East CLE and the great land grab

I suggest that everyone in Northeast Ohio - join Facebook and friend Eric Jonathon Brewer [1] for an understanding of the land grab machine- and how Gary Norton played into their game:

I got council in 2009 to pass the toughest "Vacant Property Registration Ordinance" in the nation. It's still on the books but the idiot didn't enforce it. We expected to knock off $250,000 the first year and the money was starting to roll in before I left. Gary, in his second council meeting in 2010, said he wasn't enforcing it. The second year we expected to reach $500,000 and $1 million by year three.

The law basically requires vacant property owners to register their vacant property in their names, and if a corporation, the personal addresses of the officers. It includes banks, third party tax lien buyers, HUD and individual investors. None of this buy and hold shit. You either buy and get it ready to rent or sale or pay annual fees that start at $250 the first year, $500 the second year, $1000 the third year and so forth. That's an example of city government dealing with a blight problem and making cash at the same time. The ordinance has been in effect since 2009. It's a first degree misdemeanor. If there's a vacant and unattended property in East Cleveland in 2014 the city has a right to prosecute the property owner. That's fucking money in the bank, but letting Gary spend it would be EXTREMELY stupid.-

The above information is excerpted from a longer post - but NOTE -it provides a Vacant Property Solution that actually makes money rather than taking from taxpayers. Whole post reprinted below:

I'm adjusting my estimate about the city of East Cleveland's date with missing a payroll. I've not yet confirmed but my inside sources told me that the finance director was barely able to scrape up enough cash to meet the most recent payroll. I've been predicting a missed payroll around May or June 2014. Insiders are predicting the day may come sooner. Mayor Gary Norton has no money in the bank to pay any of the city's other bills.

I'll share some insights about municipal finances. I'm going off my recollection and will give you a general sketch.

The number one source of a city's revenue is in the municipal income tax. East Cleveland's is 2.5 percent. Many Ohio cities are around 1 to 2 percent. The Cuyahoga County cities with the highest municipal income tax rate are Pepper Pike, Shaker Heights, Moreland Hills, Solon, East Cleveland ... y'all get the picture?

Around, and I'm estimating, 60 percent of a city's annual budget comes from the municipal income tax. It's the same in East Cleveland, Cleveland everywhere else. With a municipal income tax rate that's the equivalent of the wealthier cities I identified, East Cleveland residents and the employees who work in the city are taxed enough to take care of all its needs. That is if they pay.

East Cleveland's unemployment rate is around 25 percent and the poverty rate is about 40 percent. Unlike the other cities, the amount of revenue East Cleveland city hall can generate in tax dollars is determined by the size of the annual salaries of its residents. More higher income residents, more dollars. More lower income residents, fewer dollars. That's how it works.

Another 15 percent or so of the city's budget comes from property taxes, and again I'm estimating. School districts get the bulk of the property tax money at around 65 percent. The county also gets about 15 percent of property tax money. Cities get a piece of the state sales tax, county sales tax, local sales tax, gasoline tax, hotel tax, restaurant tax, alcohol tax, tobacco tax and then they get a state income tax kickback in the form of a "local government revenue fund." When I was mayor I believe the amount was around $3.5 million. So again, higher property values more money to the city, and more services to the residents. Higher incomes residents don't cost as much in police and fire manpower. You don't have to keep sending cops to deal with the same bad-assed people over and over again. Higher income residents don't call EMS instead of going to the emergency room. They don't have as many fires. So mayors in those towns get to build some nice shit, like water parks and amphitheaters. That's how it works.

I'm going to also share a little about the city's sales tax rate, which I don't remember. Here's what those dumb asses Gary Norton led when he was president of council didn't understand that I was trying to get them to understand. Do you know how many people travel through East Cleveland daily? For a residential community? Millions! Why do you think Happy's chose East Cleveland? 80 bus lines go through East Cleveland. That's one third of RTA's entire system. The two largest lines are in East Cleveland with about 265,000 and around 450,000 daily travelers. Look at all the folk who live in all the suburbs and neighborhoods who have to come here and buy gasoline. Add something to the gasoline tax. Add a one fucking percent local sales tax on every purchase and the city's coffers will fill up in less than five years!

