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In addition, fires like the one on Sunday morning ultimately will impact even those whose homes are in other neighborhoods.
“For your home owner’s insurance, they look at the city’s index and see those factors and base those rates on those factors. So it’s not saving me money. It is costing me,” Macklin said.
Youngstown has the highest per capita arson rate nationwide, according to statistics released in 2013.
Maybe it's time for city council to use whatever lawyer is on retainer to find a loophole in the law so they can bulldoze most of the city. It really is the only way to stop the arsons.
Normally, I'd say this is a good reason to attend your neighborhood meetings; to report houses that you feel are problems, to your councilman, so they can take care of the problem before desperation leads to arson. But I would assume Rev. Macklin already attends his local neighborhood meetings.
Most people don't realize that arson is a terrible way to combat blight. Not only does it put neighboring structures--and firemen's lives--at risk, but it puts the city in a reactionary position, instead of being able to strategically plan what to demolish. It also costs much more to dispose of materials from an arson, so fewer houses can be demolished in a year.
While my homeowner's insurance premiums are higher in Youngstown than the state average, they are still less than the national average. Average Cost of Homeowners Insurance (2014)
Finally, even if the city could legally "bulldoze most of the city" (which I think is a terrible idea, of course) they wouldn't have the money.
They need to find a way to legally bulldoze the city and then a grant/private enterprise to pay for it. That's what lawyers do: weasel solutions without spending their client's money.
What's interesting is WKBN just assumes these recent arsons are "blight fighters". I don't know what gives them that impression.
I also found another angle in the story fascinating: when a torched structure damages a nearby "operational" home the folks in that house can't afford to fix their place so they're forced to abandon their property.
This dynamic is absolutely insane. Only in Youngstown are people holding onto their house by a financial thread, any damage is worth more than the house is worth, and abandoning the home is their only option.
So basically home owners in Ytown are living in houses they couldn't sell if they wanted to and any damage to it is not worth fixing and abandonment is the best option.
What's interesting is WKBN just assumes these recent arsons are "blight fighters". I don't know what gives them that impression.
Good question. I think the blight fighters are the ones who drive the arson stats so high, but I'm sure there are plenty of incidents caused by stupid kids just getting into trouble.
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I also found another angle in the story fascinating: when a torched structure damages a nearby "operational" home the folks in that house can't afford to fix their place so they're forced to abandon their property.
This dynamic is absolutely insane. Only in Youngstown are people holding onto their house by a financial thread, any damage is worth more than the house is worth, and abandoning the home is their only option.
So basically home owners in Ytown are living in houses they couldn't sell if they wanted to and any damage to it is not worth fixing and abandonment is the best option.
Wow.
They are referring to people who can't afford (or don't have) homeowner's insurance. Maybe there are other circumstances I'm not thinking of, but most of these people are probably retired, and on a fixed income. If these people don't have insurance, then they must own their house outright, and have probably lived there for decades. Another possibility is that the house was owned by a slumlord, who just walks away.
Good question. I think the blight fighters are the ones who drive the arson stats so high, but I'm sure there are plenty of incidents caused by stupid kids just getting into trouble.
They are referring to people who can't afford (or don't have) homeowner's insurance. Maybe there are other circumstances I'm not thinking of, but most of these people are probably retired, and on a fixed income. If these people don't have insurance, then they must own their house outright, and have probably lived there for decades. Another possibility is that the house was owned by a slumlord, who just walks away.
I assume the damaged houses are owned by the elderly as well. I'd venture to say 99% of all homes in Youngstown are owned by slumlords or retired folks who own their places outright. I'd also assume the vast majority of Ytown's home owners can't afford insurance.
That's Ytown's problem again: no viable working middle class folks investing in the city.
I think the overwhelming majority of Ytown's arsons (#1 in the country) are the result of insurance fraud and kids.
I don't know where this "blight fighter" idea came from. Burning down structures decreases property values and creates more blight. I don't think the one house for every 3 empty lots look is much better. We all know why it is that way. Not like you'd fool anyone into thinking there were never houses there. More often than not the concrete steps that led up to the house remain behind. Actually looks creepy IMO.
