Posts filed under ‘Legal’
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!
“Game of Loans” Clear as Mud- CDBG funds Lorain
The Lorain Development Corp – an ongoing ripple effect – standing alone – questions and accounting tools all as clear as mud to me and I have been writing about this for yonks! 
There is a plethora of information starting with a series of articles on Lorain Community Development in 2008 ( 10 years ago ) by Mark Teleha
https://locophotogblog.wordpress.com/category/community-development/ and his interviews with Sandy Prudoff and Doug Rangel
“the opportunity to meet Doug Rangel. Doug is the Executive Director of the Lorain Development Corporation. Flashing back briefly, this is what Sandy Prudoff explained to me during the interview:
The other division, which is not really a city department, is our contract with the Lorain Development Corporation. The reason why we have a contract with them, we don’t have city staff doing that, is that he (Doug Rangel) has a ward of accountants, bankers, attorneys and business people. They, for no fee, and volunteer time, meet with Doug, and any small business request for financing, all the way up to $1.3 million on the Duane Building, all the way up to a $6 million undertaking of the Industrial Park, he and his Board, but primarily him, will structure the financing, monitor the financing. The Industrial Park had $2+ million for the loan, a loan from the State. A $2+ million loan from the Federal Government, a $2 million grant from the State, and a $2 million grant from the EDA (Economic Development Association)……
D. Romancak 2008
Doug doesn’t work for us, he works under contract with us. His agency is independent. He takes care of all the financing and business loans. So, first perception that we’re these rogue agents just doing whatever we want is definitely misplaced in a statutory city where we are the City of Lorain; we’re not separate and apart, we’re not different. We find it, sometimes amusing, as people say ‘There goes Community Development again, doing whatever it is that they do.” So said Don Romancak,
https://locophotogblog.wordpress.com/2008/04/11/saving-downtown-there-is-available/
Note the above link make interesting reading as to how the system was supposed to work https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2009/03/22/community-development-city-of-lorain/
FAST FORWARD to 2015 https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2015/04/15/money-for-old-rope-a-taxpayers-question/
https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2015/04/23/lorain-development-corp-lorain-op-ed/
and then 2016
https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2016/04/12/lorain-development-corp-the-revolving-evolving-story/
http://www.chroniclet.com/news/2016/04/26/City-cuts-ties-with-Lorain-Development-Corp.html
Robert Ellis, a local attorney and president of the LDC board, said the corporation, a nonprofit, has two options — it can find another foundation that is willing to loan money to businesses in Lorain, or it can dissolve.
AND then the FBI enters the picture: http://www.chroniclet.com/news/2016/07/08/FBI-probes-loan-program-by-Lorain-Development-Corp-ran-for-city.html
and THEN!!! August 30th 2017
http://www.chroniclet.com/Local-News/2017/08/30/Lorain-acts-on-defaulted-loans-before-HUD-comes-calling.html Glenn also noted the FBI investigation regarding the program, which began last summer, is still going on 
and now the situation as it stands today February 28th 2018
as the ripple effect of decisions made by Lorain and the spending of money and write offs is still causing ripples
http://www.cityoflorain.org/announcements?view=1683 February 26, 2018 Public Hearing – CDBG PY2017 Substantial Amendment
http://www.chroniclet.com/Local-News/2018/02/27/Lorain-wants-to-change-block-grant-spending.html 
Ritenauer {Mayor} said one of the biggest hurdles to lowering that ratio, though, is the revolving loan program, which was frozen several years ago due to over $600,000 in loans being written off and thousands of others were delinquent. “The problem is HUD counts that credit against us so that’s inflating our ratio,” he said. “It’s just north of a million dollars and when we get payments that makes it go up. Well, we can’t spend it to make it go back down because they’ve frozen it. We’d be in good shape if they would unfreeze that money and we could put it where it needs to be.”
Also the Morning Journal : ” Lorain puts local projects on hold to repay federal money http://www.morningjournal.com/general-news/20180226/lorain-puts-local-projects-on-hold-to-repay-federal-money
Lorain’s problem comes in part because the city and HUD have frozen Lorain’s revolving loan program to help businesses. That was due to questions about loans raised by Glenn’s predecessor, Leon Mason, who led the Department of Building, Housing and Planning. That frozen account inflates Lorain’s ratio of CDBG money allocated to money spent, the mayor said.
10 years of documents papers and pointing up the issue on this blog with Money for Old Rope three years ago.. and that pesky $600,000.00 I couldn’t figure out and apparently I wasn’t far off the mark. was I ( even if I can’t understand government accounting 101) 😉
In the middle of all this moneying…. and accounting is a loan of $250.000.01 to South Shore CDC
“As Mr. Mason stated, the issues with the revolving Loan fund came to him from the State Auditor
“I got an email from the state auditor who wanted to know why the city of Lorain had over $600,000 in loan write-offs,” department director Leon Mason said. “My response was that I didn’t know what he was talking about, and when he sent me the information, I was able to pinpoint some of the loans, but I did find some that were troubling, to say the least.” Mason said one that stood out to him was a $250,000.01 loan to the South Shore Community Development Corporation.
UPDATED- Minutes of the committee meeting April 11th 2016 where the report was given to Lorain City Council members
Oh well – 2018 and we are still trying to find our way clear of this one. BUT I am troubled – I am like the majority of tax payers, I can’t even figure out my own taxes let alone understand “accounting tools” of government .
