Posts filed under ‘Charleston Village’
No Exit – trapped in Lorain- The Others
freedom of speech by Chris Ritchey
I don’t know why I am writing this , not much point really apart from getting it off my chest. In my theatre days I was part of a production at the Palace Theatre ( Lorain) of John Paul Sartre’s “NO EXIT” Three people trapped in their own kind of hell……
““All those eyes intent on me. Devouring me. What? Only two of you? I thought there were more; many more. So this is hell. I’d never have believed it. You remember all we were told about the torture-chambers, the fire and brimstone, the “burning marl.” Old wives’ tales! There’s no need for red-hot pokers. HELL IS OTHER PEOPLE!”
The “Other” people, they come into a neighborhood that is quiet especially in old Lorain , a Lorain that is not growing old so gracefully.
First: The Others come in and dump what used to be decent family homes onto the market because of poor business practices and the sub prime mortgage scandal.https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2018/03/19/my-roses-their-guns-walk-away-from-lorain/
Then : Others come in like money hungry vultures and buy up the properties for pennies on the dollar,
https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2016/08/26/when-vision-is-cloudy-property-holding-llcs-ny-times/
Agencies provide housing lists where RSO’s and those on parole can “assimilate into the neighborhoods- Bureau of Community Sanctions http://drc.ohio.gov/community
Bureau of Community Sanctions Overview
The Bureau of Community Sanctions distributes and monitors grant and contractual funds provided to local jurisdictions and private vendors to establish community sanctions and residential services for adult offenders that are re-integrating into the community or who, otherwise, would be incarcerated in local jails or state prisons. Programs funded by the Bureau include Halfway Houses, Community-Based Correctional Facilities, Community Residential Centers, Permanent Supportive Housing, and Community Corrections Act grant programs including Intensive Supervision Probation, Standard Probation, Prosecutorial Diversion, Non-Supervisory Treatment Programs, Electronic Monitoring, and Community Work Service. Additionally, the Bureau has provided Probation Improvement Grants, Probation Incentive Grants, and SMART Ohio Grants in order to alleviate voids in services. The funds and contracts managed by the Bureau are addressed in Ohio Revised Code Sections 2301.51, and Ohio Administrative Codes 5120:1-3-01 and 5120:1-5-06.
artist not found
and the Adult Parole Authority , http://drc.ohio.gov/parole
The APA’s mission is to “aid in the reentry of offenders by partnering with community stakeholders and law enforcement agencies to preserve public safety by holding offenders accountable through diverse supervision strategies and technology.” The philosophy of supervision statement for the Field Services section of the APA is to “effectively supervise and provide opportunity for offenders to reenter into law-abiding citizenship and to reward, encourage, and promote positive behavior, while holding offenders accountable for negative behavior.” The APA determines release of inmates from prison to parole or transitional control, sets supervision conditions for inmates released on post release control, coordinates placement of offenders in the community and supervises them upon their release from prison. In addition, the APA assists counties in the development of basic felony supervision services upon request for the Courts of Common Pleas. The APA administers Ohio’s interstate compact agreement for probation and parole coordinating movement of supervised offenders among states.
and now rehab centers for drug dealers and convicted felons, along with people who NEED Rehab. ( follow the money , and the grants)
https://www.familywatchdog.us/
RSO’s around my house 165 mapable and 15 unmapable…. churches, schools also in the same vicinity along with a struggling downtown.
A neighborhood starts to spiral downward, a business district suffers because of deteriorating neighborhoods surrounding that district and they are getting worse.
Others move into these homes, others who are bent on living THEIR life style , no respect, just feed the sound system, deal the drugs, intimidate what is left of a neighborhood, bring in “others’ until what is left are those that cannot move , are unable to cope and so hide within their homes, frightened of the “armed others”.
The “left people, meaning those that are left – not of the political term- they try to call government, the police, anyone , they for the most part do not live this lifestyle, it is foreign to them , they don’t understand this disrespect or how this is happening, they do not know what can and can’t be done, they reach out for help……… and not a lot can be done.
There is NO HELP from the likes of a Bureau of Community Sanctions, helping THEM to live in their neighborhood. No service agency for those that are left , trying to live a peaceful hardworking existence and live out their lives in their homes whether owned or rented.
