This was the headline article in today's Washington Post's Outlook (opinion) section.  Not the kind of national notoriety Cleveland wants, but should be an eye opener to all of us who care about the city.

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/28/AR2007092801331.html?hpid%3Dopinionsbox1&sub=AR

Why would it be an eye opener?  Do you think we don't already know?  Did you note who wrote the article, or what his agenda was in writing it?

Cookie Thomas and Joe Krasucki haunt me because they didn't have to die. In a sense, their deaths were foreshadowed in the late 1990s, when the dark side of the real estate industry -- the predatory lenders -- came to Ohio, including Cleveland's Cuyahoga County, where I serve as treasurer.

 

Okay predatory lenders are scum but this is a stretch.

I'm sure there is a problem but alot of that story sounded over exaggerated.

Relax people, this is not a "Cleveland sucks" article to get your panties in a wad about and go on the defensive. Take a minute to soak it in. I am not a financial expert but the bottom line is I think he is saying the feds F'd this up (with allowing predatory lenders to run rampant and exploit the most vulnerable people in a vulnerable city )and they need to be part of the solution.

While we already know all this stuff, this the Washington Post-- a good place for this article as the policy makers on a national level need to have this shoved in their face. This editoral is a very different animal than the hyterical ramblings of Dick or Regina telling people not to go downtown after 530 pm.

The article has a lot of truth to it...I am the first to call out the news for taking the low road on Cleveland, but the story really isn't "ragging" on us, it was a look on how screwed up things got type of article...There was mention of a couple of towns, SV was just the focal point to bring it into prospective...Honestly, SV has a lot of problems...Have you been down there lately?  The houses are not only abanonded, but stripped to the bone (Sinks, piping, siding, doors) you name it...I have been in a lot of abanonded houses in my day, SV has some of the worst...Unfortunatly, you look and still see the resembalance of a nice house, but they are just to far gone...I said a while back that either they need to demo the houses, blocks, whatever (which they are doing now) or sell them to imigrates (or anyone that wants to move into Cleveland) with a contract to fix them up in a certain time frame...(like the homestead act of Baltimore as mention by KJP some time ago)...

 

Just my 2 cents...

 

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=9361.0 - Thread contains some pictures of abandoned SV houses that i was in last year...

I think many of us, particularly those of us who live in the city itself (by proximity alone we're more likely to encounter this) take exception to the notion that this article is an "eye opener". I don't disagree with most of the information presented but it's hardly any kind of epiphany. I didn't read it as ragging on Cleveland, but clvlndr's comment made me roll my eyes and mutter "tell me something I don't know.". I agree with X - I've been aware of the effects (direct or otherwise) of the foreclosure crisis long before this article came out.

 

If this were cleveland.com's forums - it probably would be an eye opener but I think the forum members here are more acutely aware of the pains of the neighborhoods in the city. I think peabody makes a good point - by being in the Washington Post, hopefully the people behind a lot of these policies will take notice and maybe act to alleviate the damage.

Does anyone have information on that Baltimore homestead program that provided people access to free houses or any other programs that give land and houses away for free in exchange for rehab? I'm involved in a big educational project for people interested in obtaining space and details about models like that would be SUPER helpful for me. Thanks!

I'm not debating the facts that he presents in the article, or the importance of presenting them to the decision makers in DC for the goal of getting a national level resolution on the seriousness of the subprime crisis.  But I think in the bigger picture of Cleveland's fortunes, this becomes one more article that people read and think "Cleveland is f'd up and turning into a ghost town.  I'm not going to visit, move, or invest there."  By shining a light on our flaws, we may get outsiders to take pity on us, and maybe even to try to fix the problem (a very important one, btw), but it create the side effect of negative perception that can cause just as much damage.

 

 

 

edited for mangled grammar and spelling, X

I recommend listening to Rokakis's City Club address from a couple months ago (you can get the podcast from the website)- it's a great primer on the foreclosure topic.  Made me into a big Rokakis fan.

From what i recall of Slavic Village is that it was already somewhat run-down, older area. 

 

Here in Dayton the foreclosure crisis is hitting newer areas, near the city limits.  These used to be fairly stable areas, mainly built in the 1920s, and maybe 30s & 40s.  Thats whats scary, that these areas are going foreclosed and seeing more vacancys. 

 

You're even seeing this in some older suburban areas.

 

 

I think many of us, particularly those of us who live in the city itself (by proximity alone we're more likely to encounter this) take exception to the notion that this article is an "eye opener". I don't disagree with most of the information presented but it's hardly any kind of epiphany. I didn't read it as ragging on Cleveland, but clvlndr's comment made me roll my eyes and mutter "tell me something I don't know.".

 

MayDay, before you roll your eyes again, understand the point: it's not the material itself that's an eye opener (at least for those paying attention), it's that a bellweather Cleveland neighborhood and its vexing issues brought on, in part, by out-of-control foreclosures, received headline billing in one of the nation's most prestigious newspapers.   And no, unlike the scare/negative, poorly-researched schlock we get in the PD, this was a thoughtful article by Jim Rokakis, an important local; county treasurer, no less ... So it's not a just the typical lightweight a dump on Cleveland piece by a low grade broadsheet.  And maybe, we could also focus on the awful side effects such as the tragedy of Asteve Thomas, and too many others like her... If Cleveland and Slavic Village is getting that level of national attention, maybe Cleveland worse off and maybe its time to hold the banks’ and the pol’s feet to the feet to the fire – before other Asteve Thomas’ have to die as the end result.

 

... oh, and by the way, I happen to live in this city too, … thank you very much.