I looked through spread sheets – I looked through “loans” and to whom they were made- BUT I looked at them as a citizen with a fair to middling IQ. 
I looked at was down as a “loan” to the City of Lorain (Building Housing and Planning)
NOTE: Yes! I know I have issues with the way “that” department is and has been run https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2016/08/09/municipal-manipulation-lorain-e-again/ and the archaic means at their disposal when it comes to checking Point of Sale and the “paperwork”-
Little did I know I was in for a plethora of emails and answers and more confusion. I looked at a sheet of what were termed “loans” and one in particular caught my eye- no interest and under the category “closed not paid”- since the 501C3 mentioned was still an ongoing organization HOW COULD THAT BE? Well what was to be a simple question turned out to be a confusing answer 
You see this “Loan” wasn’t a loan – No! No! I have it all wrong apparently BHP needs an accounting tool to track payments for RENT etc.
The said organization paid out IN LEASE/RENT $ 19,050 from April 2013- March 2017 BUT in the accounting for BHP this was down on the books as a LOAN
Why?? according to the City of Lorain : their (BHP) system is a LOAN system. The way they keep track of any building lease/rent is to enter it in this system as it tracks the “due “ payments and categorizes them if they are late/past due etc.
Art Work Scott Bakalar
So confusing as it is – when is a loan not a loan when it is an accounting tool with BHP. Note: Excuse me just would make life easier it seems if it was classified under something say : Incoming rents from city owned properties I think there might be software somewhere to handle that………. Just my 2 cents ( or is it?) 😉
Now let us get back to South Shore Development Corp and that $250,000.01 loan that was written off by the Board of Lorain Development Corporation on February 3rd 2014
The Board was supposedly independent of City Administration and Council etc. BUT there were in place safety measures – from Mark’s 2008 interview :
“All of these loans are subject to review and approval by the loan board of Lorain Development Corporation as well as Board of Control, if they fall within the guidelines and would additionally require City Council approval if the loan request goes outside of guidelines. Doug Rangel “
In the case of the loan to South Shore Development Corp there were issues with conflict of interest. 
http://www.chroniclet.com/news/2016/07/08/FBI-probes-loan-program-by-Lorain-Development-Corp-ran-for-city.html
One of the loans that HUD officials flagged is a $250,000 loan made to South Shore Development Corp. in 2011 to help keep the struggling St. Joseph Community Center afloat. That loan was never repaid and eventually written off by Lorain Development Corp. State auditors have said that more than $600,000 worth of loans distributed by Lorain Development Corp. were written off over the years, but Mason said that his research indicates that figure might be slightly lower because of how some of the loans were structured.
The HUD review said that the money lent to South Shore was troubling because at the time of the loan, Robert Gilchrist was serving as both the city’s service director and president of the South Shore board. HUD called Gilchrist’s dual role “an apparent Conflict of Interest.”
Mr Gilchrist – he of the diversionary program – voting illegally , pleading guilty to drug charges
and alleged domestic abuse which cost him his job at as President of the Lorain County Community Action Agency was also in his Service Director position on the BOARD of CONTROL for the City of Lorain.
You know that BOC that is one of the checks and balances the taxpayers have. But hey we are OK because this Lorain Development Corporation is a separate entity – although contracted by the then Community Development Dept. ( see 2008 interview) and the money to fund it came from where ? Too many of the same names and relationships for my liking .
Early in 2009, South Shore announced its intention to close the St. Joe’s center because its income was outstripped by operating expenses, notably high utility costs. Lorain City Council in 2010 approved money to operate St. Joe’s while Krasienko’s administration looked for ways to keep it open. Lorain Service Director Robert Gilchrist was a key in brokering the deals needed to keep the center open and yesterday he made the city’s presentation to the Clean Ohio Council in Columbus.
Such plans in 2011- ……….
You can find the Board of Control minutes here – through various administrations http://www.cityoflorain.org/mayor/documents You can also access the Journal Entry on the discussion with the County Commissioners et al APRIL 2012 with charts and discussions in depth here JOURNAL ENTRY Commissioners Meeting St. Joes
| 2012 (no leasing) | 2013 (15k ft) | 2014 (15k ft) | 2015 (15k ft) | |
| Revenue | 913 | 1,063 | 1,213 | 1,363 |
| Expenses | 1,046 | 1,077 | 1,109 | 1,142 |
| Net Income | (132) | (14) | 104 | 221 |
| Capital/Other | 212 | 200 | 200 | 200 |
| Grants/Loans | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Other Receipts | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Profit/Loss | (342) | (212) | (94) | 23 |
Loans;
- $1,350,000 Loan on Property from the State
- Guaranteed $675,000 each to the City and County
- Payback of the State Loan does not begin until profitable OR when SSCDC property is sold.
- As a part of the development agreement a $250,000 Loan was provided to South Shore Community Development Corporation to cover operating shortfall.
- Beginning on April 1, 2012 the first monthly payment of $1,488 is due.
- The Loan is unsecured.
Grants:
- HUD EDI Grant – $166,500. Grant funds were used to fund the LCCC expansion/extension and Little Lighthouse tenant improvement work.