Auditor of State David Yost, Sharon Hanrahan who chairs the financial planning and supervision commission understand it. It's basic business. All the so-called bureaucratic brainpower that consists of Gary's management team, some with as many as 20 years in public service, still don't understand THIS conversation! Here's what I heard from them niggas on council. "OH. But poor people ain't got no money. They'll have to pay too."

Cities like East Cleveland, Cleveland and others have what is called "enterprise funds." Enterprise funds are the dollars the city picks up by selling water, sewer and electricity services to residents. There are other enterprise funds. Building permit fees. Occupancy permit fees. Sign fees. Fees for park usage. Fees for using the Helen S. Brown Center or the Martin Luther King Civic Center. The city can create enterprise funds. The primary duty of any city council, and it's in the goddamned charter, is to "prepare the city for prosperity."

Grant funds are available from the state and federal government for additional services. East Cleveland and other urban cities, particularly those with a poverty core, receive federal grant funds from the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD). East Cleveland's annual block grant allocation was about $2.5 million. By the time I arrived, and when I met with Secretary of HUD Alphonso Jackson and 16 of his top directors in D.C., block grant problems dated back to 1972. Contact Community Planning & Development Field Office Director Joregelle Lawson at the Columbus HUD office and make a Freedom of Information Request for all of the city's audits, monitoring reports, findings for recovery, etc. (614) 469-5737 ext. 8240 is her number. Her E-mail: Jorgelle [dot] Lawson [at] hud [dot] gov She doesn't play games and is good people. She's done her best to help the city through its CDBG struggles.

When I arrived in city hall, and I don't have my budgets in front of me, I think I was managing about $24 to $27 million a year for the first two years. The number dropped by a few million dollars after Mayor Frank Jackson and I were authorized by our two city councils to let the bigger city run our water department. I'm thinking, and I'm going off recollection, I might have handled around $21 million after the water department was gone. This year's budget is down to $11 million and Auditor of State David Yost says that's too high. Gary is still spending like I was spending but he doesn't have the money. He also wasn't going after the money like I was. That's one of the reasons the city is fucked up.

The biggest problem is that Gary isn't a business person and voters have not elected business minded people on council. He's never been an entrepreneur. His entire career has been as a very low level bureaucrat with no direct or indirect management authority. No one in his entire career ever trusted him enough to manage anything. Compare what I've shared above to his background. Letter writer for Cleveland Scholarship Foundation. Letter writer for Barbara Byrd Bennett. Administrative assistant for Peter Lawson Jones for 8 years. Peter demoted him to the county's community development department where he was given the task to get 12 houses rehabbed.

City hall is a business and it has to be run like a business. Gary treated it only as his personal piggybank.

Now here's where people get this mayor / council shit confused. When you read news clips you've got reporters talking about "powerful" mayors and all that kind of shit. Great adjectives, but the mayor's main duty is to manage the daily administrative affairs of the city in the manner specified in the charter, ordinances, administrative code, Ohio Revised Code, the United States Code, the Ohio Constitution and the U.S. Constitution. Anyone who tells you any goddamned differently doesn't know what the fuck they're talking about. Mayors don't have power only "duties." No politician is powerful. They all can be brought down.

Section 113(A) of East Cleveland's charter, and I have this ingrained in my brain, reads, "The mayor shall enforce the duly passed resolutions and ordinances of the council."

So when the council says collect for building fees, rubbish fees, occupancy permit fees, demolition fees, etc, the mayor has no choice but to collect the money. The mayor never has the authority not to do what council says when the majority include the word "shall" in legislation. It's a mandatory duty. The only permissive duty a mayor has is when council uses the word "may." Council also - through its ordinances and resolutions - puts a process in place to handle folk who don't pay.

So what did Gary and his management team of dummies do for 4 years to get the city fucked up? None of the above. In his capacity as mayor, pursuant to Section 113(A), Gary did not "enforce the duly passed ordinances and resolutions of council." It's in the city's public records. Contact William Ellington, the clerk of the council, at 216-681-2310. Ask for all the minutes of council's meetings since January 1, 2010. His email address is wellington [at] eastcleveland [dot] org if Gary's paid the internet bill.

