LaTourette & Fudge envision bigger demolition money: editorial
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
The foreclosure epidemic -- coming after years of depopulation
and disinvestment -- has left Cleveland and cities large and small
throughout Northeast Ohio saddled with tens of thousands of
community-destroying abandoned properties.
Those vacant structures not only depress the value of
neighboring properties, they also are staging areas for criminals.
Since many -- if not most -- are mere shells at this point, there
is no realistic prospect of returning them to the market. The best,
maybe the only, solution, is to tear them down. That removes
blight, creates open space and raises the possibility of future
constructive use.
But demolitions, on average, cost $7,500, and despite the best
efforts of Cleveland and other communities -- plus the Cuyahoga
County Land Bank since 2009 -- there's never been enough money to
do what needs to be done. The federal Neighborhood Stabilization
Program has helped, but only 10 percent of that money can be used
for demolition.
Fortunately, other officials are getting creative. Ohio Attorney
General Mike DeWine has earmarked $75 million for demolition from
the state's share of a nationwide mortgage fraud settlement. The
city of Cleveland, the land bank and Cuyahoga County Prosecutor
Bill Mason are pooling $14 million in hopes of getting a match from
DeWine's fund.
U.S. Reps. Steve LaTourette and Marcia Fudge have an even bigger
idea: a $4 billion federal bond fund for demolition; especially
hard-hit areas would be eligible for extra money. Communities
trying to recover from the abandonment plague need lots of help,
and the bipartisan duo have come up with a clever way to provide
it. Congress should move quickly to enact their idea.