- HHS – $253,000. Grant funds were used to fund mechanical deferred maintenance to the then occupied areas and common systems.
- Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant – $480,000
- City application for funds allowed for both a grant component and loan component for use at St. Joe’s totaling $480,000.
- In 2011, when EECBG project scopes for St. Joe’s were being developed, use of funds for maintenance of existing systems was disallowed.
- The Dep. Of Energy also determined that the combination of both a grant and loan could not be used at St. Joe’s; thus the funding became capped at approximately $200,000.
- City and SSCDC now developing a revised scope to utilize the available EECBG funds for non-maintenance energy efficiency projects.
CORF
- $1,600,000 Grant Awarded to the City of Lorain for SSCDC project.
- Mercy match over 3 years- $120k per year for 3 years = $360k
- Demolition includes Building D, Reidy Scanlon Bldg., Thrift Shop.
- The City of Lorain is currently advertising for a certified professional.
- Demolition anticipated to begin summer of 2012
and the rest of the story????????????????????????????? Who knows but I agree with Mayor Ritenauer .. to me this is all as clear as mud………… and just to help with information :
CPD_Funding_Grantee_Matrix_LORA-OH_OH_20180201
Copy of Public Service Streets and 108 spreadsheet(2)
Economic Development Final http://destinyhosted.com/loraidocs/2016/CCREG/20160404_68/628_Economic%20Development%20Review%20FINAL%20PDF.pdf
LDC Conflict of Interest Policy http://destinyhosted.com/loraidocs/2016/CCREG/20160404_68/628_Lorain%20Development%20Corp%20Conflict%20of%20Interest%20Policy.pdf
LDC Subrecipient Agreement http://destinyhosted.com/loraidocs/2016/CCREG/20160404_68/628_LDC%20Subrecipient%20Agreement%20PDF.pdf
Portfolio Quality Report http://destinyhosted.com/loraidocs/2016/CCREG/20160404_68/628_Portfolio%20Quality%20Report.pdf
EDA Title IX Plan http://destinyhosted.com/loraidocs/2016/CCREG/20160404_68/628_EDA%20Title%20IX%20Revolving%20Loan%20Fund%20Plan.pdf
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 ……………..
Proving Innocence – Not Guilty or Neighborly
Every time I read of accusations on facebook , social media etc I do so with a wariness. I wouldn’t have had a few years ago. In my last post
https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2016/08/09/municipal-manipulation-lorain-e-again/
I mentioned our 11 months of hell caused by an elderly neighbor who truly believed her accusations. Before her dementia she had been a good neighbor, wanting to help with the community and did so , her talent as an artist used more than once with neighborhood events .
The family made no effort to help and so this neighbor literally took down her favorite tree, glass blocked her windows and put up fences . She was scared , frightened and alone in the fact she did not get the help she needed and that fact rippled through our lives. Due to her actions, we could not help – our attorney forbade any contact- so we had to leave her to her own terrifying nights until at last, after being found by another neighbor wandering the street in her night attire, something was finally done. The damage to our family was already done-
I wrote about that time on another blog The WoM Blog 10 years ago – I would like you to read this tale of accusation – 11 months of proving innocence- this could happen to you –and the years between have not erased the helplessness and yes anger at the family we felt.
WoM Logo by Scott Baklar
J’Accuse- The Cost of Innocence
It is 6:00 am. in Lorain – Do you know where your attorney is?
John Paul Sartre got it right when he stated in his play – No Exit
”HELL IS OTHER PEOPLE!”
The accuser and the accusations:
A neighbor, elderly and alone (who fully believed in her accusations) and since she wasn’t a known trouble maker or on anyone’s radar was totally believable- so the complaints made to the various authorities seemed reasonable.
1. a male neighbor throwing things at her house
2. male footprints in the freshly fallen snow leading to her front door from the neighbors
3. weapons being hidden between the houses
4. a male neighbor exposing himself through the fence
5. a neighbor opening the fire hydrants on the street
6. a male neighbor pointing a gun at her through the back door
7. a male neighbor hiding in the shrubs
8. intruders in her basement
9. intruders inside her house
10. up on her roof at night
11. neighbors cutting her phone lines
So I would ask you – you are the Lorain Police Department – you are getting these calls from an elderly woman, all alone- starting in June and carrying through to May of the next year. You send patrol cars -you check – you wake people from a sound sleep at all times of the night to make sure they are home and not harassing an elderly woman.
You respond when a citizen complains, it is documented. The elderly woman tells the rest of the neighborhood what it happening to her, enlisting their aid. The “family” of the accuser calls the accused family “perverts”-among other insulting remarks.
ARE YOU FEELING SYMPATHY AND OUTRAGE FOR THIS POOR WOMAN?
The REST of the story :
1. the things being thrown -tennis balls- coming across and into her yard as the kids in a neighboring home are playing ball.
2. footprints in the snow- the mail carrier coming from one house delivering to another
3. weapons ( supposedly being hidden to hit the neighbors on the head) – fallen tree limbs from her own tree4. THE DE -FENCE NO. 4 -in the Accusations list
Oh! and the “exposing of a male part of the anatomy through the fence (from two properties away I might add)
X marks the spot where the “protruding penis” was supposed to have happened
It was the first accusation – I remember it so well another neighbor phoned,
NB. where is your husband?