Most of these issues, the music , the loud lifestyles, the implied intimidation , watching people dealing in parking lots , the lack of quality of life CANNOT be addressed quickly or with much accountability. So we live in a limbo of fear of retaliation perceived or intended.
https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2015/08/23/hurled-through-the-window-retribution-who-done-it-lorain/
The crime map of this morning , as I type, you can see this old neighborhood is seemingly outnumbered by the “Others” How does community breathe in the 44052 . http://communitycrimemap.com/
Oh some of the drug deals etc are looked into and documented for the courts by our Lorain Police Dept, sometimes months of work goes into these deals and dealers. BUT what good is it when felons are given a ” time out for drug rehab” and a $750 fine and released back into the neighborhood. What message – Judges of Lorain and County does this send to the people who are “left” ?
The police can only do so much, “call when there is an issue.. “make sure your mention they have a scanner if you believe that to be the case” The police have to witness the “crime or activity”. In Lorain on any given day or night there are only 6 -7 officers on the streets for a population of 64,000 and covering 24 square miles and is comprised of 113 Police Officers and 34 civilian employees.
The “Others” know the system they know how to get around the laws, they know how to waste time , they know eventually the “the lefts “ will either give up, die , move or just get plain worn out or be put down as a “complainer”… Been there done that
In this house, at the moment I have a hospice patient, last days of living in Lorain…. dying slowly without a murmur and if you ask me Lorain and the 44052 are following in the footsteps…….
I hope I am wrong but if this street and what is happening in this neighborhood is anything to go by we the lefts are terminal as there isn’t much hope with the solutions we have…… I am not sure there will be a “continuation…..” not when the “others are spreading the disease as quickly as they are….
To Stabilize or DE-stabilize that is the question Lorain County
UPDATE!!!! today the 29th of April I drove past the property that was the Olde English Parlour and Lorain Creamery and what a difference in just a few days. The property has had the mattresses and tires and junk cars on the sidewalk of last week removed and the place tidied and cleaned – Thank you City of Lorain
The 10 hundred block of 4th street especially 1026 has been mentioned in the past few days . https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2018/04/23/a-dangerous-situation-castration-of-justice-lorain/
The Incarceration House
Interesting home , a pretty home and now a mini jail ( in my opinion ) where ,according to court records ( Judge John Miraldi’s court), there is a history. Check out these court cases from Lorain County Court of Common Pleas and John Miraldi’s courtroom – You be the judge – and please check out the indictments
16CR093607 03/25/2016
Then there is court case : 16CA011062 which is apparently ( not being an attorney I have struggled with some of the documentation ) an appeal … but that date is 12/27/2016
BUT this “gentleman – of our neighborhood “ was arrested less than one month later with regard to a heroin bust at 1141 W 14th Street
http://www.morningjournal.com/article/MJ/20170124/NEWS/170129722
Jan 24, 2017 – A Lorain Police Department SWAT Team member watches the front of Matatanes Auto Repair and Towing, 1141 W. 14th St., as narcotics detectives search the business Jan. 24, 2017. The Lorain Police Department Narcotics Unit executed a search warrant at the automotive repair shop and at 911 W. 14th …
Approach the bench – side bar-
Lorain readers will remember this lovely little business at 1141 W 14th used to be the Lorain Creamery / Olde English Parlour . How many of us enjoyed ice cream and a a meal at the Olde English Parlour?
https://sites.google.com/site/loraincreamery/home/production
http://danielebrady.blogspot.com/2009/07/lorain-creamery-scoop-5.html
Photo Dan Brady
http://www.chroniclet.com/news/2012/03/18/Fire-damages-former-Lorain-Creamery.html
and now???? Just drive by , I did – past the trash , junk and mattresses etc. Who let that facility end up the way it has , where are the inspections???? … From Lorain County Auditors Site – Owners Nicolaou Petros & Elena – tax bill mailed to 897 S Lake St. Amherst . Ohio
Oh yes! been down that road before – Whomever it was should have been fired in my opinion….. but I digress back to the courts:
Case number 17CR095700 ( back in John Miraldi’s Court ) 02/14/2017 
You may well be asking WHY am I still banging on about this guy and his court case ? You see there is a little more history on this 10 hundred block.
