City Manager’s Weekly Briefing

February 13, 2012

 The City of Middletown was mentioned in a recent article by Landbank Expert Jim Rokakis addressing vacant and abandoned housing in Ohio. Note: The article lists Middletown vacancies at over 2,000. The 2010 census records were released this week, listing Middletown vacancies at 3,058.

“Plague of Abandoned Houses Requires a Unified Effort to Cure”

The future of every big city in Ohio -- and some not so big -- is threatened by the cancerous spread of vacant and abandoned houses. Along with public education and jobs, the destruction of neighborhoods poses the gravest threat to these cities' viability. Whatever ranks No. 4 on the problem list pales in comparison to the top three.

Cleveland of course is by far the most damaged of Ohio's large cities. Empty houses -- between 10,000 and 12,000 of them -- are destroying a once-great city from within. Some neighborhoods are almost lost. Others aren't far behind. But this is hardly a Cleveland problem. Even Middletown, a city of just 48,000 in the heart of House Speaker John Boehner's district, has, by some estimates, more than 2,000 empty houses.

Now, for the first time since the housing crisis began to wreak havoc with urban America nearly six years ago, there's a glimmer of hope. A galaxy of political talent from Ohio has coalesced behind an idea that would create federal tax credits -- and perhaps supply some tax dollars -- to fund a massive demolition program designed to save endangered neighborhoods.

At the center of that galaxy is Rep. Steve LaTourette, the Lake County Republican, member of the House Appropriations Committee and close friend of Boehner. LaTourette said he was sold on the urgent need to address this issue by former Cuyahoga County Treasurer Jim Rokakis. And he has already enlisted support from some of the House's most powerful members.

Details of the plan, which would also rely on funding from state government and philanthropy, aren't yet ready for release. But

LaTourette hopes to craft a proposal that would "fit nicely" into this year's federal tax bill. While LaTourette is key to any congressional passage of a demolition bill, he has lots of allies. They include most of Ohio's congressional delegation (Rep. Marcia Fudge will be a co-sponsor) and big-city mayors. Former Sen. George Voinovich has also volunteered to help. "The subprime disaster was like a tornado ripping through our neighborhoods," said Voinovich. "Busing did a lot of damage to our town. This is worse. We desperately need money for demolition."

There is no Plan B. If this idea fails to clear Congress, neighborhoods in Cleveland will die. The decay will spread. Flight from the city will intensify. And all of the money being spent and projects being built downtown won't matter. "This vacant property problem is choking the life out of neighborhoods in cities all over Ohio," said Rokakis, who now works for the Western Reserve Land Conservancy. "If this plan fails, we are condemning people left in these neighborhoods to a continually declining quality of life. Not a single city or town has the resources to deal with this issue at scale."

Even if Congress acts, funding a demolition program will also require financial assistance from the state. "I'm interested," said Attorney General Mike DeWine. "We would very much like to find a way to be helpful." That's a good start. But it's not enough.

During his State of the State speech last March, Gov. John Kasich went out of his way to profess his love for Cleveland, to explain how the city reminds him of his working-class roots in western Pennsylvania, to remind us that places like Cleveland and Youngstown are in his blood. In the next breath, Kasich worried about Cleveland's future, about population losses being suffered in cities throughout Ohio. "I'm here to tell you this trend must be stopped, and we're going to do it," he promised. Kasich will never have a better chance to make good on that promise than he does now. It might be his last chance.