West Akron overrun by ghetto thug culture (Barberton, Fairlawn: section 8, for sale)

[the_informer]

Noticing more 'For Sale' signs in the North Hawkins/Thurmont area. Treeside, Zahn, Dominion, parts of Thurmont are all now section 8 hellholes! I'm starting to see a similar pattern take shape on S. Miller/Chamberlain/Kenridge in Fairlawn - Jacoby (Windsor Park Estates) in Copley. How do we as a community stop the spread of this disease known as section 8 housing?

[SquareBetterThanAll]

Originally Posted by the_informer

Noticing more 'For Sale' signs in the North Hawkins/Thurmont area. Treeside, Zahn, Dominion, parts of Thurmont are all now section 8 hellholes! I'm starting to see a similar pattern take shape on S. Miller/Chamberlain/Kenridge in Fairlawn - Jacoby (Windsor Park Estates) in Copley. How do we as a community stop the spread of this disease known as section 8 housing?

Stop moving.

That's the answer.

If people stop wetting their pants and then up and moving, the downward spiral wouldn't continue. It's that easy.

[htlong]

I lived in the square during the 60's when the so called "white flight" happened because a Black family moved into my neighborhood . the Black family to the surprise of all of our parents turned out to be a"normal" family.....our parents were raised to think all Black people were ghetto folk. over the years we had both White and Black families move into our neighborhood and all were caring hard working folks and the neighborhood is to this day a stable place to live but the boundaries are sinking fast. and that is why I didn't move back into the square when I returned to Ohio....also the other reason I moved out to the Twp was the crooks running the city.......good luck on paying for your sewers and enjoy lock 3

[Caleb Longstreet]

I lived in that area of West Akron growing up and I assure you prior to Section 8 housing being approved, Thurmont, Treeside ad nauseum was a nice place to live. There is one guy, I forget his name, that got Section 8 housing approved in Fairlawn Heights and as expected, the place started to go down hill. As the jobs fled Akron these last 3 decades, so did the housing and neighborhoods. Check it out, 4 years ago there were 250 plus listings of homes for sale in the 44313....what does that tell you?

Our parents are dying off, the kids are long, long gone and now it's anyone's guess how long it will be before West Akron deteriorates to a level never seen before me thinks. Are all the people moving in bad? Of course not, however, when the economy dips (ANYWHERE) in the US, demographics move. People are getting their kids to Firestone over Buchtel and North as fast as a move will allow. Couple that with the fact that West Akron is now relatively cheap. My parents owned their house for 38 years. When they passed, the house had only doubled in value after all those years.

Had they sold it about 15 years ago they would have done okay on it but, they stayed until their end and poof, the neighborhood by that time was not all that desirable. Economy drives the environment and so it's my guess that this part of town will begin to look more like the rest of Akron over time. Bath and parts of Fairlawn are still nice but, that's about as far as people are going to move out without ending up in cleveland/medina suburb.....Shame too. There were some beautiful homes back in the day off Memorial Drive, Fairlawn Heights and to some extent, still are. However, when you can buy a large, gas-eating monster in the Heights for 300K it wont' be long before they start getting run down too....that's about what people paid for those homes in the 70's......they are a steal now.....same with all of West Akron.

All in all, the whole town is incredibly inexepensive to buy real estate in relative to the rest of the country....amazing actually. Look for the estate sales...those kids are long gone and no one is coming back....it will be interesting to see what happens to the Hospital system once those retirees (read: pensions with great healtcare benefits) are gone...my guess, they will consolidate and go down hill. The University is a great help but, probably won't be able to sustain much past General, Childrens and City? Barberton and the surrounding areas might have a challenge on their hands....

Anyone know the indigent/non-payer percentage going through the hospitals today? Look at that and you can set your watch by when that system will all but collapse.....you can almost hear the sucking sound....hard to stay afloat when one half of your customers don't/won't/can't pay? Problem is, the other half cant' afford it sooooooooo, seeing how the city is not the mecca of jobs it once was, it might put some pressure on the folks in the form of taxes further spiraling an already dismal outlook?

Who knows, maybe the Chamber of Commerce will finally find a way or two to draw in light manufacturing and tech. You are going to have to find a way to fund those jobs as the union fare just ain't cuttin' it anymore.....

[drtakron]

But yet Summa and AGMC keep building and building.........and the same is true for the University. I think there is more money there than you think.

[BuckeyezRule]

Good luck. No idea. I keep trying to get my parents to move out of Kenmore, but, they won't. =( Posts like this make me glad I left Akron. Though it makes me really, really sad. I have always been so proud to say I'm from Akron, Ohio. Reminds me of when they put that bus terminal in by Rolling Acres. I knew it would kill the area. &, it has. Sad, sad, sad. =*( Poverty seems to breed crime. I wish there was a way I could 'fix' it. I always want to fix things & help. =(

[htlong]

the more you help the worse the problem gets,we need to stand back and let the herd thin itself out

[JR_C]

Originally Posted by BuckeyezRule

Good luck. No idea. I keep trying to get my parents to move out of Kenmore, but, they won't. =( Posts like this make me glad I left Akron. Though it makes me really, really sad. I have always been so proud to say I'm from Akron, Ohio. Reminds me of when they put that bus terminal in by Rolling Acres. I knew it would kill the area. &, it has. Sad, sad, sad. =*( Poverty seems to breed crime. I wish there was a way I could 'fix' it. I always want to fix things & help. =(

This is just my opinion, and I have no stake in Akron, so take it for what it's worth. But I think your parents have the right idea. One of the reasons older neighborhoods decline is because of flight of the current residents. (it used to be called "white flight," but now it's "wealth flight")

If your parents' street is bad, it's because other people have already sold their house cheap to get rid of it, or they have passed away, and their children have sold it cheap to get rid of it. If your parents' street isn't bad, and you convince them they need to get out quick, (aka: sell their house cheap) it will likely become a problem house, and cause more people to leave because of the problems from your parents' former house, killing the street.

All that is just a really long version of what SquareBetterThanAll already said.

[BuckeyezRule]

You are right JR. I'm just gonna be selfish & say my parents are old (my Dad will be 78 this year) & when they have thieves who stole something from the local grocery store & cops running through my Mom's clothes on the line in their backyard, I get scared for them. I know them leaving just makes things worse, probably, but, let someone else stay. Which I know is everyone's thought & what causes the problems. I just don't want my parents to get hurt.

[JR_C]

Originally Posted by BuckeyezRule

You are right JR. I'm just gonna be selfish & say my parents are old (my Dad will be 78 this year) & when they have thieves who stole something from the local grocery store & cops running through my Mom's clothes on the line in their backyard, I get scared for them. I know them leaving just makes things worse, probably, but, let someone else stay. Which I know is everyone's thought & what causes the problems. I just don't want my parents to get hurt.

I understand. And I don't have the answers either.