Are the Lakewood City and County Land Banks One Huge Scam?

[Lori Allen _]

James,

Thanks.

[Lori Allen _]

Just an update: I called the Cuyahoga County Recorders Office today and they informed me that they have no idea what is wrong with their computer system or how much longer it will be down and not accessible to the public.

Could Armond and Gus be ordering a "fix" of the records? In my opinion, it would be too difficult to "fix" all of therm. Tampering with evidence is illegal. Besides, you never know who might be watching you!

[Lori Allen _]

Interesting, interesting. Since I made a telephone call to the county earlier today, the Cuyahoga County Recorder's side is now back up and fully functional.

Now, for the interesting part. If you recall from one of my previous posts, you will know that in January and March 2014, both City Hall and the Cuyahoga Land Bank conducted free "giveaways" of two of their respective land bank properties here in Lakewood. The lots were both given away to a gentleman named Justin for $0. I have spoken with the Cuyahoga Land Bank on more than one occasion. They informed me that never, under any circumstances does the Cuyahoga Land Bank "give away" properties for free, or $0.

I am uncertain as to what City Hall's policy is on "giving away" their respective land bank properties, but I am not happy that they are being "given away" when my hard-earned tax money is used to tear down the structures that previously sat on them.

Now that the Cuyahoga County Recorder's Office website is back up, I may now share the deeds that accompanied these two land bank "giveaways".

Here is the deed for the City Hall land bank "giveaway" at 2042 Dowd. Notice at the top that the total consideration is "$0", which is exactly in line with what the Fiscal Officer's website shows under the transfer history for this property:

2042 Dowd giveaway.jpg (73.57 KiB) Viewed 5534 times

Land value: $5,200
Total consideration: $0



Notice whose signature appears at the bottom: Michael P. Summers.

Here is the deed for the Cuyahoga Land Bank "giveaway" for the land bank property at 2086 Magee. Notice again that the total consideration is $0:

2086 Magee deed pt 1.jpg (136.23 KiB) Viewed 5534 times

2086 Magee deed pt 2.jpg (78.13 KiB) Viewed 5534 times

Total value: $87,200
Total consideration: $0



Notice whose signature appears at the bottom of this deed. Gus Frangos, an apparent co-owner of the decaying North Parking Garage.

Again, I am uncertain of City Hall's policy on "giveaways" of their land bank properties. However, Cuyahoga Land Bank has informed me on more than one occasion that "we would never accept $0 for a property". That statement is in direct conflict with the above transfer deed.

Gus Frangos has already been accused of "land-banking-for-profit" by a blogger over on http://realneo.us/ . Could there be "land-banking-for-profit" happening here in Lakewood. Stay tuned to find out. These are not the only free "giveaways".

[dl meckes]

I thought that the city turned over all the housing stuff to LakewoodAlive.

I always thought that group has such an interesting history.

[Lori Allen _]

DL,

Thanks for your comment.

Lakewood Alive, while doing a few things here and there with housing, is more of an economic development and "community vibrancy" organization. City Hall and Cuyahoga County run their own land banks here in the city. Ideally, land banks are supposed to decrease blight, strengthen communities, and return land to productive use.

Unfortunately, the Lakewood and Cuyahoga Land Banks appear to be doing much of the opposite in Lakewood. For example, demolition of homes, especially those built in the mid to late-19th century should be a last resort. Actually, demolition could almost be removed from the picture, if City Hall would hold owners accountable or assist those that are financially or physically unable to make repairs. However, this needs to happen before the house or building goes beyond repair. This could easily be achieved through regular inspections, and if rental properties were inspected once per year, as is the law. Actually, the majority of the properties City Hall has torn down actually just need some minor to moderate repairs, if any, and were still structurally sound. Also, the famous City Hall claim that "we can't find the owner" is hogwash in 99% of these cases. With all of the technology today, this should hardly ever happen. Most likely, this is an excuse when the owner is a friend of someone at City Hall, or if not taking action would somehow benefit City Hall.