In my opinion the County and the Courts have acquiesced to having this person serve time ( under house arrest) in our neighborhood thereby “destabilizing” a neighborhood that has its struggles and abuts the downtown which everyone is wanting to “bring back???
He wasn’t originally living in this neighborhood NO! he was arrested at 911 W 14TH ST LORAIN, OH 44052 owned by Barreto Cadido and Megdalia and whose tax bill of $6,273.98 doesn’t look to have been paid in 5 or 6 years .
These streets around downtown could be positive foot traffic for the big downtown renewal but what sort of foot traffic is being sent your way answer me that – Downtown Lorain?
In fact the county , under the Neighborhood Stabilization Program poured money into this block, taking down a derelict house that had stood abandoned for over forty years, upon the advise of another expensive “study” –
Thriving Communities Institute of the Western Reserve Land Conservancy- Sarah Ryzner, the institute’s director of projects, and Paul Boehnlein, GIS and conservation planning specialist had a lot to say starting with two doors down from the now “incarceration house”
The Icon House
https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2013/11/16/welcome-to-fairyland-aka-in-the-pink-lorain-ohio/ and https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2013/11/13/away-with-the-fairies-living-in-lorain/
True to their word with much hoopla Lorain County Land Reutilization and Lorain County Port Authority came and took down the Icon House
“So under the auspices of the Lorain County Land Re-utilization Corp – Lorain County Port Authority
whose mission ” Improving Lorain County and Revitalizing Neighborhoods” the eyesore ,that was once a well-loved and cherished home, came down.”
https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2014/07/16/history-demoed-another-rehabbed-pt-1/
This segues into the rest of the story because thanks to the Neighborhood “Stabilization” Program -the county and co – another historic property The Coleman House – 1031 W 4th was rehabbed see the story here …
https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2014/07/22/history-demoed-another-rehabbed-pt3/
The county duly rehabbed the house- it was too far gone for an historic rehab, but supposedly helped with stabilizing the neighborhood. More than a few 10’s of thousands went into this “icon” project …We, in the street were pleased someone was recognizing the worthiness and rehabbing.
My question is will the county and courts get on the same page …. please make up their mind because using the “house across the road from the rehab house as a “16 hour a day place of incarceration” is not conducive to stabilizing this neighborhood .
And whilst we are at it and the cost to the “community”- that apparently has no say so in control- I asked the Judge John Mirald etc i- for which I never received and answer :
How much does a drug raid cost us the taxpayers , local, state and federal for our law enforcement to go on these raids as opposed to the amount of sentencing????
MAKE UP YOUR MIND LORAIN COUNTY – DO YOU WISH TO STABILIZE OR DESTABLIZE THIS STREET……… The community who have invested years have rights too………….. OR DO WE?????? Lorain County and Courts enquiring minds would like to know!
My roses their guns – walk away from Lorain?
I don’t need a little Christmas- I need new leaves, blossoms, daffodils, tulips the sound of splashing water from the ponds, grass that is green . I need mother nature to take me away and screen me from those that dwell in the “hood”.
I can look at the snow drops peeking through and imagine I am far far away in a woodland dell instead of the “No Exit” that we are living. I use mother nature and her children – trees and shrubs flowers and vines to build a barrier between them and us.
I have been planted here because I chose a young, brown-eyed , perfect teeth of a guy and followed him to Lorain and this house. It has been home for over 40 years now. And the issues and problems with purchasing in a neighborhood that was transitioning has been well documented on this blog.
But in the past 10 years the bank dumps especially with the “Blue House” have lowered property values – caused the neighborhood that was at one point stable and going back to a more respectful quiet and family area to take a nose dive. 1121 W 4th now owned by one MARRERO – RAMOS MIGUEL . His “tenants” who obviously feel we should appreciate their foul language and loud – gun totting lifestyle as they hemorrhage it all over the rest of the block.
2012 I knew that this was going to be an issue from the very first day it sold…… after being dumped by the bank
“Well First Federal Savings of Lorain I have seen and “heard ” the “people” who have come to see your listing . I spoke to a couple of them as the parked on the lawn next door under my dining room window- as I informed them they were parking on another’s property and that it wasn’t a driveway – they knew and didn’t care- they were buying the blue house? SIGH. Oh! and quite frankly I am dreading the rest of the summer thanks to you and your “business” decisions .
