As I age
I try to force myself - on every issue (on multiple levels) - to think backward - to think upside down. To think like I was crazy. To think like I was evil minded. To think like I was rational and above it all . To not think and jerk my knee. OUT OF THE BOX!!! What's the answer?....
The City of Cleveland gets only about 7% of its income from property taxes. This relevation came to me from Bloomburg's Business Week and is copied below [1]:
"Only about 7 percent of Cleveland’s budget comes from property taxes, and with income-tax collections exceeding projections by 4 percent this year, a property-value decline shouldn’t be a major blow for the city, said Finance Director Sharon Dumas. School districts that are more dependent on property taxes could feel a sharper pinch, she said"
Reading this I had a morbid epiphany: Cleveland's municipal bureaucracy promoters recognize that the Friday paychecks are more secure with fewer citizens living in Cleveland. Isn't this what the Greater Cleveland Partnership recognizes too? And the Downtown Cleveland Alliance? and the Cleveland Foundation?
Fewer kids in Cleveland Schools - is a BEAUTIFUL THING! In a decade we've been able to cut the enrollment almost in half! 70k to 40k!
Those foreclosures and wholesale neighborhood home demolitions? Well what do you think? If those homeowners are only providing 7% of the municipal revenue - and they vote, and they need police, school, fire, and trash pick-up - then the math is simple.
GET RID OF THEM! [2]
And so the County Land Bank comes along = vacant fields - we love them - TRUE GREEN!
__________________________________
There is a city in Southern California called City of Industry [3]. The City is all industrial. It has only about 200 residents. So all those services - libraries, parks, police for domestic disputes, schools for kindergarten kids - the City of Industry does not need or have - and doesn't need any money to fund them.
_________________________________
Image from Street Conversations with Reza 2007 [4]
Man, call me crazy, but Cleveland appears headed INTENTIONALLY towards being a City of Industry. Who is orchestrating this?
Would Joe Roman complain? Would Ronn Richard complain? Would Jim Rokakis and the "Land BanK" complain?
Would Forest City folks complain?
___________________________________
Too many rats in Public Square anyway... [5]
Home Harvesting in Cleveland [6] - smart move.
'bout time NEO got it's act together...
Check out the City of Industry's web site: it's pretty simple - just business [7], no resident's nonesense.
Man, this is way beyond the Tea Party!
(PS: I'd feel better if my maturing theory is all wet - all wrong - so log on and explain my misunderstanding...)