In summary, I would like to see City Hall:

1. Hold owners accountable for their properties before the structural integrity of the building comes into question
2. Assist homeowners that may not be able to make all of the repairs to their home, also before the structural integrity of the building comes into question.
3. Put not just some, but all City Hall and Cuyahoga Land Bank properties up for public, competitive bidding.
4. Not give away City Hall land bank properties to alleged friends for $0.
5. Ensure that vacant lots are returned to productive use within a timely fashion. Ideally, new homes that resemble the previous one or otherwise fit the character of the neighborhood would be ideal. Community gardens, while a noble idea, often become overgrown and are not maintained correctly.
6. Not do anything illegal, questionable, or shady with land bank deals.

Unfortunately, it appears that these land bank properties have become for-profit follies for some of City Hall's alleged friends. There will be more on this coming soon.

[Lori Allen _]

Do Cuyahoga Land Bank Contractors Have CCF Roots?

See https://projects.propublica.org/recover ... 0630/81707

Note: this post relates to Lakewood as the Cuyahoga Land Bank does and has done demolition work in the City of Lakewood.

According to the above link, the Cuyahoga County Land Reutilization Program (A.K.A. Cuyahoga Land Bank) received a grant in the amount of $40,841,390 from HUD for the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. Recipients connected to the grant include, but are not limited to, the Cuyahoga Land Bank and the City of Lakewood. Specifically, the Cuyhahoga Land Bank received $3,951,333 and the City of Lakewood received $122,000 from this grant back on 2/11/2010.

What is highly interesting is the names of some of the vendors, or demolition contractors.While it is certainly possible that some of these are just coincidence, these are the names that caught my eye:

- B&B Wrecking & Excavating (this is the company that demolished the South Garage and medical building, at the expense of Lakewood taxpayers).


- C&J Demolition

- HEZ Enterpsies (this is the company whose owners appear to have long criminal history, according to public records. See this thread for more info:

http://lakewoodobserver.com/forum/viewt ... =7&t=23766

- Aero Abatement Services (This one is hillarious. The company's address goes to a vacant lot at 7102 Lawnview Ave. in Cleveland. Look it up on Google Streetview. I guess they are running an asbestos abetment business out of a pitched tent!)

- American Preservation Builders, LLC. From what I gather this appears to be owned by a brother of a Lakewood policeman. Again, this doesn't mean anything wrong is happening, but it is interesting to note.

- Sam Miller Construction. Why do I have a sneaking suspicion that this company is owned by the Sam Miller from Forest City Enterprises and Cleveland Clinic? See below links for more info:

http://my.clevelandclinic.org/about/ove ... ler-samuel

- Zaremba Home Again Restoration. Isn't this where Mr. Jason Russell went to work after his hasty abandonment of the U.S.S. Summers? Also, is there any relation to former Councilman Shawn P. Juris? According to public records, Mr. Juris has an uncle through marriage with the last name of Zaremba that lives on Lake Rd. here in Lakewood. Coincidence? Who knows? Also, it should be mentioned that the City of Lakewood also funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer funds to Zaremba between 2010 and 2013, according to public records.

These are only the companies that I recognized off the top of my head. When time permits, I plan on examining the rest in more detail.

Again, is there a chance that all of these demolition contractors for the Cuyahoga Land Bank were chosen by accident? I suppose, but it does make me wonder. On the other hand, there are some contractors on the list that have been in business for years and are highly respected. Therefore, I don't think everyone on the list is bad, but some of the names do make me wonder.

[Lori Allen _]

One of the owners from B & B Wrecking appears to be Amish. According to county records, he has no water, sewer, gas, or electric attached to his 3,300 square foot house.

[Lori Allen _]

Bombshell: Victim of Alleged Property Theft Sues City Hall, Dru, and Nate Kelly, Judge Dismisses Case

As we are all aware, City Hall declared the historic Newman Corners Boarding House at 11900 Madison a nuisance in 2011, and had it demolished in 2012. The historic building was built in 1896, public records show.

