mystery- just bank business
the point being they didn’t go through POS and a journey to the court room for the “housing court” – but that is only a misdemeanor .. cost of doing business?????? ( $110)
Sale Date: 2/3/2015
Sale Amount: $0.00
Conveyance: 2015090327
Grantor: FEDERAL NATIONAL MORTGAGE ASSOCIATION
Grantee: KAJA HOLDINGS 2 LLC
The Kaja journey continued in 2015 they spent a great deal of time wasting paper and man hours ( for which we the tax payer are footing the bill) in housing court
We had two different attorneys for Vision/ Kaja and the last attorney James White stated to me in August 8th of 2016
Several of the violations to the exterior have been repaired. The City’s required escrow to perform the repairs has been deposited with an escrow agent with repairs to follow.
Oh good something has happened at last thought I…… what happened was the property changed hands again to
Prosperity Investment Fund LLC – and on the 3/3/2017 it was back on the court docket now this becomes a little confusing because the auditors site has Kaja Holdings selling to Prosperity Investment Fund LLC – on 1/10/17 for the sum of $30,000 dollars– This LLC came into being 8/29/2016
The City of Lorain filed in Housing Court 03/03/2017 a charge that a certificate of Inspection was required and the defendant was Prosperity Investment Fund LLC and taxes are and were still owed
Delinquent Special Assessment: $952.02
Unpaid Taxes: $2,074.78
Full Tax Year: $5,327.83
Total Taxes Paid to Date: $0.00
But wait for it on the 15th of June 2017 we have another LLC coming into play 2/13/2017 FICC Realty Holdings LLC – and the property ( which still owes taxes ) being sold ? ( transferred) according to Auditors site just 4 days ago from this writing .
It seems we have another attorney in the line of attorneys…
CARMINE CAMINO
55 PUBLIC SQUARE, SUITE 2100
CLEVELAND,OH 44113
Effective Date: 02/13/2017 Attorney Camino was the registering agent for both PROSPERITY and FICC REALTY LLCs
So here I sit with a plethora of court dockets, inspection certificates, paperwork, news articles , trips to City Council – emails to Administration and attorney’s galore since the story broke in 2012 ( five years on) but the steps in this ongoing property saga are as broken as the one leading to 1348 West Erie Ave.
e
June 3rd – Coma – Chris Ritchey
Think I Am – Chris Ritchey
I used to love June -NOW another month that causes anguish to the soul- although life is bursting , skies blue, roses red I can’t abide the ‘happiness’- the June Brides make me cringe. I remember, the day you married and by doing so brought with it the eventual pain that was “gifted” to your family by those “people”
Lombardi (Vyka etc. )and Company
The “wedding anniversary” is also the day this year when the “Clinic” will “dispose of what was left of your life essence.
And here it was -the Clinic apparently had not “disposed of ” (their term) the sample upon your death as contracted . Now, I have to make the decision to call them re maintaining the samples – should I do nothing they will commence the disposal on what would ironically be your wedding anniversary !!!!
I have looked at the letter from those “other “doctors” telling me to make a legal decision otherwise they will dispose of….
I could not bring myself to ring them, or contact them – like an indecisive coward – I couldn’t bring anymore “finality ” into my being, I couldn’t make the decision, I couldn’t revisit the finality. I am not strong enough to face the reality of that. I know that by doing nothing the procedure of disposal will take place on what would have been your “wedding anniversary”. I wish I could dispose of those memories as easily but they come into being every June and with them the disgust I feel for the hypocrites of their religion. I am sickened by the controllers and “do overs”.
I wish things could have been different, that it was me that went on your last journey – not you. The memories of those last days and hours constantly being pushed away from conscious thought so I can “maintain some sort of balance”
Chris’ face book icon
Again the wondering and worrying of what was happening to you as you lay in that damned clinic like a lab rat on show. Could you hear as I sang to you, talked to you – tubes running everywhere. I asked for the Drs. to stop talking over you like a piece of meat that was cut off from “life”. I knew, as watched the stats, saw the rise in heart beats when they did that or when Sue Lombardi entered the room. (one of the reasons the head nurse expelled her as her presence aggravated you). Wanting “the invited others” by the Lombardis and co to leave the room as they did their collective death watch. I was frightened that if I did cause an issue it might effect or upset you and you unable to respond. Did you hear conversations? Did you know?
It was after you died and I was contacted by a young woman from the east coast in another June , she too was dying, going through the journey of hope with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma recurring , the trials, the chemo, the numerous hospital stays the days of dying.
Hi Lorraine, This is XXXXXXXX. I hope you still use this email. I found it in a post from Sept. Your blog is fantastic. Thank you so much for writing. It’s great to get a sense of the parents perspective. It’s a vision my parents like to keep from me. Take care.
We talked, via email, of how I felt and your dad as she was trying to help her parents and what they were feeling as they were being “brave”
She asked me if there was anything she could do to help me understand what you went through . I told her about your dad and how when he was intubated, after open heart surgery, in a induced coma and flooded with drugs as to how , although we could not see any movement , no squeezing of hands- he KNEW everything that we were saying and how awful it was to be trapped in his own mind.
http://www.jems.com/articles/print/volume-33/issue-1/patient-care/intubation-101-what-do-what-ca.html
In her case she too, numerous times had been intubated, drugged, paralized and comatose although she had managed to go through that so many times. Her Hodgkin’s came back 14 times before she eventually passed, she was still hopeful at the very end.
What she told me that email that June did help me some.
“your thoughts rush.. come in fragments .. you hear voices… see colors… , the movement is jarring yet you know you are not moving … you are between…. floating and yet tied… you struggle at times to surface as if drowning…
Assignment – Chris Ritchey-CIA
When you are brought back from the “sleep” you can’t really remember if you are waking from a bad dream , if the voices you heard are real and then you forget and move on to the next days. The doctors said I was dreaming that I couldn’t hear but I did tell one about his problem he was telling Nurse ( name given) , he was annoyed because someone had taken his parking place and he “was going to find out who”. He was very surprised.
She told me , for her, although what was happening was frightening she knew she was surrounded by her husband, mother , father and sister and they were keeping her safe. and that you drift in and out not knowing really what was or is real. ” it is all real your reality – to live with”
I have clung to her words , as a mother, hoping against hope that as you lay there those last days, never to come off that tube, you didn’t know the circus your dying was turning into – hoping that you thought you were dreaming and would awaken to sunlight not hearing the “dying words” – and you knew we loved you and still do
artwork Chris Ritchey
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