Middletown now Poverty City, Ohio

Message Topic Search Topic Options Post Reply Create New Topic Printable Version Translate Topic

   The new name of Middletown is now Poverty City, Ohio per Mr. Adkins.  The City Admin wants to designate the whole City as a Low Income area to open the whole City to CDBG funds.  Will this further depress housing values and run off potential buyers, most likely.  

Mr Adkins is taking this step based on the fact that in the 2000 Census 54% of the population is below Median income.  Can someone please provide a link to this info on the Census site?  This does not bode well for Middletown as the City has drastically increased the low income residents for the 2010 census with Section 8 and Public Housing.

Now the part I don't get is that this is supposedly so that more people can have access to $600,000.00 in CDBG grants.  What they can't spend $600,000.00 in the 40% of the city already designated for these funds, I find that hard to believe.

To put the $600,000.00 in perspective:

The city spends $250,000.00-300,000.00 each year in the spring filling pot holes.  

If you take 300 of the 2300 residents that got letters from the City about their property not being up to snuff and gave them a $2000.00 grant to fix their property you would be out of funds and help about .6% of the population.  What about the other 50700 people or 99.4% of the population?

$600,000.00 represents the salaries of the top 5-8 top people in the Admin downtown.

Folks we are not talking about enough money to warrant making this change and designating the whole city as Poverty Stricken and dragging down home values even further.  Even Mr, Adkins acknowledged this was a con to doing this.  If we were talking about $20,000,000.00 then it may be a different story..........hmmmm are we really talking about $20,000,000.00.

I also don't buy the we need to pave ally ways scenario.

This just doesn't make sense for $600,000.00 in grants for a city this size.

Author	Message Topic Search Topic Options Post Reply Create New Topic Printable Version Translate Topic
Pacman Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Prominent MUSA Citizen Joined: Jun 02 2007 Status: Offline Points: 2612	Post Options Post Reply Quote Pacman Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Middletown now Poverty City, Ohio Posted: Sep 02 2009 at 9:31am
	The new name of Middletown is now Poverty City, Ohio per Mr. Adkins. The City Admin wants to designate the whole City as a Low Income area to open the whole City to CDBG funds. Will this further depress housing values and run off potential buyers, most likely. Mr Adkins is taking this step based on the fact that in the 2000 Census 54% of the population is below Median income. Can someone please provide a link to this info on the Census site? This does not bode well for Middletown as the City has drastically increased the low income residents for the 2010 census with Section 8 and Public Housing. Now the part I don't get is that this is supposedly so that more people can have access to $600,000.00 in CDBG grants. What they can't spend $600,000.00 in the 40% of the city already designated for these funds, I find that hard to believe. To put the $600,000.00 in perspective: The city spends $250,000.00-300,000.00 each year in the spring filling pot holes. If you take 300 of the 2300 residents that got letters from the City about their property not being up to snuff and gave them a $2000.00 grant to fix their property you would be out of funds and help about .6% of the population. What about the other 50700 people or 99.4% of the population? $600,000.00 represents the salaries of the top 5-8 top people in the Admin downtown. Folks we are not talking about enough money to warrant making this change and designating the whole city as Poverty Stricken and dragging down home values even further. Even Mr, Adkins acknowledged this was a con to doing this. If we were talking about $20,000,000.00 then it may be a different story..........hmmmm are we really talking about $20,000,000.00. I also don't buy the we need to pave ally ways scenario. This just doesn't make sense for $600,000.00 in grants for a city this size.

Vivian Moon Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List MUSA Council Joined: May 16 2008 Location: Middletown, Ohi Status: Offline Points: 4187	Post Options Post Reply Quote Vivian Moon Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Sep 02 2009 at 9:44am
	Pacman Could it be that Mr. Adkins wants all the restrictions removed from this CDBG money under this 54% slum rule so he can AGAIN request that the restriction be removed from the $20 Million that the City will be getting in December? YES SIR MR ATKINS WILL ENFORCE THIS RULE AGAIN

Bobbie Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List MUSA Citizen Joined: Jun 05 2009 Location: Middletown Status: Offline Points: 288	Post Options Post Reply Quote Bobbie Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Sep 02 2009 at 9:45am
	Does Mr Adkins live in Middletown? I really do not need my house value to depreciate anymore. As it stands I can not sell if for what is owed. Houses on my street sell for half what I paid for it in 2002.

Pacman Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Prominent MUSA Citizen Joined: Jun 02 2007 Status: Offline Points: 2612	Post Options Post Reply Quote Pacman Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Sep 02 2009 at 9:49am
	No he doesn't live in Middletown.

Vivian Moon Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List MUSA Council Joined: May 16 2008 Location: Middletown, Ohi Status: Offline Points: 4187	Post Options Post Reply Quote Vivian Moon Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Sep 02 2009 at 10:04am
	Bobbie You can send your THANK YOU note to Mr. Kohler at City Hall. He takes full credit for bringing more Section 8 housing into our community.

wasteful Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List MUSA Citizen Joined: Jul 27 2009 Status: Offline Points: 793	Post Options Post Reply Quote wasteful Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Sep 02 2009 at 4:01pm
	Vivian you won't have to worry about the 54% rule come the 2010 census. After the influx of Section 8 and the fact that 75% of the vouchers must go to people making 30% of median income we are probably going to be at 65-75% next year. Might as well roll up the sidewalks and pack it in after the city gets done with that one. Plus I bet we have a 5-10% decline in population to go along with that in 2010.

Vivian Moon Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List MUSA Council Joined: May 16 2008 Location: Middletown, Ohi Status: Offline Points: 4187	Post Options Post Reply Quote Vivian Moon Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Sep 02 2009 at 4:31pm
	Wasteful I'm not sure from what and when this 54% rule came from. But like you I do believe that the populations has declined over the past 10 years and therefore this percentage will be higher next year. It is getting so bad that even the Section 8 people want to leave Middletown.

Mike_Presta Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List MUSA Council Joined: Apr 20 2008 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 3483	Post Options Post Reply Quote Mike_Presta Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Sep 02 2009 at 11:41pm
	Mr. Adkins' gloomy report is based on the 2000 census! Please consider these FACTS from the latest report that I could quickly find: In January of 2006 (the earliest year that I could quickly find) Middletown had issued 1,461 Section 8 vouchers. In December of 2008 that number had risen to 1,659. This is an increase of 198 over a three year period. This is NOT meant to be a reflection on people who require Section 8 assistance, but an illustration of Middletown's economic decline over that three year period. One can only guess at the decline betwwen 2000 and 2006. Yet, all this time our myopic leaders insisted that we should CELEBRATE Middletown's "great things", believe that things are "BOOMING", turn a BLIND EYE to obvious problems, IGNORE possible solutions, pour MILLIONS AND MILLIONS of our scarce tax dollars down rat holes by following failed models, refuse to believe Forbes well-documented article that we are a dying city, and keep all discussions of public business as hidden from the public as possible while leaving the same small group of "insiders" at the helm of our ship of state! The citizens of Middletown MUST begin change NOW and we MUST begin this change at CITY HALL!!
	“Mulligan said he ... doesn’t believe they necessarily make the return on investment necessary to keep funding them.” …The Middletown Journal, January 30, 2012