New information has come to light regarding this property at its demolition. On August 3rd, 2011, the then-owner of the property, APEX Mortgage Company, filed a lawsuit against City Hall, citing several wrongdoings on the part of City Hall. APEX claims that City Hall unjustly declared the property a nuisance and deprived them of their property rights without due process of law. The complaint also claims that City Hall violated APEX's rights under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The entire complaint will be attached to the bottom of this thread for viewing. If you are not interested in reading every detail, skip to the bottom for a "Cliffnotes version". However, I recommend reading the whole thing in order to fully understand this.

According to the complaint, APEX acquired the property through a federal court sale in May of 2009. While the complaint acknowledges that certain maintenance issues did exist at the property, that APEX could have easily corrected the issues through rent income, and that they intended to correct the issues. Also according to the complaint, City Hall became interested in acquiring the property in December 2009, as referenced in this e-mail that former Planning Director Nate Kelly sent to Mary Leigh, a Community Development employee for City Hall:

Would you dig around on the above? It's a nuisance property that is in foreclosure and would be a good one to purchase.

On January 2nd, 2010, Kelly e-mailed Leigh again, stating:

Dru {Siley{ is going to see if he can get some info on the inside of the building. This is the kind of property that would warrant going to council, even if its under $60K, to purchase.

Later in the complaint, it is mentioned that Leigh contacted Emma P. Barcelona, Community Development Officer at the City of Lakewood concerning the property, stating:

To my question. The property is at 11900 Madison. Need to know if, based on the circumstances, would qualify for NSP's. Not sure if vacant, (but obviously would need to be). A foreclosure action filed in 2007 but it appears that instead of going through that whole process, the owner signed it over to the bank. If vacant, we could: 1. Nuisance? And/or purchase and rehab or demolish with intent to redevelop with some new purpose (commercial or residential).

First, is there any chance at all that the "Emma P. Barcelona" referenced in the complaint is the Emma Petrie-Barcelona from the Lakewood Board of Education? That would be a huge coincidence. Also, NSP stands for Neighborhood Stabilization Program, to clarify.

The complaint goes on to state that following these exchanges, that City Hall targeted the property, intending to demolish it. On September 22nd, 2010 Nate Kelly contacted Kim Steigerwald at the Cuyahoga Land Bank. In summary and in part, Kelly told Steigerwald that the property "has a number of blighting influences, will be vacant, and should probably be torn down. It would be a nice development site in the long-term and an nice place to park in the short-term".

Steigerwald then responded to Kelly the following day stating, in summary and in part, that she was concerned about Kelly's statement that the property "will be vacant." And that the last thing they would want to do would be to trigger the Tenant Protection Act. Steigerwald advised that even discussing this property is not a good idea.

The complaint then goes on to state that City Hall no longer had an interest in purchasing the property, but instead sought to acquire the property through nuisance declaration.

Later in the complaint, it is stated that APEX had a conversation with Nate Kelly in October 2010. The complaint states that Kelly purported that City Hall was interested in purchasing the property, but could only do so if the property was vacant and had been vacant for 90 days. Assuming that they could get money from selling the property to City Hall, APEX removed all tenants from the building, and did not bother with any further repairs, assuming City Hall would purchase the property and make the necessary repairs themselves.

Beginning in early 2011, APEX began e-mailing Dru Siley numerous times, stating that they were waiting to make a purchase agreement, and that they did not want to see the building demolished. APEX also stated to Siley that they were losing $3,000 a month in gross rents due to the vacation of the property. The complaint then states that on March 22nd, 2011, City Hall wrongfully declared the property a public nuisance. The nuisance declaration was appealed to the Board of Building Standards, which affirmed that city's nuisance declaration. Then, in May 2011, the property was broken into and copper plumbing was stolen, rendering the property economically unfeasible to repair. On May 9th, 2011, City Hall sent APEX a letter informing them that the property would be demolished. One day later, on May 10th, City Hall sent APEX another letter, giving APEX an ultimatum: donate the property to the Cuyahoga Land Bank and get a tax discount or pay City Hall for the property's demolition. The property was demolished, and this case was dismissed in Cuyahoga County Court.