You, First Federal Saving of Lorain have, in my opinion, “dumped your unwanted housing” from $56,000 to 28 thousand (buy back )to 13,900 listing just two months later . NOTE sold for $12,500 – Great !!! And let us face it – it was your bank that made the decision just a few short years ago by giving a mortgage to someone unable to pay it in the first place that set in motion this chain of events.
You are responsible, in my opinion, for what will ripple out and effect this neighborhood. Don’t forget, you were also the mortgage holder and foreclosed on the other neighborhood house next door 1125, W. 4th street– now scheduled for demolition
AND then
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2016/05/17/money-where-your-mouth-is-part-one/
Flash forward 6 years later and many issues – the brown house was demolished- then came the highway cut through and parking wherever the needed to park… boats, trucks and vehicles. I suppose it was just a nuisance to me and mine that we had to live with this disrespectful behaviours.
We finally purchased the lot next door 1125 W 4th (2016) duly fenced , planted shrubs, trees, ponds and plants to make our little corner of the world a place for respite .
I argued there was hope for Lorain and this area , even knowing that it was an uphill battle due to business practices that have made the surrounding neighborhoods a concern for anyone wanting to open a restaurant or bring in an “up market” healthy business. It was going to be local and piecemeal at best. Through a 501C3 we have tried our best to bring something of which we can be proud to the area:
This particular house 1121, W 4th – a rental- with a plethora of tenants in the three bedroom 1 bath home- including a very loud lifestyle,. has a business in the form of a funeral home behind them – The fence behind the funeral home parking lot was knocked down and so now exposes those coming for viewing a view that I am sure isn’t what they were expecting :
March 11th found a “flock” of “yard birds” swilling alcohol comparing guns and shouting in the alley – and witnessed by more than me.
In the front of the house, across the street is a Charter School, and since these people live back to front their trash etc is always s there bidding a warm welcome to the parents dropping off their kids. March 18th
Trouble is we can nothing about the intimidation the “fear of ones safety” and IF WE don’t feel safe in our own street and back garden then does Lorain honestly think walking this street to the local opportunities or parking in the neighborhoods just blocks away is an option.
People read this blog who are not from Lorain- they use it to research the community – they come here to find out about Lorain-
This type of post does Lorain no good BUT it is the truth , it is what has happened all over this Ward 2 thanks to banks local , national and international ( all documented for years on this blog) , out-of-town LLC’s , multi property owners who don’t give a damn and a population that is being held hostage and quiet through fear of retaliation.
This past weekend March 18 my two little grandchildren coming to help their grandfather tidy the new lot – get ready for spring were subjected to a wild-eyed , irate witch calling them and their “Nog” – as she hauled herself on the flat-bed of a tow truck they have parked next to my fence – every form of filth she could muster from her large loud mouth.
The cause of this “in retaliation tirade” because I asked her on Sunday March 4th – as her music cranked up when she parked her vehicle in the alley doors wide open was vibrating every window in the neighborhood .
My request to turn it down was met with a torrent of Spanish peppered with “fu##” bitch .. was given the” talk to the hand” among the profanities pouring from her and I said either turn it down or I call the police –
“you go backa in your house, bitch I don’t need you… I gotta a new car and testing it out”
I said test it elsewhere – as she entered the house the tirade of go into your house mother- fu##er .
Back to this past Sunday – we were lighting the fire pit and preparing to have the kids roast hot dogs ( nice American pastime) apparently Tonya of the Tow Truck decided she no likka my smoke ( which I may add was NOT blowing east but south) and hence the abuse. Well I have news for her I am allowed to be in my own garden with my grandchildren .
Unfortunately , as I looked at the kids faces and what I was seeing , I became disenchanted , angry and fed up !
The littlest one now no longer wanted to be in the garden – he was frightened – they didn’t know what was happening- they aren’t exposed to this sort of behaviors with their neighbors and the oldest ( 8) saying:
Nog, I am sorry you have to live here–
it dawned on me he felt like I was in some sort of hellish world so unfamiliar to him… I was seeing our home through the eyes of an 8-year-old and I didn’t like what I was seeing there .
