Demolition

[northside lurker]

These old houses are inadequate for today's lifestyles.Who wants to live on a small inner city lot in a 100 year old drafty house?  I say level the vacant houses and give the remaining neighbors larger lots.  Then if the crime situation changes the larger lots could be used for construction of larger single family homes, homes which people would want to live in.

You need to buy one of these old houses and renovate it.  Then live in it and after you've paid umpteen thousands for the renovation then you'll get an understanding as to how things work and why its just not practical to keep all these old houses.

I agree that the housing stock in Youngstown exceeds the current demand, and maybe some houses should carefully be removed. (by carefully, I mean keep architecturally/historically significant houses even if they are vacant)  But, I disagree that people only want new houses with big yards.  I do NOT want a new house with a big yard.  I chose to move into this city specifically because I wanted an older home (my house is 91 years old, now) without having to care for a half acre of lawn. (My yard is a little too small, but it's also 15 feet narrower than the average Youngstown city lot)

It is also dangerous to suggest building big new houses where there were once smaller, older houses.  I already see evidence of Youngstown's infrastructure breaking down. (water/sewer/electrical lines, etc)  Building big, new houses in these older neighborhoods puts additional stress on the old infrastructure.  Fixing/replacing the old infrastructure would be expensive.

In other parts of the US, it is already becoming trendy to leave the suburbs and move into an older, urban neighborhood.  People are starting to appreciate the quality of the older homes.

[Rick Rowlands]

Where did this James Rivers come from?  Are you new to Youngstown?  Your posts seem to indicate a lack of any basic understanding of economics, market forces and reality.  These old houses are inadequate for today's lifestyles.Who wants to live on a small inner city lot in a 100 year old drafty house?  I say level the vacant houses and give the remaining neighbors larger lots.  Then if the crime situation changes the larger lots could be used for construction of larger single family homes, homes which people would want to live in.

You need to buy one of these old houses and renovate it.  Then live in it and after you've paid umpteen thousands for the renovation then you'll get an understanding as to how things work and why its just not practical to keep all these old houses.

[jamesrivers]

Jay Wms has NO CREATIVITY at All!

Mayor Church Boy once again uses Political Grandstanding for the wasteful demolition at the old Monroe school building site and he offers the community No Creative options for generating revenue for the city.  He says, "I'd like to build a Park so the kids can play".

What?!...Mayor Church Boy are you losing  your mind?  Youngstown  needs  more new home developments not parks on its hundreds of vacant lots.  Williams and his tunnel vision advisors are spending city money like Crack Heads on the 1st of the month.

Why can't the Mayor and City Council come up with ideas to make more money for the city?...I think its because they lack College Educations and Creative Ideas.

What do you think?

[AllanY2525]

James wrote:


<I think that you both miss the point...the solution is Marketing...you both look at the problem as  if you were accountants or <attorneys with limited creative abilities and I say this with  All Respect...Real Estate is a hot, hot market all over the nation <and this includes Youngstown...Yes we can save these homes,  not through Mothballing but through Marketing these <properties and the city as a destination to live,  they will come for just price alone ....Think of the many ways and great <attention that this area would get if some smart person with vision aggressively marketed Youngstown to the rest of the <country.  Its not good to be so short sighted.

James, I don't think I missed the point at all.  I was strictly addressing the issue of saving versus demolishing older
homes in the city.  I know that real estate has been a hot market - I've been doing it for ten years now, and I own
properties both in Youngstown and out of state as well.  I agree with your idea of aggressively marketing Youngstown
to people from out of town (and/or out of state).  The low real estate prices here in Youngstown were a major factor
in my decision to take some of my own "out of state" financial resources and pour them into properties here in town.
If you ever want to see what I am doing to help make Youngstown better again, you are welcome to come by my
properties some time and see for yourself - I am, quite literally, "putting my money where my mouth is".  I purchased
a three story abandoned apartment building on the North Side last summer - thereby removing it from the city's
demolition list and saving it from the wrecking ball.

I don't feel that I am being short sighted - I realize (check out some of my other posts on this forum) that Youngstown
needs JOBS.  Cheap home prices [in and of themselves] are not enough to bring people here - when they can earn
three to four times the salary working somewhere else where the local economy is in much, MUCH better shape.

If you want to see all of these beautiful, old, vacant homes saved from the wrecking ball, you need to fill them with
people who make enough money TO save and renovate [and also MAINTAIN] them.  You will not get those people
to come to Youngstown and STAY in Youngstown if they cannot make a good, living wage once they get here.
Lack of good paying jobs is the very reason so many people left Youngstown in the first place.

Please be aware that your responses on this topic  - be they in aggreement with, or in disagreement with others'
ideas - need not attack people's personalities.  You and I have never met, therefore you are not qualified to judge the
extent of my creative abilities as you have no idea whatsoever what creative talents I do - or do not - posess.  I confine
my responses to others' messages on this forum to the topic being discussed - there is no need for labeling people
or resorting to name calling here.

I lived in Youngstown for over two thirds of my entire life - I grew up here.  I was a working white collar professional for a major Internet service for almost 18 years,  I have ten years of experience in the real estate market and I also posess the
skills equivalent to those of a commercial building  contractor. 

In addition to my real estate business that I have started here in Youngstown, I plan on starting a business in alternative
fuels and energy production right here in Youngstown in a few years - once things are up and running with the real
estate stuff.  If my alternative fuels/energy business does well, it could create a couple of THOUSAND new jobs
for Youngstown - GOOD paying jobs with benefits - the kind of jobs that will get people to come to Youngstown
and STAY in Youngstown, and fill up some of these beautiful old homes that you, myself  and many others would
like so much to save from the wrecking ball.