Cliffnotes Version:

APEX Mortgage Company owned the now-demolished boarding house at 11900 Madison. Starting in late 2009, City Hall, through various e-mails between Nate Kelly, Mary Leigh, and Emma P. Barcelona, all City Hall employees at the time, indicated a hunger to "purchase" the property at 11900 Madison. In these e-mails, they decided if they should declare the property a nuisance or how to go about acquiring the property. Kelly noted in one e-mail to Mary Leigh that the site could be good for long-term commercial or residential development. Starting in September 2010, the then-owners of the property (APEX) had a conversation with Nate Kelly. In this conversation, Kelly stated that the city would purchase the property from APEX if they vacated it and left it vacant for 90 days. Therefore, APEX evicted all of the tenants. Starting in early 2011, APEX e-mailed Dru Siley several times, indicating that they wished to get a written purchase agreement from City Hall, and that they were losing $3,000 per month in rent because of City Hall's delay. Apparently, Siley never responded to APEX. Due to the property's vacancy, it was broken into in May 2011 and copper pipes were stolen. The property was then rendered economically unfeasible to repair. Also in May 2011, City Hall sent two letters to APEX. One letter indicated that City Hall intended to demolish the property. The other letter stated that APEX had two options: donate the property to the Cuyahoga Land Bank and receive a tax deduction, or pay City Hall for demolition costs. Therefore, the property was demolished.

The full complaint can be viewed here:

Apex Mortgage Complaint.pdf

(305.4 KiB) Downloaded 173 times

In summary, it appears that the following occurred:

1. City Hall wanted the property at 11900 Madison.
2. City Hall lured the then-owners of the property into thinking they would purchase the property from them.
3. City Hall then ignored the then-owners of the property, allowing the property to be broken into.
4. City Hall declared the property a nuisance and tore it down.

At this point, I am still speechless. For now, I will allow the folks of Lynyrd Skynyrd to be my spokesmen (skip to 0:57)

[Jim O'Bryan]

Are Cuyahoga County and City Hall Billing the Deceased?

Meet this property at 1427 Scenic St. Scenic is at the far western end of Lakewood at the end of Detroit Extension. This home was demolished by the Cuyahoga Land Bank in 2013. Also, City Hall had declared it an “imminent” nuisance. The previous owner of the home, named Tom, passed away in 2008. However, Cuyahoga County continued to send Tom tax bills to the home on Scenic St, even though he had passed away. Also, City Hall had sent Tom about five grass-cutting bills between his death in 2008 and 2013, when the Cuyahoga Land Bank took over the property. In other words, Cuyahoga County and City Hall are billing the deceased. Due to the fact that Tom had passed and could not pay his taxes, the delinquent property taxes on the property racked up to about $8,700 by 2013.

The Cuyahoga Land Bank took over the property and demolished the home in 2013. Mind you, this was a 1-bedroom, 1-bathroom, roughly 400 square foot home. It was a unique home, in my opinion. It would have been perfect for an older resident or a single person. However, City Hall felt that it was a nuisance and the Cuyahoga Land Bank evidently demolished it. Does it look like a nuisance to you? It looks like a cute little shack to me, and unique to the area:

1427 Scenic.jpg

The only possible explanation I can think of is that the property deteriorated between the passing of the owner and 2013. However, if this were the case, why did City Hall not take over the property and sell it to somebody that could fix and live in it instead of waiting and tearing it down?

Cuyahoga Land Bank sat on the vacant land for about three years until January 2016 when they gave it away for free to LakewoodAlive. In March 2016, LakewoodAlive sold the vacant land to Prairie Stone Group, LLC for $2,050. According to county records, the vacant land was appraised at about $17,000. In other words, it was sold for about 12% of its value. A new home is now being built on the vacant land. According to the Ohio Secretary of State, Prairie Stone Group LLC is owned by a Dana Paul. Mr. Paul is involved with LakewoodAlive and was on the list of endorsements for Mike Summers during the last election. Mr. Paul also flipped a house on Grace Ave. behind Drug Mart a few years ago, according to county records. I have to say, it looks like he did a good job on the flip.