ME: He is at the store –
NB: Oh good Sally phoned to say he was putting his penis through (another neighbors fence) ( two doors away)
ME: WHAT???? Is this some sort of a joke??
NB: No she is claiming your husband is sticking his penis through a knot hole in the fence….
AND SO IT BEGAN –
The elderly lady was fixated with the knothole and the penis and called out the police on another fine summer day. I asked the officer who was a little sharp with me at first to please come and look at the fence. He reluctantly did so – I showed him the knot hole and its position in the fence and then I said
“officer if you can put your penis through that hole I will personally put the handcuffs on my husband “
A little grin did flicker across his face as he remarked ”
” No thank you ma’am I am more endowed than to fit that opening.
I then took him to the other side of the fence where we have a pond. and where in order to expose oneself you would have to lay on your side half in the water.
The officer wrote up a report which was pretty laughable- the Chronicle Telegram and their reporter saw the police report, thankfully we were spared our names in the article – Shawn Foucher wrote the article : If The Fence Don’t Fit You Have To Acquit!
5. Opening Fire Hydrants – The fire dept. was called by the accuser, and the LFD were very irate, it was in fact the Lorain Water Dept. as they had a water line burst on Oberlin Avenue. So when the Fire Dept then turned off the gushing fire hydrant the water dept. guys from the Utilities Dept came running down the street waving their arms as they were now having to deal with gushing water .
astoundingartifacts.blogspot.com
6. The gun , after three such calls and reports it turns out, when questioned further, that the “gun” was actually a “RAY GUN” and this wonderful invention (invented apparently by the accused) could make her steel back door disappear for 8 seconds at a time and she had to blink to get it back!
7. The shrub – was an over 70 foot maple tree, which not only did the accused manage to climb, in the dark – but did so in a DRESS. (ouch!)
8. The intruders (now there were two) the accused and his wife- apparently getting in through the vent in the glass block window
9. Picture this if you will. The police are called the “intruders” (we now have two again) are in the house, armed . One officer arrives, he has called for back up however there is a serious problem elsewhere other officers are tied up on another call. With caution the officer calls to the intruders to come out of the closet. Nothing, silence- weapon at the ready he throws open the door to a closet???? no one
Ma’am are you sure they went in here?
The Accuser:
What is the matter with you ? Can’t you see them- they are hiding under that lampshade!
Call for back up was cancelled!
10. Up on the roof (raccoons and squirrels using her roof as a route from one tree to another )
11. The phone lines were cut as a truck making deliveries to More for Less caught the overhead lines and ripped them down.
NOTE – pretty funny isn’t it??? but these plausible complaints were harrowing to us at the time and terrifying to her – AND WE HAD TO PROVE EVERYDAY – EVERY COMPLAINT THAT WE WERE INNOCENT!!!!
The EFFECT😦 Due to these accusations):
1. Hundreds of dollars were spent by the accused on lawyers letters, dealing with the accusations, building higher fences . Family members of the accuser making insulting and damning remarks (rather than seeing the problem- again lawyers letters)
2. Months of harassment, being woken from a sound sleep at all hours of the night with the police at the door responding to the accusations. Not being comfortable and able to relax in your OWN home.
3. Documenting your every move for over a year. Because when someone makes an accusation that you were doing something at a certain time you better have proof that you were elsewhere and have a reliable witness.
So you keep a daily/hourly diary, where you were, who was with you, if you go to the store alone -you keep the time stamped receipt. You cannot even go into your back yard without a witness or companion. Your reputation is shot! Your life becomes about PROVING YOUR INNOCENCE every day, just because “J’Accuse”.
4. The embarrassment is bad enough but the stress takes its toll, infact this living on the accusatory knife-edge ( and people will say – hmmmm where there is smoke…..) effects you emotionally and physically you become ill. You can’t sleep, you are on the defensive, your life is turned upside down and the lives of your family, you are angry, bewildered and hurt .
YOUR HOME, YOUR SANCTUARY BECOMES A PRISON
Everyday you have to prove innocence because someone made an accusation, that on the face of it, was believable. You spend your days “explaining” and your nights waiting for the next phone call or knock on the door wanting to know what you are doing and where you have been .
It is only when you look into the “rest of the story” that you realize that as ridiculous as these accusations really were the suffering, expense and the toll on a family -wasn’t funny.
AND NOW – the hedges are grown deliberately- so the daughter and husband who had their say as I was screamed at by the “construction king ” and ironically wanting MY HELP in their “estate court case” can no longer peer into my garden- let them inspect the alley–
You see the grandfather also had issues before he passed only at that time it was another neighbor who bore the brunt of his “visions” – those ” good ” neighbors eventually moved…… So before accusations are made – and believed remember sometimes all is not so cut and dried…………………………THIS PROVING OF INNOCENCE CAN HAPPEN TO ANYONE ……….
An open post to City of Lorain- The History of Frustration
This post actually started out as an email to City Council members but like the housing situation we find ourselves in and lack of accountability it too became too much and unwieldy- no one was going to read through it.
Photo Source – City of Lorain
There are any number of reasons Lorain finds itself in the housing position we are in today:
Mayor Koziura 1996-2000( now Council at Large) tried, along with then Building Inspector Mr. Murphy, to reign in the deteriorating homes and buildings in Lorain and lawyers 😉
https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2013/07/09/the-pos-and-nuisance-ordinance-a-lesson-in-history/
This did not sit well with the mega landlords ( at the time ) and they supported Craig Foltin for Mayor .