Enough said - I think YOU get MY point  now.


Best Regards,

Allan

[Leah]

I think that you both miss the point...the solution is Marketing...you both look at the problem as  if you were accountants or attorneys with limited creative abilities and I say this with  All Respect...Real Estate is a hot, hot market all over the nation and this includes Youngstown...Yes we can save these homes,  not through Mothballing but through Marketing these properties and the city as a destination to live,  they will come for just price alone ....Think of the many ways and great attention that this area would get if some smart person with vision aggressively marketed Youngstown to the rest of the country.  Its not good to be so short sighted.

In order to market the city as a place to live, we need to prove that if people move here, there will be jobs for them.  Yes, it's cheap to live here, but also difficult for the average person to find a good paying job.

I agree that we need to market the city.  It's already marketing itself to out of state real estate investors.  They're the ones who are attracted to the low prices of real estate.

We need to market the city to entrepeneurs.  Encourage people not just to move to Youngstown, but to start businesses here.  Just as it is cheap to live here, it is cheap to start a business here, compared to other parts of the country and state.

[jamesrivers]

I think that you both miss the point...the solution is Marketing...you both look at the problem as  if you were accountants or attorneys with limited creative abilities and I say this with  All Respect...Real Estate is a hot, hot market all over the nation and this includes Youngstown...Yes we can save these homes,  not through Mothballing but through Marketing these properties and the city as a destination to live,  they will come for just price alone ....Think of the many ways and great attention that this area would get if some smart person with vision aggressively marketed Youngstown to the rest of the country.  Its not good to be so short sighted.

[Towntalk]

Add to that the fact that most of these homes have been stripped.

My biggest concern is the fact that many of these houses are serious fire hazards, and as you might know arson fires have posed a serious problem. We have two such houses on my street alone, and as you venture up the street further there are more, and we are on a major street leading into YSU.

If the city were to give those houses to people for a $1.00, the cost of fixing them up would be more that the people could raise, and the chances are high that they wouldn't have the money to hire experts to do the work.

It would be great to get the empty homes into the hands of individual families, and out of the hands of out of town slum lords, but there simply isn't any state or federal program today that would provide for local homesteading like there was in the 1970, or if there is, it isn't being used here in Youngstown.

[AllanY2525]

James,

Although it makes good sense to save sturdy, beautiful old homes that CAN
be saved (within reasonable financial limits), bear in mind one fact:

Youngstown used to have about 170,000 people living within the city limits
at its peak.  Nowadays, that figure has dwindled to about 82,000 people.
This means that the city has OVER TWICE the housing stock that it needs.
This means that some of these homes need to go, since there are not nearly
enough - not even half the number - of people that would be needed to fill
all of these vacant homes.

The city cannot afford to bear the financial cost of "mothballing" every vacant
house in the city - it's financially impossible.

Now, as far as to which homes should be saved and which should go - that
must be dealt with on a case by case basis - depending upon the condition
of any given structure at the present time.

If an old home's roof and/or foundations have already failed, that home is
beyond fixing (financially) and needs to GO - unless someone wants to buy
it and put way more money into fixing it than what it would cost to buy another
old home in the same neighborhood  that is already in far better condition.

[jamesrivers]

To watch the political talkers encourage the Demolition and Removal of our Historical Single Family Homes in Youngstown gives me a heartache...Have you ever taken a close look at these homes? If you do your homework you'll find that to "Recreate" any of these homes would cost somewhere around $300,000.  Mayor Williams as were the mayors before him is being advised to use housing demolition as a forum for "Political Grandstanding".  This method has not worked in any other Ohio city!...ever...The logic of destroying a city's potential tax base is incompetent, it lacks creativity, management skills, and should be considered illegally betraying the Public's Trust...I would assume that Rep Bo-Cherry and Mayor Williams are both college graduates and would not Betray the Public's Trust  with any ill intent...so they must be ill advised on current real estate market issues around the nation....In addition, these elected officials should know that the Youngstown Housing Demolition Program has been the main source for the proliferation of markets for Antique Household Fixtures and Scrap Metal Salvaging.  These two markets alone have unwittingly encouraged Vandalism/Criminal Damage that reflects in the decimated appearance of Youngstown...and as these homes near 100 years old they still stand strong even in it's dis-repaired state...with only a new roof, these homes will last another 200 years with ease...A long time Youngstown Property Owner could almost make a case against the local government for having to have suffered through countless years of Criminal Damage and Vandalism.  There are better plans needed than to blindly destroy  your city's potential tax base  for the sake of merely being  "Pretty"...Rep Bo-Cherry states that he will submit legislation to increase Demolition Money to Mayor Williams...this is a Bad, Bad plan...Youngstown Homes are not blighted they all can be saved and their workmanship made them built for long lasting quality ...a change in state level legal processing legislation for individuals to acquire  ownership deeds to distressed properties,  must be created to work more expediently and outside of the traditional county foreclosure, sheriff sale and land bank programs...My sources tell me that the Youngstown Properties Owners are starting to band together...and thinking of political campaign donations 

[Towntalk]

Two abandoned school buildings will be demolished this year.

Monroe and Tod will go under the wrecking ball, but what about the other abandoned buildings? The Vindicator is reporting that it will cost the city $85,000 to demolish Monroe, and $100,000 to $120,000 to demolish Tod.

So far, the city has demolished 107 houses, and are slated to demolish another 300.