Yes so am I – I said
There is nothing I can do… This ward has become a “glut of yobos” gone too far – the tipping point tipped.
– and thanks to First Federal policies and devaluing the neighborhood ( in my humble opinion) by dumping this house for $12,500 I can’t even sell this property and my grandchildren will not want their inheritance- far from over the river to grandma’s house we go – it will be “dump it” for what we can get -I am not living there .
So Lorain you will lose again …. take that to the bank!!!!!
My roses against their guns ………. ain’t happening … 
Lorain’s housing- the owners of the dirty diaper- PT1
Come into my parlor said the FLY to the SPIDER – Lorain being the name of the FLY and the SPIDER -???)
Notorious Opponents of Exactitude
I am not an inspector, I am not a builder, I am not a politician , I am not a legal eagle , ( although in some cases around this “wonderland” the eagle fails to fly )I admit I have no qualifications what so ever pertaining to “housing” I am however an “expert taxpayer”. I didn’t come down with yesterday’s shower and I am not a complete fool.
I have written about housing in this city for years on various blogs, been picked up by national and local media- brought situations to the fore- and still the same behaviours when it comes to “predatory property LLC’s “continue …
Back to Lorain City Hall on October 19th and the Demolition Board of Appeals – ( why ? when I said I was done!) because the icon house of thousands of my words and documentation was on the list. 1348 West Erie
In 2012 I wrote about this house situated in one of the better areas and also along the main thoroughfare into what is called “Lorain’s downtown, business , entertainment, waterfront, social service and law offices abound District“-
In 2012, as I wrote about this home, we thought the house was one of the oldest , historically speaking in Lorain according to Ohio Historic Inventory
only to do some detective work to see the original house on that site was destroyed by the 1924 Lorain Tornado . After the tornado a home was built over the original foundation – https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2012/05/30/lorains-history-mystery-the-wurmser-house-a-tale-of-two-houses/
It wasn’t another tornado causing this home to be on the demo list.There is a blockage in the bowels of the building housing and planning system and Lorain’s right to decent housing .
The system is clogged, broken and the cause of a lot of Lorain’s housing ills
Cartoon Source – Sannimas – https//www.sswm.com
So who or what Lorain City / Lorain County Dept is helping to fill the dirty diaper of decay , to bugger up the system causing the foul stench to permeate Lorain’s older neighborhoods , streets and if something is smelling in Denmark
“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”
it is positively putrid ( in my opinion) in Lorain!
The social media will have discussions of conspiracy, kickbacks and anecdotal evidence- to be fair that has happened – ( William Desvari Chief Building Inspector under Mayor Craig Foltin) comes to mind .. Those decisions made during that time have resurfaced just a few weeks ago
https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2017/08/25/am-i-bovvered-lorain-fire-in-the-belly/
The mere fact reports stated from the Chronicle Telegram Newspaper that earlier in another administration ( Foltin) “inspections were “case closed” by an administration that was “landlord friendly” on this building.
http://www.chroniclet.com/Local-News/2017/08/07/Section-of-Broadway-remains-closed-until-Thistle-Building-is-razed.html
http://www.morningjournal.com/article/MJ/20120427/NEWS/304279955 The date on that particular article was around the same time the 1348 House documentation was starting to be written.
Even before that 2012 article the rot was setting in , the “waste product “of”friendly inspections” brokehomes started to clog the flow. Yes we did have the issues of fraud etc in the Building Dept.
http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2008/07/lorains_chief_building_officia.html
Desvari was placed on paid administrative leave in February while police investigated accusations of accusations of dereliction of duty, conflict of interest and issuing improper building permits against him. He was hired in 2003 for the $63,000-a-year job.
In 2004, he was charged with falsifying his job application for not disclosing felony convictions of fraud, forgery, theft and passing bad checks, all from Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court between 1987 and 1990.
And the tale continued http://www.chroniclet.com/news/2012/08/06/Former-Lorain-official-dies-while-awaiting-trial.html
You see it wasn’t that he was a fraud and a thief – known to have issues, criminal charges and legal issues but the fact that HE WAS HIRED by the Foltin Admin in the first place is my issue . And WHY when the initial reports of his “iffy ” resume reached us through the media – where was our outrage -why didn’t we use our collective voices to say NO! this isn’t right?