There was , imho, a let us appease those who are “squeaking” the wheel in 2005 – see article Broken Homes from the Chronicle – when a number of us went before Mayor Foltin and Mr. Desvari stating the deteriorating neighborhoods.
brokehomes which “chronicles” the situation. I re – chronicled the issues in May 2012.
https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2012/05/01/lorain-oh-broken-homes-broken-people-just-plain-broke-part-two/
The then Building Inspector Bill Desvari , himself on charges before he died , gave token action to the problems .
Desvari’s most recent legal problems began in 2008 when Lorain police launched an investigation into his dealings as head of the city’s Building Department.
He was placed on leave in February 2008 as police probed complaints about problems with homes in the King’s Woods subdivision. That investigation expanded to include allegations that Desvari allowed an unlicensed cement contractor to operate in the city in exchange for the contractor doing work on Desvari’s Columbia Township home.
Desvari was indicted in July 2008 on charges dealing with the contractor and allegations that he failed to complete inspections and require permits on homes in New Century Village.
Another round of charges were brought in 2010 against Desvari that centered on two $5,000 loans Desvari received from men his attorney has described as friends. Prosecutors contend the loans were actually bribes.http://chronicle.northcoastnow.com/2012/08/06/former-lorain-official-dies-while-awaiting-trial/
We then had the Sub Prime Mortgage Crisis 2008 , for Lorain and “property procurers ” this gave them a huge “feeding frenzy” with very little controls from local government.
You have anecdotal situations brought before the media and City Council – the sound bites of frustration. We have had council people literally venting their frustration at meetings. AND although everyone seems to be on the same page with “doing something to stop the rot and turn around the older neighborhoods” for the most part hands are tied
The situation , imho, has become laughable , when even a junk car next to a church and in a neighborhood becomes “Where’s Waldo” ( the trashed car) How many weeks did this take only to have it moved to another junked property around the corner so to speak ?
https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2016/05/20/don-the-downspout-says-lorain-in-a-fix/
The Art Car
We have any number of people “playing the system” ( judicial)the cost of doing business a mere fine and not having to abate issues.
There are so many of these situations , they are too many to document The whole system is broken because of a lack of respect, ( which can’t be legislated), lack of accountability ( which is not accounting for much) , a city with a declining job market and one of the biggest businesses in town – the rental business making profits don’t take my word for it Kent Sutton one of Lorain’s mega landlords and LELA members was quoted affirming the fact :
“We simply assure housing providers that they{LELA MEMBERS} are running a business not like any other business,” Sutton said. “The housing should be kept up to some condition of the neighborhood.” http://www.morningjournal.com/article/MJ/20120618/NEWS/306189973
The frustration of City Council Members , The Administration, ( and yes the Judicial, hamstrung by ineffective fines , time lines and legal lalala speak is clear – the frustration is spilling over in the neighborhoods and City Council floor as there does not seem to be a simple fix.
We have tweaking of our ordinances so that lawn mowers ( as seen from space) does not become an everyday occurrence because there was loophole in an ordinance that brought this one iconic situation before housing court for the past FIVE YEARS. .
http://www.morningjournal.com/general-news/20160523/lawn-mower-legislation-under-review-in-lorain
The cry is we need jobs!!!! Let us look at that
When a Corporation/employer looks at a community in which to relocate they look at Infrastructure, School system, housing etc.
http://www.forbescustom.com/EconomicDevelopmentPgs/CorpRelocationCurrentTrendsP1.html
What is the answer to our tale of woe……. well here is a clue :
that they- [ ED. NOTElandlords/ mega property owners} are running a business not like any other business………………………….
TO BE CONTINUED
Plump Lady Plummets – and the housing trip continues
Update : I received the following communication from Kaja Holdings/ Vision Properties as to the fact I had linked Harbour Portfolio with his clients Please see below :
Dear Ms. Ritchey:
It was a pleasure meeting and speaking with you on Wednesday. It is important for every community to have concerned citizens that care enough to voice their opinions on important issues. As a lifelong resident of Lorain County, I appreciate your efforts to preserve the history of Lorain. I especially appreciate your work for Charleston Village Society.I write to kindly ask you to correct an inaccuracy in your April 7, 2016 blog post. In your post, you state that I may be able to assist the City of Lorain in serving Harbour Portfolio with complaints for Housing Code/POS violations, stating that my clients (Kaja and Vision) are all “part and parcel of the same grouping”. You brought up your suspicion that my clients and Harbour were related entities when we met on Wednesday and I observed Councilman Flores delivering the same message to Assistant Prosecutor Holmes in Court.
