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Considering the rest of the neighborhood, you're right they don't look too bad.
True and even "hood" sections of cities have their nice pockets. Generally they tend to be where it transitions from "hood" to decent or nice again. There are some exceptions to that though.
So since homes in the ghettos of Rochester are so incredibly cheap and poorly maintained... how about we give the entire 'crescent' notice... shape up or ship out. Give all property owners exactly one year to get their property into good (not just barely acceptable) condition or the city comes and buys them up utilizing eminent domain.
Once the delinquent properties have been taken over... bulldoze them. Every. Last. Single. One. After that, turn the land into green space until buyers decide to reinvest in the area. This has a few effects:
1. Immediately gets rid of the living space for all the thugs, gang bangers, crack heads, and hookers. With nowhere to live there, there's no reason to hang around and further degrade the neighborhood.
2. Rewards those who are willing to put work into their property. With no more buildings that are falling apart next door to the responsible owners, their property values go up.
3. Creates a local economic stimulus. From the workers needed to bulldoze the houses to the materials purchased that are needed by owners willing to rehab their properties, money gets put back into the economy.
The big thing that most people would probably be concerned about is the cost involved with purchasing everything up:
1. The loss of the property taxes being paid. How many people in the ghettos are actually paying their taxes and aren't incredibly far behind in payments? And with property values so incredibly low to begin with, how much of a loss is it really for those who are paying their taxes?
2. The cost of purchasing and bulldozing the bad properties. Yes, there is an initial expense for taking over all these properties. However the costs for taking over would be quite similar to the significant monies spent currently policing these areas, not to mention the utility bills that wouldn't be stuck getting absorbed by the city anyway, along with all the with all of the various grants for lead remediation, and for new homes that just get burned down within a few years time. Vacant homes plague city's water system | Democrat and Chronicle
3. Once the bad properties are ousted, new buyers will eventually invest into the area with increasing home values which means increased property taxes collected (not property tax rate fyi).
As a solution to all of the thugs that end up moving out... buy a plot of land out in the country, and all of the land within a mile of it. Build a housing project in the center, leave the surrounding mile radius as green space with no construction allowed on it and create a bus route to the city for jobs. So at the very least, it fixes the city and concentrates the problem in a single area that is able to be handled more efficiently.
In a perfect world where that wouldn't be considered incredibly racist by the liberal hippies who don't believe in accountability, your plan would be a much heralded one. Unfortunately, this is the real world where things just can't be that easy
In a perfect world where that wouldn't be considered incredibly racist by the liberal hippies who don't believe in accountability, your plan would be a much heralded one. Unfortunately, this is the real world where things just can't be that easy
Sigh...this mindset is why i can no longer call myself a conservative. The republican party and "conservative" title has been hijacked by people with racist and condescending sentiments such as this that have completely morphed it into something that is completely un-conservative. It must be nice to live in a world where you are always right and everyone else is too dumb to realize it; but here on planet earth; life ISN'T so simple. And it's not because "liberals make things complicated". Too much Fox News and radio talkshows for some of these folks. Thanks a lot Beck and Limbaugh.
So since homes in the ghettos of Rochester are so incredibly cheap and poorly maintained... how about we give the entire 'crescent' notice... shape up or ship out. Give all property owners exactly one year to get their property into good (not just barely acceptable) condition or the city comes and buys them up utilizing eminent domain.
Once the delinquent properties have been taken over... bulldoze them. Every. Last. Single. One. After that, turn the land into green space until buyers decide to reinvest in the area. This has a few effects:
1. Immediately gets rid of the living space for all the thugs, gang bangers, crack heads, and hookers. With nowhere to live there, there's no reason to hang around and further degrade the neighborhood.
2. Rewards those who are willing to put work into their property. With no more buildings that are falling apart next door to the responsible owners, their property values go up.
3. Creates a local economic stimulus. From the workers needed to bulldoze the houses to the materials purchased that are needed by owners willing to rehab their properties, money gets put back into the economy.
The big thing that most people would probably be concerned about is the cost involved with purchasing everything up:
1. The loss of the property taxes being paid. How many people in the ghettos are actually paying their taxes and aren't incredibly far behind in payments? And with property values so incredibly low to begin with, how much of a loss is it really for those who are paying their taxes?
2. The cost of purchasing and bulldozing the bad properties. Yes, there is an initial expense for taking over all these properties. However the costs for taking over would be quite similar to the significant monies spent currently policing these areas, not to mention the utility bills that wouldn't be stuck getting absorbed by the city anyway, along with all the with all of the various grants for lead remediation, and for new homes that just get burned down within a few years time. Vacant homes plague city's water system | Democrat and Chronicle
3. Once the bad properties are ousted, new buyers will eventually invest into the area with increasing home values which means increased property taxes collected (not property tax rate fyi).
As a solution to all of the thugs that end up moving out... buy a plot of land out in the country, and all of the land within a mile of it. Build a housing project in the center, leave the surrounding mile radius as green space with no construction allowed on it and create a bus route to the city for jobs. So at the very least, it fixes the city and concentrates the problem in a single area that is able to be handled more efficiently.
For one, would real thugs actually work at a 9-5 or would they just "hustle and be on their grind" in other ways?
Second, if you move these thugs to say LeRoy or Avon, what happens in those towns?
Third, could it be that the concentration of poverty is more of a problem than a solution? Many would say that this is the problem.
A funny thing I notice while driving through "those neighborhoods" is that most of the houses used to have a front porch. As in the photo on the previous page, we need to get people in their front yards. Know your neighboors and their kids. Bring back the front porch.
I understand that the city is encouraging multi family housing to be deconverted to single family.
Sigh...this mindset is why i can no longer call myself a conservative. The republican party and "conservative" title has been hijacked by people with racist and condescending sentiments such as this that have completely morphed it into something that is completely un-conservative. It must be nice to live in a world where you are always right and everyone else is too dumb to realize it; but here on planet earth; life ISN'T so simple. And it's not because "liberals make things complicated". Too much Fox News and radio talkshows for some of these folks. Thanks a lot Beck and Limbaugh.
I call myself Independent on most issues, as I'm usually middle ground, then again I hate all politics as they're currently known because nothing good comes from them. Conservatives wouldn't agree with most of what I think. I'm interested in knowing why you think I am one though
You think you are paying too much in income and property taxes now? Just put this dystopian proposal into play and you will see state and local tax bills with numbers so big you will dare not utter them.
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