I assume the damaged houses are owned by the elderly as well. I'd venture to say 99% of all homes in Youngstown are owned by slumlords or retired folks who own their places outright. I'd also assume the vast majority of Ytown's home owners can't afford insurance.
Unless you can provide a link to some stats, we'll have to agree to disagree.
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That's Ytown's problem again: no viable working middle class folks investing in the city.
Generally, yes. This is the root of Youngstown's problems. Yet, whenever someone expresses an interest in the city, people come out of the woodwork telling them to stay away.
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I think the overwhelming majority of Ytown's arsons (#1 in the country) are the result of insurance fraud and kids.
I don't know where this "blight fighter" idea came from. Burning down structures decreases property values and creates more blight. I don't think the one house for every 3 empty lots look is much better. We all know why it is that way. Not like you'd fool anyone into thinking there were never houses there.
More often than not the concrete steps that led up to the house remain behind. Actually looks creepy IMO
I think you'd be surprised. People believe that an empty lot is better than an empty house, and a burned house gets taken care of faster than a vacant house. It's one of the negative effects of pushing the idea of shrinking the city.
Unless you can provide a link to some stats, we'll have to agree to disagree.
Generally, yes. This is the root of Youngstown's problems. Yet, whenever someone expresses an interest in the city, people come out of the woodwork telling them to stay away.
I think you'd be surprised. People believe that an empty lot is better than an empty house, and a burned house gets taken care of faster than a vacant house. It's one of the negative effects of pushing the idea of shrinking the city.
Of course it's a guess on property owners. It's an educated guess based on all the verifiable metrics at our disposal though.
I don't argue against people taking an interest in the city. We just disagree on the definition of investment. You think it's rehabbing old homes, community gardens, and after school projects for kids. Those are ancillary ideas that don't address the core issues.
In my opinion, if a Ytown resident was truly interested in turning the city around the first order of business would be to form a citizens coalition to dissolve the city government/charter and write a new one with new elections.
Of course it's a guess on property owners. It's an educated guess based on all the verifiable metrics at our disposal though.
Since you don't live here anymore, I guess you have to rely on "verifiable metrics." I disagree, based on my experience with my neighbors.
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I don't argue against people taking an interest in the city. We just disagree on the definition of investment. You think it's rehabbing old homes, community gardens, and after school projects for kids. Those are ancillary ideas that don't address the core issues.
While I do think the first two are ways of reinvesting in the city, (Rehabbing old houses, is how many historic neighborhoods were brought back.) I mentioned all three in response to another poster who claimed that the pro-yo crowd doesn't do any work, and only writes blogs.
IMO, reversing the 35 year trend of disinvestment from the city is the core issue. All of Youngstown's other problems are symptoms of that disinvestment.
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In my opinion, if a Ytown resident was truly interested in turning the city around the first order of business would be to form a citizens coalition to dissolve the city government/charter and write a new one with new elections.
Anyone not doing that is just wasting time.
Is this another way of saying "throw 'em all out" or do you have actual issues with the city charter? I'm no fan of this city's government body, but starting from scratch seems counterproductive.
It all depends upon your personal taste and prior experience. People who think Charlotte is boring tend to have grown up or lived in densely populated megacities with 24/7 entertainment and amenities. They tend to think of exciting as a place where you can easily dine well at 1 am in the morning on a Wednesday, and find hordes of hipsters walking the sidewalks and in dive bars in multiple bustling parts of town. They want to be able to go out at 11 p.m. on a Thursday and feel like the night is still young and city is alive. They also tend to be cities with a very bohemian, hipster, and culturally progressive activist ethos. The "exciting places" tend to be places with huge numbers of visible single adults, college students, gays, foreign-born people, artists, intellectuals, and technies, the much-studied "creative class." Of course, many, many people do not need this type of environment to be fulfilled, but for a certain type of person, it is necessary.