I have conferred with my clients and they have confirmed that Kaja and Vision are in no way related, whether directly or indirectly, with Harbour. They share no common ownership, staff, office space or other connection. One is not the subsidiary of the other, they are not sister companies and they do not work together in any fashion. Harbour is a competitor of Kaja and Vision. I respectfully request that you alter your post, print a retraction or otherwise clarify that the companies are not related.Thank you,
J.R. White James R. White, Attorney at Law
Yesterday, I once again made my way to Lorain Municipal Housing Court, as readers know, I have been there a couple of times. In 2009 Lorain County Photographer’s blog ran a series of thoughts from Judge Pianka from Cleveland’s Housing Court https://clevelandmunicipalcourt.org/judicial-services/meet-the-judges/judge-raymond-l-pianka
http://www.locophotogblog.com/?p=304 http://www.locophotogblog.com/?p=305
“Gee, there are people using the civil side of the court to evict people, but on the criminal side they were ignoring our summonses and complaints. So, it caused some cognitive dissonance on my part. So, we decided that you can’t just come into court and use one side of the court, the civil side, but ignore the criminal side of the court”
In 2009 this Lorain County blog – Lorain County Photographers Blog http://www.locophotogblog.com/ was feeling the frustration some of us, in the City of Lorain, had been feeling and documenting for years. There were hundreds of photographs taken, words written trying to find a way to keep our older neighborhoods free from blight from 2005 onwards. The time line for the above series was, of course, right in the middle of the Sub- Prime Crisis caused by banks and idiotic mortgages.
8 years have passed since the sub-prime mortgage debacle and Lorain is still feeling the ripple effects, Fannie Mae , Deutsche Bank , Freddie Mac etc. all selling off those write off mortgages to the LLC’s, a number out of state , such as Kaja Holdings, Harbour Portfolio, Vision Properties . You can find my thoughts here:
https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2015/09/17/the-follow-up-a-tale-of-two-houses-city-council-loraine/
https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2015/09/11/the-housing-court-and-you-lorain-part-one/
https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2015/10/22/housing-court-and-you-lorain-continued/
You can also find the article from the New York Times on this group of LLC’s here on the what is happening .
Market for Fixer-Uppers Traps Low-Income Buyers By MATTHEW GOLDSTEIN and ALEXANDRA STEVENSONFEB. 20, 2016
One of the larger firms in this market, Harbour has bought more than 6,700 single-family homes in Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Florida, Georgia, Pennsylvania and a handful of other states since 2010 — most of them from Fannie Mae, according to the mortgage finance firm and the foreclosure research firm RealtyTrac.
Ten of the more than 50 homes Harbour bought in Akron have been torn down after being condemned and two others are slated for demolition
Harbour and its founder, Charles A. Vose III
I was at the court to see what was happening with the Point of Sale Icon House 1348, West Erie now owned by Kaja Holding/ Vision Properties etc etc etc.
I was curious to see what progress had been made if any or where the “abatement” stood. Pictures of the front steps etc taken a few days before court left me a bit wary as to “tripping hazards”. Turns out I should have been wary of the concrete lip outside City Hall.
As I entered City Hall- well not quite entered- as I fell flat on my face – I went down with an almighty thump. There is some good that comes out of being on the plump side – my fat shock absorbers , absorbed. It was so embarrassing as my chin hit the concrete and I went flat out. I was mortified, especially when the policemen ( running security at the door) rushed to my aid and it took two of them to hoist my “knocked the breath out of me frame” to vertical once more.
“I am fine really , just help me up, no honestly I am fine . she said hoping to salvage some dignity
Now why should I have felt ashamed and embarrassed , it was not my fault just one of those things, but I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. However, my mood and the pain in my head and neck from the jarring of the hitting the concrete left me less than tolerant when it came to Housing Court that afternoon .
Now the main purpose of taking people and LLC’s to court is not to punish ( so I am told) but to “abate the conditions as cited by our housing inspectors“ Well that makes sense .
Maybe it was the pain, the left over mortification from the half an hour before but I can say that some , actually three of the “supposed to be working for the city ‘s best interest” employees left me wishing I was a caricature artist. They would do well to remember they are working on the taxpayer’s dime , I was wondering if my dimes were being spent well.
The one, who decidedly made the most impression in my pain addled thoughts, was “Miss Looks like she is smelling bad fish” – nose so far in the air it is a wonder she didn’t trip over herself. Can you tell this in my opinion officious official really , as we say in England , got right up my nose!!!” But then I remembered I was not there to critique theatre but then again………….
You see, I am totally frustrated and fed up! Some of us were bleating on about the city and her housing long before the sub prime crisis.
One Mayor ( Joe Koziura) literally lost his campaign for re-election due to coming down hard on housing. I wonder if things would’ve been different had he succeeded instead of the loved by the landlords candidate Craig Foltin who backed off an aggressive stance by the Building Dept 2000 and look where we are NOW!!!!
article found here brokehomes
BROKEN HOMES
How abandoned houses are hurting Lorain, and how the city is trying to fight back
Dan Harkins and Shawn Foucher
The Chronicle-Telegram
It’s not hard to find examples of crimes linked to abandoned or all-but-abandoned homes in Lorain. The crimes are an extreme example of the kind of “negative effect on the neighborhood stability and economic vitality of the city” that state auditors warned Lorain of a year ago.
“By not administering its code enforcement, property maintenance and building programs, it is difficult for the city to preserve its housing stock,” auditors wrote in their report.Now Lorain, which had not come close to matching other cities its size in the vigor of its housing enforcement, has acted on recommendations made by the state auditors to hire two additional housing inspectors. The new inspectors started with the city in April………….