Did not Mayor Foltin, at the time, do due diligence he was and is a very intelligent person, you mean to say he did not check the on line university for the degree of Billy Boy was well pretty much non existent. Well the diaper may not have been full but it was fast becoming smelly. There were certainly enough red flags back then but it seems the Foltin Administration REPUBLICAN- 2000-2008 were red / green color blind.
Of course we also had issues with the next administration this time DEMOCRAT- 2008-2012 Mayor Krasienko – and that is still on going – a Safety Service Director – Robert Gilchrist ( also a resume that had flags) who was less than desirable and one of whose participation in the loan program is still under investigation by the FBI- Photo source Gilchrist’s Mug shot ( but I ask you who is really the “mug” in all this????
Of course the whole 5th floor of city hall was also now starting to reek from the odours as to those in charge- we would be remiss if we didn’t mention Sandy Prudoff – controversial head of Community Development for many , many years ……… http://www.cleveland.com/countyincrisis/index.ssf/2012/06/sanford_prudoff_former_lorain.html
Sanford Prudoff, former Lorain official, pleads guilty to conspiracy; will testify against Anthony O. Calabrese III
found also to be entangled with Attorney Calabrese who worked for the law firm of Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP
This law firm was brought into the city also under the Foltin administration (according to Lorain City documentation)
http://www.morningjournal.com/article/mj/20131118/NEWS/131119348
Cleveland law firm to pay Lorain $3 million (with video)
http://www.cleveland.com/countyincrisis/index.ssf/2013/11/anthony_o_calabreses_former_la.html
You can see why people in chat rooms and face book pages call out corruption and kickbacks no matter who is in city hall or on city council . The smell of those involved hasn’t gone away and lingers on those who now work in the city environment and I can see the diaper being filled .
The smell oozing through the political cracks did start to attract attention and although we can “hopefully” eventually catch those that add to our decaying housing, decaying building who are found to be crooks -gaining money and power through nefarious means –they are the least of our worries .
No, it is my opinion what is happening now to fill the diaper , which is causing the blockage in the “system” of decent housing is far more dangerous- yes money and a lot of it is involved , but LEGALLY – which is even more horrendous than all the fraudsters we have had though the years. WE ARE INVITING THEM IN TO THIS COMMUNITY – we are the little fly inviting in the great big money grabbing salivating spider and its enablers!
https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2016/08/26/when-vision-is-cloudy-property-holding-llcs-ny-times/
TO BE CONTINUED ……………..
Money where your mouth Is – Part 7
Part One- https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2016/05/17/money-where-your-mouth-is-part-one/
https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2016/06/03/june-3rd-your-truth-chris-ritchey
Part Two- https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2016/06/17/money-where-your-mouth-is-the-process-part-two/
Part Three- https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2016/10/17/money-where-your-mouth-is-part-3/
Part Four- https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2016/10/28/money-where-your-mouth-is-part-4/
Part Five – https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2016/11/15/money-where-your-mouth-is-part-5/
Part Six- https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2016/11/27/money-where-your-mouth-is-part-six/
It was just over a year ago when we were working to create a garden from the muck and mire lot next door. We could have just taken down the large dangerous tree and mowed grass.
However, for many years I had had to block views from that lot- when it held one of the “rentals” of Lorain and finally the vacant lot of “long grass and critters – of both two legged and 4 legged kind.
Apart from the fact, I had made promises to the City of Lorain , we would make the lot desirable and would enhance the ambiance, stop the 4th street cut though from the alley and parking of marine and construction vehicles and accumulate trash, I needed to be able to find at least a little joy in looking out of my windows. I no longer wanted to shudder at the construction parking lot and marinas we had put up with for many months, the tenants from hell in the little brown house as it slowly deteriorated. I wanted a little peace and not angst . Part 1 through 6 will tell you of that journey.
We were almost finished with the hardscape and clearing of lower lot in July of last year (2016)when illness struck and the 2nd phase of the lot behind the fence had to take a step back.
Lower front 2016
and then same time 2017
The illness held up Phase 2 for at least two months. There we were with dump trucks full of in fill dirt needing to be moved and levelled, 9 trees- fruit and evergreen -to be planted and Lilly pond to be dug. What a mess we were in.