huge numbers of visible single adults, college students, gays, foreign-born people, artists, intellectuals, and technies -- Hey, some people with disposable income and free time. I sure do miss those people. Shenango & Mahoning Valleys have a severe lack of those types people that I bolded. Add to that severe lack of college-grad people who are sophisticated enough to know anything at all about architecture. Retirees, boring cash-strapped people with 4 kids, and gangland activity do not, as a rule, restore old houses. Rural family people are not so much into that, either. As NoRecess pointed out, small town fam-uh-lee people are the type that want bland and new, they are crowd-followers, and will settle for nearly anything just as long as it's new and they don't have to do any work on it. And, oh yeah, the SCHOOL DISTRICT has to be superduper fantastic, or else countryhen mama is going to sit at home and homeschool her brood with the appropriate religious indoctrination about the importance of homemaking and FAM-UH-LEE, too. Women in Shenango Valley never do anything that isn't eternal motherhood, grandmotherhood, or homemaking. I swear that is true. I won't even talk to these bumpkin mamas over here anymore. With such a bunch of brain-dead family bores who LOVE to sit in their cheap houses in the cornfields of suburbia, eternally futzing with their lawns, I am not surprised that Farrell is gone, Sharon is low-income rentals, and almost nobody's reinvesting in YTown and Warren.
The descendents of blue collar immigrants over here also want their "own" new house. They don't want a handmedown old house that's out of style. That got discussed quite a bit in the Pittsburgh forum, regarding why so many older houses have been stripped of architectural detail and gutted into something cheap and ugly.
huge numbers of visible single adults, college students, gays, foreign-born people, artists, intellectuals, and technies -- Hey, some people with disposable income and free time. I sure do miss those people. Shenango & Mahoning Valleys have a severe lack of those types people that I bolded. Add to that severe lack of college-grad people who are sophisticated enough to know anything at all about architecture. Retirees, boring cash-strapped people with 4 kids, and gangland activity do not, as a rule, restore old houses. Rural family people are not so much into that, either. As NoRecess pointed out, small town fam-uh-lee people are the type that want bland and new, they are crowd-followers, and will settle for nearly anything just as long as it's new and they don't have to do any work on it. And, oh yeah, the SCHOOL DISTRICT has to be superduper fantastic, or else countryhen mama is going to sit at home and homeschool her brood with the appropriate religious indoctrination about the importance of homemaking and FAM-UH-LEE, too. Women in Shenango Valley never do anything that isn't eternal motherhood, grandmotherhood, or homemaking. I swear that is true. I won't even talk to these bumpkin mamas over here anymore. With such a bunch of brain-dead family bores who LOVE to sit in their cheap houses in the cornfields of suburbia, eternally futzing with their lawns, I am not surprised that Farrell is gone, Sharon is low-income rentals, and almost nobody's reinvesting in YTown and Warren.
The descendents of blue collar immigrants over here also want their "own" new house. They don't want a handmedown old house that's out of style. That got discussed quite a bit in the Pittsburgh forum, regarding why so many older houses have been stripped of architectural detail and gutted into something cheap and ugly.
Maybe this is another reason why I prefer the Wick Park Neighborhood to the Garden District Neighborhood--that I recently left? Both are great neighborhoods in their own way.
The Garden District is nestled between Mill Creek Park, Fellows Riverside Gardens, and Calvary Cemetery, but most of the long-timers there are those who raised their kids there; middle-aged, working/middle class. (I consider them old-school Youngstowners) The rest are transient renters.
In addition to quality architecture, (that mostly hasn't been ruined by aluminum/vinyl siding) the Wick Park Neighborhood has more of what you bolded above.
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people are the type that want bland and new, they are crowd-followers, and will settle for nearly anything just as long as it's new and they don't have to do any work on it. And, oh yeah, the SCHOOL DISTRICT has to be superduper fantastic, or else countryhen mama is going to sit at home and homeschool her brood with the appropriate religious indoctrination about the importance of homemaking and FAM-UH-LEE, too. 
Women in Shenango Valley never do anything that isn't eternal motherhood, grandmotherhood, or homemaking. I swear that is true. I won't even talk to these bumpkin mamas over here anymore. With such a bunch of brain-dead family bores who LOVE to sit in their cheap houses in the cornfields of suburbia, eternally futzing with their lawns, I am not surprised that Farrell is gone, Sharon is low-income rentals, and almost nobody's reinvesting in YTown and Warren.
