FROM            :           Paul Pineo

DATE :           March 23, 2001

RE                   :           Neighborhood Association Presidents Meeting of March 22, 2001

 

About 25 people attended the meeting, including 4 people from the City.  The presentations followed the agenda, which is attached.  Materials were distributed for each of the agenda items and are also attached.           

 

Vicky Bell opened the meeting by noting that Tom Argust was in London on vacation.  In general, I was very impressed with the scope of the City’s housing effort and with the people who are coordinating the effort. 

 

A.     The City Housing Market.

 

Bob Barrows presented an up-beat report on sales of City houses.  There were about 2,000 sales of one-to four family houses in year 2000, an increase of 14% over 1999.  This is the third consecutive year of a double-digit increase.  

 

B.     HUD Property Disposition Update.

 

Susan Frykholm, the City’s Coordinator for HUD sales, presented this report.  The City expects to be disposing of 500 to 600 HUD-foreclosed homes a year for the indefinite future.  My notes are on the handout. 

 

Of note were the results over the last nine months – out of 474 homes made available to the City by HUD, 139 were sold to owner-occupants, 54 were sold to investors, 72 were demolished, 27 properties (that need more investment than the market or a single-family purchases can be reasonable be expected to bear) were set-aside for non-profit developers, and 146 are still available. 

 

Susan Frykholm was very pleased with this result – noting that local control of the disposition process seems to be paying dividends.   

 

C.     Home Expo Home Sales.

 

Home Expo is an effort to build new homes in the City.  Typically, this is done in a sub-division format – as is currently being done with the old Fight Square site on West Main Street.  However, the City also has some scattered sites on which it seeks to have developers construct new homes.  The year 2001 efforts will be just south of the Fight Square site – across Troup Street.

 

Conrad Floss, the City’s Coordinator for Home Expo, presented this report.  Mr. Floss is new to the City staff, coming here from Buffalo a few months ago.  He noted that one of Home Expo’s major efforts will be to construct middle and upper-income houses.       

D.     The mayor’s New Effort to Attract Middle and Upper-Income Buyers.

 

Bob Barrows handed out an excerpt from the Mayor’s State of the City speech on March 1.  A copy is attached as item “D.”  The current plan is to implement this effort through tax abatements – but it is early in the program.  He cited Cleveland as a city that has successfully implemented a similar program.  He expects this effort to be primarily the construction of new houses – as opposed to encouraging upper-income families to purchase existing houses – because most of the City’s housing stock is older and does not offer the amenities demanded by these home-buyers. 

 

E.     Group Comments.

 

The representative from the Lyell Avenue area reported briefly on efforts to implement the Mayor’s Urban Village plan.  They seemed to be pleased with the initiative but not pleased with its application to their neighborhood.

 

A pitch also was made for the “Art Walk” presentation – the sidewalk design plan for University Avenue – to be held this Sunday from 3 to 6 pm at the Village Gate.