Lakewood's Fiscal Turning Point - What Would You Cut?

[john crino]

Thanks for citing a commercial real estate agent as the source of Lakewood having the most vacencies per capita in the country.

The question is what policies do you propose be enacted? I am not debating the merits of your post. I agree with most of what you write. I'm suggesting that we work to upgrade Lakewood's housing stock. You are suggesting that we ...

I appreciate the exchange and hope others join us.

Later.

A commercial RE agent; as in someone who does research on buying and selling apartment buildings....makes sense to me that they would have the info.
Anyway, what do I propose? What I mentioned in my first posting. Some public/private look at parts of the city that can be transformed.
For example,the car lots and rentals that no longer fit in to this inner ring suburb are gone and replaced with new single family housing etc.
Why do people take such offense at tearing down some doubles and building some new housing stock? Owning a hoem is so much easier than it was 50 years ago. That along with the population decline seems to indicate that all those rentals might not be needed anymore.
"Nice post John,Very nicepost"

[David Anderson]

Thanks for the post, John.

I'm not willing to give a local real estate agent that much credit for conducting and publishing national research regarding vacancy rates. But, putting the agent's anecdotal observation aside...

I understand your point and did go back to re-read your initial post "....bought or swapped the doubles for vacant houses in other parts of the city ... leaving blocks available for development, cluster homes, condos, whatever."

Let’s explore/debate this further.

My initial reaction is that replacing housing with housing without addressing the issues that created the glut of poor quality homes in the first place or developing policy that enhances overall housing quality seems illogical. Not to mention the glut of commercial space already in Lakewood.

Furthermore, there are many streets in Lakewood with plenty of for sale signs. However, let’s look at the numbers. Of the 28,416 homes in Lakewood, 8,781 are single family homes of which 332, or 3.8%, are currently for sale - 294 listed at $100,000 or higher. Of the 28,416, 15,800 are multiples of which 167, or 1.05%, are currently for sale - 158 listed at $100,000 or higher. Sixty-five condo's are currently for sale - all $100,000 or higher. (www.Realtor.com)

1) While I concede that some streets have more than the average, this hardly seems to be an epidemic (seven out of 20 single family houses and two out of 20 multiple family houses).

2) Even if there were a street with 80% of its houses for sale (maybe you can name one - I cannot), it would cost millions for Lakewood to purchase these with no promise that the lots/block could be resold. It seems that if this were a viable option private developers would already be doing what you suggest the city do.

Again, my suggestion is to enhance the quality of Lakewood's housing stock and identify this characteristic as one of Lakewood's core competencies not detriments. This would attract tax payng residents without adding to the burden of city services/infrastructure. (There are still 1.3 million folks in Cuyahoga County.)

I'm opened minded and willing to be convinced of your suggestion but need more persuading.