While I'm sure Mr. Paul is not a bad guy and probably has good intentions, I do have some questions about the cute shack that was demolished on Scenic St.

1. The photo above does not appear to show that the property is in major distress. Why was it declared an “imminent nuisance”? Documentation and photographic evidence to explain would be ideal.

2. Why were City Hall and Cuyahoga County sending bills to a long-deceased person?

3. What will happen to that almost $9,000 that the deceased owner named Tom allegedly owed?

4. If this person was deceased, did City Hall or Cuyahoga County try to get hold of any family members? Does this automatically mean City Hall or Cuyahoga County get the land? Wouldn't that have to be put up for public sheriff's auction?

5. I was told my a member of LakewoodAlive that the salary of Ian Andrews is paid by the Cleveland Clinic. If anyone out there has this in writing, I would be very interested in seeing it.

Lori

Someone, pointed this post out to me, and I felt compelled to answer it for many reasons. Tom has been dead for over 5 years I believe.

1) Tom Darmour had been a close friend of mine since Junior High. Tom worked on all of my cars and motorcycles from the early days. Tom had a couch at my house, and free access to anything I had. He was a large lovable guy.

One of the last times we saved Tom's house from the city, it needed to be painted, and painted it we did, and a new roof. At the time, you could put your finger through the wood siding from dry rot. I think it was five of us, including Tom, at that time worked to get the house back in condition. It was truly the case of the shoemaker's shoes. He was more qualified at everything than us, but he was always fixing things for other people. Nissan (Tom worked for them) would send problem cares to "Doc" to figure out fixes on. He would rebuild my Alfa Romeo race engines with no manual, just knowing what was the sensible way to do things.

Tom died, their was no will. Tom's mother was old, and may have passed away as well. I do not belive his sister had any interest in it.

SO YES HE DIED, massive heart attack at work.

Is Ian Andrews paid by the Clinic. NO! LakewoodAlive is a non-profit, that is responsible as all non-profits are for raising their own funds, including salaries, every day, every year, all year. It is the nature of a non-profit. Cleveland Clinic/Lakewood Hospital I believe, used to give up to $100,000 a year to LakewoodAlive, that funding has all but dried up I believe. LakewoodAlive version 2 headed up by Ian Andrews is a great group of hard working people that deserve more funding then they are currently getting. EVERY MEMBER of the staff work their collective asses off for this city.

Lori, sometimes a cigar, is just something a person smokes on the porch late at night.

[Lori Allen _]

I thought it was time to pull this thread back up, as a new transfer has come to light.

Apparently, a house on Plover was taken over by the State of Ohio for unpaid taxes on 3/17/17. Evidently, the person did not pay their taxes and the property was foreclosed on. Fine.

Then, The State of Ohio turns around on 6/16/17 at 10: 24 a.m. and gives the property away to The Cuyahoga Land Bank. At 10:26 a.m. on that same day (two minutes later) the property transfers from the Cuyahoga Land Bank to the City of Lakewood. Amazing speed.

12311 Plover.jpg (122.85 KiB) Viewed 5080 times

12311 Plovert o COF Deed.jpg (209.13 KiB) Viewed 5080 times

I have driven by this house on many occasions. The house appears structurally sound, with perhaps some only moderate porch and siding work needed. In fact, I have always enjoyed the flowers in the side yard.

I certainly hope that City Hall has learned their lesson and will not use this opportunity to give another seemingly unnecessary demolition contract to another alleged friend. Rather, I hope to see an honest, public sale process to someone that will rehab the home (not Darren please!) or a rehab performed by a city contractor that was selected in an open, transparent manner. This house would make an excellent home for a senior citizen or disabled person, it appears to just need a little TLC.

I just thought I would throw this out there, to discourage any unnecessary demolition contracts given to friends. I'm only trying to keep Mr. Summers honest!