Here's what Gary did. He waived building permit fees for all the new construction that's taken place in East Cleveland. That means those folk still owe the city money. He doesn't have the authority to waive fees and if this council was smart they'd get an accounting of how much new construction has taken place, and how much that idiot illegally waived, and pass a resolution ordering his stupid ass to send notices to every business with a demand to pay up. This is where the conflicts come in. Tom Wheeler's now on council but he's got a trail of problems like the one's I'm about to describe below when he ran the building department for Gary.

Gary hasn't collected business occupancy permit fees or residential occupancy permit fees for the 75 percent of the city's population that is rental based. Gary let businesses put up signs without first obtaining permits and paying fees, which means those signs have to come down, the business owner has to apply, pay a fee, get the design approval of the architectural review board and then put up the sign. No lease agreement with any landlord supersedes an ordinance of council or an Ohio law. Doing that gives your city's business look a uniform feel. You don't have them "Mammy-made" signs making the city look trashy.

The law basically requires vacant property owners to register their vacant property in their names, and if a corporation, the personal addresses of the officers. It includes banks, third party tax lien buyers, HUD and individual investors. None of this buy and hold shit. You either buy and get it ready to rent or sale or pay annual fees that start at $250 the first year, $500 the second year, $1000 the third year and so forth. That's an example of city government dealing with a blight problem and making cash at the same time. The ordinance has been in effect since 2009. It's a first degree misdemeanor. If there's a vacant and unattended property in East Cleveland in 2014 the city has a right to prosecute the property owner. That's fucking money in the bank, but letting Gary spend it would be EXTREMELY stupid.

There are other ways a city can generate revenue by leasing to cell phone tower companies and selling its "air space." What is "air space?" In developer terms ... high rises. Most of Euclid Avenue is zoned for less than three and four story buildings. Council can change zoning ordinances to allow developers to build "up." As an example, let's say we put four, 20 story hi-rise buildings between Euclid & E. 125th Street at the East Cleveland - Cleveland border. We then fill each building with 500 residents who's average annual wage is $50,000. That's 2000 new residents and $100 million in taxable income at 2.5 percent. For city hall that means $2.5 million in "additional" income tax revenue.

Now since you've got every business looking good because you got rid of those "Mammy made" signs, and they're all paying their fair share of taxes and fees, and providing services to those residents, the city picks up additional millions from just them living in its borders and spending a portion of their wages at local businesses.

All of East Cleveland's fees need to increase. Businesses, as I recall, paid an annual occupancy permit fee of $100. I don't think it's gone up since the 50's or 60's, maybe even sooner. That amount needs to easily be $350. Landlords are supposed to pay $10 per unit per year. That amount needs to be doubled or even tripled.

The problem, however, is that you can't charge folk if you don't manage the money and provide them with services. Gary is a complete fucking idiot and so are the idiots he hired and appointed. Mike Smedley and Collette Clinkscale are running around city hall and both are saying, "I'm the chief of staff." Chaos and confusion.

I tried to explain this shit to Gary when he was council president. I tried to explain it to Joy Jordan, Nathaniel Martin, Barbara Thomas, Mildred Brewer. They were my council. When you have people with a "poverty consciousness" leading a city council you are not going to have folk who understand how to plan for a town's prosperity. I tried to explain it to the residents. I'm not going to keep saying the same thing over and over again. I'm about to move on to another phase in my life, and the information I've been sharing with East Cleveland about East Cleveland is about to come to an end. Either you fucking get it or you don't.

Barbara Thomas is a retired Metrohealth telephone operator. Nate Martin just got fired from a county job where he was basically a mail room guy for the Jane Edna Hunter Center. Brandon King and Thomas Wheeler could probably understand this shit if they put their attention to it and their ethics were right; but Brandon lied about living in East Cleveland to get on council, that shit is illegal. He's also a city contractor. In both of them I see just a continuation of the same old BS that's kept EC down. I think Mansell Baker is a college degreed security guard.

City hall is a business. Gary doesn't know how to run it like a business and council doesn't understand business. You get better people you get better results and right now EC is fucked.

And the last thing, and this bothers me to no end. Tom Paige Catering has been providing food to the city's detained citizens for at least 20 years. Those are black people you're feeding and taking care of in the city's jail, Gary, Judge Will Dawson, and they shouldn't have to eat and be treated like animals. The cycle breaking begins right where you have control and supervision. Do right by your people.