Also when we took down that very large tree so close to our house we realized that side of the house needed to be painted ( well Klinar of the Building Dept. didn’t have to tell me that I could see it.) This meant more expense as the whole house need to be painted.
I can’t say I didn’t have two willing helpers whilst their “Poo Bah” was in hospital – they worked that dirt….
They more than made up for the weed letter from the City of Lorain and Building Dept. complained to by the “King of Construstruction” ( which of course turned out to be Swiss Chard, Morning Glories and Mint on my property poking through the fence in the alley .
https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2016/08/09/municipal-manipulation-lorain-e-again/
One thing leads to another, apart from educating the city inspectors as to what is a weed and what is food we then had to stop put screening around the chain link fence to contain the garden and plant tall “ornamental grasses “ to stop prying “alley commandos” from their vigilante inspection process”
The offending weeds ( spot the weeds in the fence ??)
and the same view after the screen of prying eyes fame
More expense and time and effort.
October 2016 found things getting better and the garden crew ( Gavin and Braedyn) were busy digging and the fruit trees were planted along with the layout for the “Lilly ponds”. The snows stopped work, but Spring found the need to put in a gravel parking spot and gravel along the alley – yet more money – but the fruit trees started to blossom, the Lilly ponds and dry stream bed feature brought flowers and smiles from behind the fence
Lilly pond and dry stream bed
Spring/Summer was busy this year peach blossoms in the mini orchard turned to peaches, apples, plums and cherries blossomed but another year is needed.
Scarecrows to guard the crops.
and planting to be done , ponds to be filled
Slowly the grass came in enough on the back lot-
then came the weed whacking and tidying
Sunflowers bloomed and sheds for tools put together
and the corn grew,
Lily pads and still ponds thrived the sunlight
Roses Lilacs and rhubarb…
And a Scotch Broom sweeps clean 😉
So here we are 18 months later $20,000 dollars poorer – this put up a fence and a mini orchard and just mow turned into something much , much more than envisioned. I am more relaxed and happy as I look out of the windows although the project that nearly killed the gardener…
but we have kept our word to the city administration and to ourselves remained true.
After Phase One we sent an update of the front lot project to the City Of Lorain- we had used 6 local businesses, 10 ( men employed by contractors) and spent $11,045.50
Phase Two , we used 5 local businesses , materials, labor etc came to another $8,935.00 and still climbing ….
The collage: Today Oct 2017:
Before
Soon the snow will fly and next spring , hopefully all being well, tweeking will be done and the gardens will continue to “bear fruit”. Some have mentioned we were stupid to put that amount of money into an empty lot in “Low rain” but this is our neighborhood, our home . We certainly can’t make a difference on other neighboring streets, or the “downtown” but we could make a difference on this old block, give the school kids and teachers a better view , show a little pride and put our money where my mouth is ! After all I can’t criticize unless I am prepared to do my bit to beautify this old neighborhood.
Many faces of The Captain- Settlers’ Watch- Lorain 2017
Photo Mark Teleha
As I started to write this post with regard to the tree carvings at Settlers’ Watch and their journey
https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2009/08/02/settlers-watch-an-overview/
( yes you will see they have travelled over time) I realized we were coming up on the 10th anniversary of the first carvings. Time, bugs, road salt and weather have taken their toll.
But it is “The Captain” who has changed and was on life support for a year or more. We spent hundreds in chemicals and treatments and this is his story.
Born 2007 The Captain had a rough birth- CVSI had raised money to carve some of trees taken down by Ohio Edison – 19 of them along 2nd street making the street uglier and without any softness or much worth .
We had just started the carving – first up Lorain Portside Sign to coincide with the Lorain Bicentennial August 2007
https://www.flickr.com/photos/12219598@N06/
when a change in the plan for the new sewers blindsided us. Originally these were going to bypass the area BUT as with all things plans change and trees marked for carving were taken down ( without warning) and piles of materials were stored on the site. We had already taken donations and the carvings were contracted.
This meant since they chopped down his tree and the one destined to be Eric Barnes Eagle we had to purchase other pieces of wood to be carved into the Captain and Eric Barnes Eagle off site.
