FIX A HOUSE, SAVE A CITY

[pat ballasch]

GREAT HOMES, GREAT CITY (housing policy template)
If you attended a city financial forum recently you know like River City there's trouble in Lakewood too.Our new administration has acknowledged our financial problems & is working to provide services more efficiently & fiscally responsibly.
I believe HOUSING must be a priority issue. It is a major component to our city's economic future. I'd like to see people energized and taking on extensive projects on structures all over the city. The beauty of housing is, investing in your property is also an investment in personal comfort. I challenge you to recognize what your home gives back.
Below I have written a housing policy outline. I believe we need to see & embrace a comprehensive approach. I've e mailed the information below to the Mayor, council members, development department & additional people that want our city to thrive.

CITY GOVERNMENTS PART IN SUPPORTING HEALTHY HOUSING:
1) Create a pro housing city reputation that is modeled in every service the city provides.
2) Services must be based on well defined priorities & be cost effective.
3) City employees need to be well qualified for their positions. A safe, friendly, fair
workplace should drive productivity & encourage long term employees.
(Political patronage jobs need to be eliminated.)
CITY MISSION STATEMENT: Lakewood provides high quality,cost effective city services in a respectful manner
ACHIEVING FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY:
a) competent management in all departments providing oversight & efficient focused service b) create a reputation for being a well run city that people want to be a part of. THIS CREATES THE DESIRE FOR PEOPLE TO MOVE TO LAKEWOOD AS WELL AS STAY IN AN EXCITING THRIVING CITY.
CREATE A STREAMLINED RESIDENT & CONTRACTOR FRIENDLY BUILDING DEPARTMENT. An attitude of friendly helpfulness will be driven from the top down. Building projects can be challenging enough without unnecessary complications. Extensive renovation will safeguard personal investment in property & maintain a stable tax base. We need to constantly improve ways to encourage renovation. By developing a high value city we can minimize the need for tax abatement & tax incremental financing. These tax incentives to others place a larger burden on existing property owners. When a city is healthy, begging for development isn't necessary. This is why an efficient, honest, open, respectful government is essential. It will act as a magnet for people that are excited about living & investing in a vibrant city.
INVESTMENT PROPERTY is important in any city. It is a business. All business need to be respected & encouraged.
ALL PROPERTY OWNERS must recognize their obligation to maintain property. Anything less damages the value of surrounding property. That is like stealing from your neighbor. If they lose value due to a neighbors negligence you have taken money from their pocket. ENFORCEMENT OF LAWS MUST BE CONSISTENT FOR ALL PROPERTY.

CONSERVATION STARTS WITH BUILDING THINGS THAT LAST THEN MAINTAINING THEM.
Much of Lakewood's existing property is well constructed & built to have a usable lifespan of over 200 years. (When properly maintained) Real conservation includes updating & renovating well built property. (Not all property is well built) Tearing down structures, hauling to land fills & building with new materials is is not conserving resources & energy. Ideally, destruction of viable structures needs to be discouraged.
BEING GREEN
The city as well as property owners need to include energy efficiency, water conservation, air quality, & low maintenance features in all projects.Being Green starts with understanding & implementing these concepts in everything we do. Energy costs will continue to increase. New technologies need to be worked into homes & businesses. Some of these improvements may conflict with historic preservation proponents. We need to be supportive of new technology.It is advantageous to be perceived as a pro technology innovative city. It's an important culture to embrace today.
HOUSING EFFICIENCY : Lakewood has many small & medium size homes on small lots. These properties (when renovated) can be attractive to people desiring low maintenance property in a city full of attractive amenities. THERE IS AN EFFICIENCY TO DENSITY.
CONSISTENT ENFORCEMENT: Make sure we enforce existing laws & avoid legislation that creates road blocks to encouraging renovation. People fix homes not legislation.
EMINENT DOMAIN High functioning, fiscally responsible city government & constant extensive renovation will guarantee a healthy city. We need a written policy that states eminent domain will be used only in emergencies for public good & never for private projects. Without a clear policy many property owners live with a uneasiness.
As a city we have tremendous potential. Having a clear picture of our priorities & staying focused will allow us to be a great city we can all be proud of.

Patrick Ballasch


Pat Ballasch is a Realtor of 30+ years and Lakewood resident for 39

Observation Deck Idea:
Let's start tracking and providing a place for residents to identify vacant homes that are being neglected. Detail conditions, calls made to the building department with the date & who you talked to.. We could even create a link for pictures. This would be a great way for affected neighbors to effectively vent. What should we call the site?

[Jim DeVito]

Good Ideas Pat. Now we just need to get it done.

[Jeff Endress]

Let's start tracking and providing a place for residents to identify vacant homes that are being neglected. Detail conditions, calls made to the building department with the date & who you talked to.. We could even create a link for pictures. This would be a great way for affected neighbors to effectively vent. What should we call the site?

While I don't disagree, I think that if not done properly, you could create a greater problem. I mean, give the address, description, etc. of a VACANT home, and maybe, just maybe, there's a lurking thief, waiting for us to electronically case the joint for him?

Jeff

[Jim DeVito]

Valid point Jeff. I always love the news shows that start out by saying "What new drug are you kids doing!!!!" Then they get all the kids to wait to find out what new drug they are going to do next.

We just took a walk around a couple of blocks. Down Madison and the like. I now have the evidence to back up Jim's idea that all the shopkeepers should sweep the curbs to the street and then have the cigarette smoking, butt littering street sweeper to come by and pick it all up. There is not so much trash as the is road debris and little pebbles and stuff. Maybe you could get the merchants on the street to all chip in to pay the 1 hour of overtime it will take to go up and down Madison.

Back to housing. What ever happened to (correct me if I am wrong) First Federal offering a low interest loan to convert doubles to into singles. There's an innovative idea that may or may not have come out of Lakewood but they made it know that Lakewood was worth such an idea!

[pat ballasch]

2 family to single home. A home designed as a single usually has a better layout. The conversion is expensive. A 2 fam. is usually worth more as a 2 family. They did a conversion on Bunts & sold it. I'd like to see the numbers. Cost of conversion vs. sale price.
After seeing what's happening to the housing market, some people concluded, owning a home isn't for everyone. Rental property is necessary. We're in luck, Lakewood has rental property.

[pat ballasch]

I thought about the security aspect. Yes a bright crack head could get on the Observation Deck & hunt for the next home to strip. Strange thing, they find them now. Ask the building dept. how many homes have been hit. We need to be observent neighbors. Take a picture & get a license number of people taking aluminum siding & copper pipe out of vacant homes.
The idea of listing them on the Observation Deck is to get more attention to the problem. Albert Einstein said," The thinking that got us in this mess is insufficient to get us out" or something to that effect. With more attention someone may try to find a solution. Solution. There's an idea.