……Beyond that, the new housing inspectors have gotten only a lukewarm endorsement from Mayor Craig Foltin, who defeated his predecessor in 1999 in part by making an issue of what he characterized as an overly aggressive Building Department…….
“We feel that if they don’t have a successful plan and aren’t self-sufficient and nice to people, then we will not continue with them,” Foltin said recently of the inspectors…..
Some of us are tired of fixing our properties and “ABATING” without going to court – doing the right thing because we should take care of our property. No matter if it was “vindictive” behavior that caused the inspections in the first place 😉
Some of us are really angry how the “playing the system” works for multi property owners, who “prostitute the homes , buy cheap ,rent them out, and don’t pay property taxes and then walk away or dump them on some poor unsuspecting sucker in a rent to own scheme. The out-of-town LLC’s clustering together, confusing the cities and counties where they form like blobs of greed growing bigger with each added LLC. .
Why should the little guy in this city suffer when the MEGA property owners are, in my opinion, prostituting these properties.
Why should our property values decline because of trash housing?
Why should we be punished our neighborhoods looked at with scorn ?
It infuriates me when people I have been writing about for years just keep gathering more and more , paying less and less and in some case not even bothering with the property taxes walking away or even dying – leaving the trapped tax payer holding the bag and looking forlornly at what has happened to their neighborhoods. Sixteen years on and we are still on the same trip!
To be continued …………….
Housing Court and You – Lorain- Continued
As promised, a continuation of Lorain’s Housing Court.
https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2015/09/11/the-housing-court-and-you-lorain-part-one/
Let us first get some housekeeping out-of-the-way!
This was my third time attending the proceedings. It is punishment in and of itself having to sit in a stuffy, airless room with people coughing, hacking, sneezing and other odoriferous issues , stacked like sardines in a can. Word of advice don’t try fanning oneself you will get more than a fresh breeze
.
source Obit
To be fair, those that haven’t got a seat are allowed to go and wait in one of the other courtrooms until their case is called . I think if Warren Finkel, the chief architect of Lorain City Hall, wasn’t already deceased he should be fined for poor design at the very least. Each time I have attended there has been a large number of people sometimes 90 people on the docket , hopefully I have just been unlucky.
The other issue, frustrating to all, including Magistrate Cook ,was the number of times the software went “walk about” or the computer glitched- 4 times by my reckoning in 2 hours.
Purely from the standpoint of an observer, and I may be under a misconception here,it looks to me as if the defendants who have an attorney present go first on the docket.
The people who have abated their issues seem to come next .I am pleased to say there were, on all three times I attended, a great many people who had abated their issues , the system seems to be working in that regard.
Apparently , abating issues does not save you from “Court Costs”. The mere fact the city had to go through the paperwork, sending out for inspections and going through the process( even if your violations were now abated) doesn’t save you from court costs. That is, unless the city has had their own issues- ( that happened more than once every one of those court dates- imho too frequently ) My first day in court August 12th had Magistrate Cook admonishing the Prosecutors office with ” sloppy work”.
source
http://powermylifetx.com
NOTE: A word to the wise if you get a notice from the Building Dept with regard to violations , take care of them , let them know you will take care of them in writing – ( get that all important paper trail) . In case you end up in Housing Court
1. If you have abated your issues- according to the Prosecutor- you then sign the document electronically as does the Prosecutor and you go across the hall with your paperwork and pay the court costs
If you haven’t abated – you have three choices, Not Guilty as which time you are set either for a pre- trial or a bench trial and choose a date in the future ( this also gives you more time to abate your issues before your next appearance) NOTEI have been told every time this happens the Building Dept has to once again re inspect the property again and may be required to appoint an attorney for you ( the City of Lorain that is)
2. No Contest which means you didn’t admit guilt but then again you don’t disagree- This ends up with a fine and court costs -to be paid across the hall
3. Guilty– same as above- the highest amount fined was $250 plus costs
If there are circumstances in your life where there are problems with taking care of the issues – contact the Building Dept, explain the problems and put it writing with a projected date you will be able to adhere and after you have finished call for a re-inspection and get the paper work the violations were abated .
Keep that paper trail, mistakes can and have happened.
Don’t wait until you are summoned to court because you will face a probably 3 hour punishment of sitting in that claustrophobic courtroom and I am sure the Building Dept. employees don’t enjoy sitting there session after session either .
Garage Sales Beware– People of Lorain YOU HAVE TO GET A PERMIT FOR A GARAGE SALE- I WAS TOLD THEY WERE FREE- BUT IF YOU DON’T GET ONE – YOU WILL BE OUT OF POCKET – FINE PLUS COURT COSTS
Magistrate Cook, is very personable and runs a fairly relaxed courtroom. I am not sure how I feel about that- one the one hand it did break the ordeal of having to sit there generally listening to procedure and helped with the tension. He is charming, concerned , empathetic, patient , has a sense of humour and usually deferring to the Prosecutor as to fines etc. A great deal of the defendants were less than knowledgable as to the process and it seemed he took that into consideration. Magistrate Cook certainly is not Judge Raymond Pianka
Source Scott Shaw, The Plain Dealer
Cleveland Housing Court Judge Raymond Pianka is ratcheting up the costs for absentee property owners who spread the damage from the foreclosure crisis. They will have to pay neighbors for economic losses caused by their neglect. http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/08/cleveland_housing_judge_requir.html
BUT on the other hand this chatty chat does somewhat cheapen the due process and personally I would like to have seen a less obliging courtroom in some of the cases I witnessed, but maybe that is just me who is used to the British Courtrooms where calling out compliments and chat at least on two occasions from those waiting would have been seen as disrespectful to the process of law.
