Driving down 55th Street today.. (Cleveland, Euclid: townhome, unemployment, property taxes)

[WestGuest]

There were so many old abandoned churches and other 'treasures" - I walked around - trying to get inside some of them. Many nice ones in the area near "House of Wills"


I asked one passer by "What's this area like ? 5500 Central Avenue She looked at me like I was nuts- "Its great if you like hearing gunfire every evening"and then told me about drugs and hookers etc She might not have a been a great candidate for the Chamber of Commerce



Is she correct?

[andrew61]

Originally Posted by WestGuest

I asked one passer by "What's this area like ? 5500 Central Avenue She looked at me like I was nuts- "Its great if you like hearing gunfire every evening"and then told me about drugs and hookers etc She might not have a been a great candidate for the Chamber of Commerce

Is she correct?

Well yes, that is a very bad part of town. One of the worst, in fact.

[TheProf]

The area is troubled, yes, but there is potential there; lots of it. To the west towards downtown, CMHA has done a wonderful job of rebuilding its woeful projects into a handsome, clean, well-kept townhome village, especially at Longwood Gardens. And of course, you're not far from expanding Tri-C. The famed East Tech HS there plus a number of architectural landmarks, notably the churches you noted. Andrew is wrong, there are much worse parts of town than this. The fact that it is close to downtown is a plus.

[WestGuest]

The landmarks are neglected and some are beyond practical repair,

[TheProf]

Originally Posted by WestGuest

The landmarks are neglected and some are beyond practical repair,

Yes, many are neglected, like that large Jewish temple turned church at the corner of E. 55th. None are completely beyond repair, esp given modern technology. The question is, where can the money and the will be found to make the needed repairs?

[WestGuest]

A problem with government - and not just in Cleveland is that well after the buildings stopped being used as churches, the religious organization owning them still gets the tax breaks- no property taxes. This gives them no incentive to sell.. so they just rot.

[TheProf]

Originally Posted by WestGuest

A problem with government - and not just in Cleveland is that well after the buildings stopped being used as churches, the religious organization owning them still gets the tax breaks- no property taxes. This gives them no incentive to sell.. so they just rot.

Agreed. I meant to say the corner of E. 55th & Central.

[bjimmy24]

Originally Posted by WestGuest

A problem with government - and not just in Cleveland is that well after the buildings stopped being used as churches, the religious organization owning them still gets the tax breaks- no property taxes. This gives them no incentive to sell.. so they just rot.

ehhh we are talking about maybe 0.05% of the rotting empty buildings in Cleveland. This does not explain why buildings are empty and decaying as much as the, ya know, devastating poverty, crime, and unemployment.

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

ehhh we are talking about maybe 0.05% of the rotting empty buildings in Cleveland. This does not explain why buildings are empty and decaying as much as the, ya know, devastating poverty, crime, and unemployment.

How many rotting, empty buildings are there in Cleveland? When I've driven through Midtown, the blight is much, much less than in the past. Conjecturing about the number of poorly maintained buildings in Cleveland in the absence of hard facts proves nothing.

The poster was making the point that churches, just like large mansions, are very problematic as their uses are limited. They also are very expensive buildings to maintain. There's also a reluctance to tear down once impressive and well utilized buildings in the hope another economic use can be found.

If a non-profit of the City of Cleveland itself owns a building, and there are no property taxes, it indeed may be cheaper to let the building rot than tear it down and repurpose the land. I see nothing wrong with the observation in post 6.

Midtown redevelopment, as well as much development in Cleveland, may be very negatively impacted by the consequences of the COVID-19 epidemic in ways that we don't yet understand. When I read about the outlook for a "Greater Depression" anticipated by a forecaster as respected as Nouriel Roubini, I do fear for lies ahead in this decade for the entire nation, but especially for economically depressed areas such as in the East 55th St. corridor hoping for a restart.

https://neo-trans.blogspot.com/2020/...opment-is.html

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nouri...120306765.html

East 55th at Euclid Ave. seems to be in the nascent stage of redevelopment. See projects 1) and 2) here. The Warner & Swasey and Richman Brothers factories on East 55th St. may be redeveloped in the next decade as mixed-used housing. It's hard to see the similar solutions for old churches.

https://neo-trans.blogspot.com/2020/...-2021.html?m=1

[bjimmy24]

^ We cannot pretend like if only the horrible evil churches didn't get tax breaks, we would have a beautiful thriving, fully occupied city. Regardless though, an empty but beautiful church from an era when people had good taste is not that bad a thing to have around. What drives me crazy is the city's obsession with demolishing anything and everything with an interesting artistic style that could be viewed as "beautiful." We have lost so much of what made Cleveland a unique place in the country.

Midtown is getting better, that is true. But a long way to go. It is still, however, mainly a ghost town at most times of day. I thought about living around the Agora at the Esmond (a lovely building, really), I'm not a hater. But it's just true, that you're going to have to be used to be the only person out on the street if you want to live in Midtown.