The eagle when finished was safely stored at inside at the City of Lorain but the Captain went to Black River Landing.
https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2008/06/13/the-captain-arrives-and-the-eagle-landed/
He was supposed to be sealed and not stored on concrete due to the heat coming up from the concrete and in direct sunlight- this didn’t happen . Unfortunately, in the ensuing months of not being maintained , the toll taken by summer and winter the Captain started with issues.
2007-2008
Photo Mark Teleha
When we finally brought him back to the site he was very dry and whilst the other carvings took a gallon of sealer for all 4 he took 2 gallons by himself, he was soaking it up like a sponge but he and the other carvings finally had a home
Photo Mark Teleha
There he stood spring , summer , fall and winter for the next 4 years
Lorain365
His other problem is he attracts seagulls – these seagulls have a tendency to sit on his hat and poop – that poop eats away at the sealer opening his wood up to the elements and bugs .In 4 years he went from this to this
And his issues continued:
It was one day (during Pride Day 3 years ago) as we went to give him a coat of sealer we noticed what looked like a bullet hole in his back. No! not a bullet hole BUT wood wasps had made their homes in him, and the Heron and Lighthouse.
The Heron and Lighthouse were a quick fix but the Captain had a attracted seagulls who delighted in sitting on his hat . Their guano had eaten through the sealer and the wood on the top of his head leaving a huge hole in his head – just brilliant for collecting water. .
Research was started as how to preserve him and his crumbling insides- Many hundreds of dollars later we tried with preservatives , bug deterrents – drilling holes in him filling him with the wood chemicals, stabilizing wood pieces and plugging him up. We reached out to professionals all over the country. We added a hat over his carved head until we could deal with the damage and the seagulls. We had to leave his head open to access his insides.
Photo Lorain 365
Try as we might, his rotted insides didn’t react well and the chemicals actually reacted with the sealer and the Captain turned a dark mahogany.
He was literally flaking to death – his ship’s wheel would find the stanchions falling to the ground, his arms where the wasps and insects had done the most damage were hollow and flaking off, shedding with every week. It looked like curtains for the Captain. Obviously none of the “professional fixes ” were working we had to
stabilize him whilst we experimented – otherwise the Captain was sunk.
His hat was retied onto his head ,back to front to protect his face , his cracks and holes filled with a special wood compound but
would it harden- would it stay- could we carve it -like the can said?
We worked on the top of his arms and shoulders , replaced the wheel stanchions . covered his top half with a black bag to keep out the water and painted his lower half with a white preservative- and there he sat for most of last summer, fall and winter.
Photo Lorain 365
The unveiling was done with much trepidation this June
The test areas seemed to be holding so the next step filling the insides- no more bugs but cavities were still a huge problem, experiments with special insulation foam and various fill products seemed to work- he was less hollow and stable. Where the foam etc leaked out we could carve it and it held the wood product alright and so we left him without his black bag and the water was shedding off him .
So there we were – what next? Obviously we couldn’t leave him looking like he was and we could no longer seal it with the varnish- The men in the know-( his surgeons) decided house paint.. but that would look awful I thought but something has to be done to cover and seal the patches etc. House paint it was – Tudor Brown ( can you guess where that came from)- well it looks good on my house) – the problem was he looked flat and semi glossed… a bit softening and highlighting, the Captains face changed again –
He is a little grayer ( more like driftwood than mahogany this time around) – but then who wouldn’t be grayer after all he has been through- I know I am! Fingers crossed and if you would like to donate to the Captain’s Hat
https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2015/12/11/passing-the-captains-hat-2015-update/
If you can see your way to helping to fill the Captains Hat – 100% percent of your donation goes to the project. We are a 501C3
Make checks payable to Charleston Village Society- ( Captain’s Hat in the memo line)
1127 West 4th Street, Lorain, Ohio 44052
There is still work to do at the very base and if this fix holds then hopefully he will remain at his helm for a few more years …Oh and his hat was put back on just incase a seagull alights!!!
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…
https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/app/legacy/documents/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!
http://www.communityblightsolutions.com/files/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.
Foreclosures that involve vacant properties lead to increases in violent crime. The impact of vacancy on crime increases as the property stays vacant for longer periods, likely plateauing at between 12 and 18 months.
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 …………….
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