Magistrate Cook, did make it quite clear YOU not your spouse has to attend court when summoned , unless of course you have an attorney speaking on your behalf – However, the two that did feel his wrath were not penalized due to their “names not being accurate on the paperwork “ in the first place!
My trip to the court on October 21st was due to the fact Kaja Holdings were up before the bench one more – Readers will remember Kaja Holdings
https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2015/09/17/the-follow-up-a-tale-of-two-houses-city-council-loraine/
However apparently their attorney Lei Jaing is no longer acting for them and a new attorney is in place therefore a continuance until December 9th, these properties have been in the hopper now for how many months- since the first of the year on some of them – ( the beginning of the process)
All was not lost because there were one or two people I recognized from previous blog posts on my mega landlords and their impact on our neighborhoods.
1st up Gustav Krause POS foreclosure–
1621v E.36th Street- 
but we know Gustav Krause and his LLC -FGSK PROPERTIES LLC of old from the September 2012 post, before the death of George Schneider.
Gustav Krause looks to own 12 parcels and the tax bills are sent to a PO Box number 395 as well- along with property owners of David W Carter/ Red’s All American Recycling fame.
https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2014/09/20/george-schneider-a-property-legacy-what-now/
And I had my issues with Judge Mihok and leniency that same September 2012
George Schneider (Appeal)ing Properties- or where’s the judgement? Pity the system didn’t do something when they had the chance because we would be left with the mess we have now
https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2012/09/12/george-schneider-appealing-properties-or-wheres-the-judgement/
Imagine my interest when another landlord – multi property owner and holder of “thatwoman blog fame” Jerrod Biebrick –
https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2012/12/08/trash-to-the-treasurey-time-to-pay-for-your-garbage/
http://chronicle.northcoastnow.com/2015/03/30/lorain-county-habitat-humanity-seeking-new-home/
Biebrick, owner of Patriot Property Management, said he owns about 80 rental properties in Lorain and has been buying building materials at the store for two or three years.
Landlording in Lorain is a big business ( Housing Choice Vouchers alone)
https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2014/08/13/freedom-of-speech-usa-really-pt-4/
For instance according to Ms. Carter of the LMHA
“housing choice vouchers alone pump 1.4 MILLION A MONTH
into Lorain County but The City of Lorain gets 64% of that money EVERY MONTH or approximately $900,000.00 PER MONTH COMES INTO THE CITY OF LORAIN-!!!
and Mr. Biebrick apart from his 80 properties certainly has a plethora of LLC’s
A quick check on just 4 of Biebrick’s many properties he owes on just those 4
over $23,000 dollars – I would hate to see what his tax bill is like on all 80 odd- I went through picking out randomly and every one had taxes owed that I checked – including the one for which he had to appear
4095 Laurel
Annual Real Estate Tax: $908.54
Current Special Assessments: $0.00
Delinquent Special Assessments : $0.00
Unpaid Taxes: $2,105.41
Full Year Tax(includes any unpaid taxes & special assessments): $3,196.89
Total Taxes Paid to Date: $0.00
4332 Laurel
Annual Real Estate Tax: $260.06
Current Special Assessments: $0.00
Delinquent Special Assessments : $412.14
Unpaid Taxes: $2,957.42
Full Year Tax(includes any unpaid taxes & special assessments): $3,737.32
Those names just keep cropping up and unlike most of the people who were homeowners, some having no clue how the process works these multi- property owners have appeared before and KNOW the system– the excuse of “didn’t know” and the “post office is at fault” excuse left one wondering what would have happened in Judge Pianka’s courtroom
Last up was a Mr. Dessie Cheers– he had sat there right from the beginning and seemed to have at least 5 separate issues on his properties and it seems he has more than building violations!
According to the Auditors site his property of 419, Kentucky , 1530 Fillmore, and 1538 Fillmore he owes a cumulative amount of $19,588.04 in unpaid property taxes, that is not the case on his “own home” – just saying- this court of public opinion finds this “IFFY”
419 Kentucky
Annual Real Estate Tax: $1,186.76
Current Special Assessments: $0.00
Delinquent Special Assessments : $1,137.02
Unpaid Taxes: $5,152.10
Full Year Tax(includes any unpaid taxes & special assessments): $7,785.61
Total Taxes Paid to Date: $0.00
1530 Fillmore
Annual Real Estate Tax: $1,223.06
Current Special Assessments: $306.00
Delinquent Special Assessments : $375.89
Unpaid Taxes: $4,037.42
Full Year Tax(includes any unpaid taxes & special assessments): $6,220.21
Total Taxes Paid to Date: $0.00
1538 Fillmore
Annual Real Estate Tax: $867.16
Current Special Assessments: $306.00
Delinquent Special Assessments : $993.91
Unpaid Taxes: $3,196.81
Full Year Tax(includes any unpaid taxes & special assessments): $5,582.11
Total Taxes Paid to Date: $0.00
Something very wrong here Lorain-
To Be Continued…………
Recent Comments