Preparing for a Snow job
by M. Stewart
I read in today's Review that County Metropolitan Housing Authority's Tom Snow will be attending Monday's East Liverpool City Council meeting to defend CMHA's role in the city.
Will anyone ask for the names and address of the "landlords" who operate individual CMHA-subsidized housing units? Will anyone ask to see figures on how much profit property owners make through the CMHA system?
Will anyone ask how many CMHA clients--including their children, friends, and "associates"--live in CMHA apartment complexes throughout the city? How many live in St. Clair Township? Will anyone ask for accurate crime statistics associated with CMHA clients?
Will anyone ask how many CMHA homes Snow himself owns and operates in the system, or how many CMHA homes are owned and operated by local realtors?
Will anyone ask for the total city income tax collected from CMHA clients and compare that figure to the services they require? Will anyone ask about how the redistribution of Local Government Funding (LGF) affected East Liverpool's ability to provide services to CMHA clients?
I'm sure council has other business to conduct at its meeting, and I'm sure these and other relevant questions cannot all be addressed in one session, but they should be asked and answered prior to inviting still more "section 8" housing into the city. In short, I'm hoping that council members do more than listen to Mr. Snow's well-honed presentation.
Is CMHA the only problem East Liverpool has? Of course not, but we need to know much more about how the subsidized poor affect our town. We need to be willing to connect the dots before indiscriminately tossing more dots into the mix.
posted by M. | 9:11 AM
9 Comments:
Matt, thanks for this. I had no idea and you've opened my eyes to at least one problem facing the city and perhaps the county as well. Its seems a very significant number of 'county' and city employees are little more than parasites, sucking the life blood our of both the economy and the community.
I hope someone asks those insightful questions you raise. And, I hope you and other concerned citizens are working with honest council members to correct these injustices.
And, I do wonder, as a conservative, indeed, a paleocon, where in hell were you when this crap started? Surely you never believed this left wing, social justice, redistribution bs was ever going to do anything but disrupt society and enrich the parasites and hangers-on always assoicated with a centralist regime.
C'mon Matt, come over to God's side of this fight and we'll throw out the derailed commie-dems, and elect honest Americans!
Bob--
I am not on the side of the left or the right--or any god's side. I'm always on the side of my city. Surely you realize that if Jesus were alive today, he would be working on behalf of the poor and would no doubt be what you call a Marxist liberal. To deny this, you have to do some very creative reading of the gospels.
Having said that, I am not against the poor in any way. Those brought up in poverty should be given every opportunity to lift themselves up. They should have access to certain types of assistance that the rest of us don't need. What I AM against is how the local welfare system has targeted East Liverpool and how it has become a profitable business for those in a position to exploit it. Because they prefer to operate under the radar and in the dark, they tend to hate people like me for exposing them. It's like turning on the lights at night in a room full of roaches.
FYI, East Liverpool's poverty industry started decades ago when EL and Salem were competing to secure the county's largest population. With that distinction came the lion's share of LGF money, so those who ran ELO at the time welcomed the additional population that CMHA could supply. It was a major mistake, of course, especially when a handful of state-level politicians with township connections were able have the LGF formula revised to make it "more equitable." The revised formula meant that the bonus money we got to provide services for our non-taxpaying population was taken away, leaving the city with significant revenue shortfalls and no way to recover.
It does no good to shake our heads at the short-sighted mistakes of past leaders. All we can do now is find new ways to eliminate the poverty industry so that we can begin to reclaim the city. It will take a long time to do it, but every journey must begin with the first step. Let's hope that council members don't fall for Mr. Snow's well-practiced presentation about how CMHA is such an important part of East Liverpool's economy. He's been able to pull this off for years, and local officials typically end up shaking his hand and thanking him for all he's done for the town.
It's time to say NO to subsidized housing. It's time to begin dismantling the system that has been choking us to death for decades.
Bob said...
C'mon Matt, come over to God's side of this fight and we'll throw out the derailed commie-dems, and elect honest Americans!
[end quote]
I suppose in your odd version of the world these honest Americans must be, like yourself, the opposite of those who you claim to be commie-liberal-god hating-dems. Ahhh, I see your speaking of the facist-repubs-conservative-god loving (probably Catholics), huh? :O) That is the opposite.
Something you may find interesting from the book: Right-wing Radicals, high-def hucksters, and paranoid politics in the age of Obama -The Backlash.
Fear is the foundation of most governments; but it is so sordid and brutal a passion, and renders men in whose breasts it predominates so stupid and miserable, that Americans will not be likely to approve of any political institution which is founded on it.
-JOHN ADAMS, Thoughts on Government, 1776
I'm sorry. I just love my country. And I fear for it.
-GLENN BECK, MARCH 13, 2.009
Matt,
This for you and your reader's edification:
http://www.frontporchrepublic.com/2010/09/is-there-a-conservative-tradition-in-america/
I don't know who owns them, but a few of the subsidized houses on Maine Blvd near the High Sxhool are well kept and look better than most rental properties and better than alot of owner occupied properties. I agree and detest the people who make their livings sucking the blood out of the poor, however, this is all free money to the people of East Liverpool who really are in need, if it is honestly doled out. Sure, we have those who just do drugs and work the system, but a lot of it is unscupolous doctors who sign papers for depression or "whatever ails ya" to get you into the world of free government money (SSI) to stay home on you a**. However, on the otherhand, if we don't take this Federal housing money to help our legitimate citizens that are down on their luck, then we will lose it and it will be given to and spent somewhere else. In a city that can't afford to patch potholes, It isn't smart to turn down free money to help those who really need it. One of the largest problems that threatens Social Security and legitimate entitlements that people have work all there lives for is SSI. That's what we need to investigate and address.
M, you left out one very important question, how many cmha funded rentals are owned by the mayor and his staff along with political appointees? I think if you get the answer to this question the remainder of your questions would not need answered. The mayor is very quick to say he will not allow another low income property to be BUILT but never says rental rehabed. I don't discourage anyone for trying to make a living but please just don't say one thing and support it when the public isn't looking. M we don't agree on much but this one we do and it is going to take a strong.person to say NO to cmha and although the grandstanding is nice from council in the end they will not turn down a 500 k check because it effects to many of their very own incomes. Just some.for.for thought.
Matt, I read Mr Snows' response in the Review. He said the City will get 30k of the 500k with the remainder going to four families. That is 117,500k per family. I think someone in city government needs to dig and dig deep into the CHMA and report what is going on.
Years ago my husband an I lived in East Liverpool. We both made just above min. wage working terrible jobs. We had two young children. Because we worked, we didn't go out applying for housing assistance. When you work at low wage jobs, it is never a good idea to take a day off, because really anyone can replace you. During that time, we had more than one slumlord. One rental, in particular, on Cadmus street was a roach infested hole. When we moved in, we had no idea there were roaches. When we complained the landlord alleged we'd brought them with us - even though our previous address was also owned by her! I was 7 months pregnant when we moved in and was cleaning the mold infested refrigerator out because the previous tenants left it that way. She knew we were desperate and took advantage of us.
In addition to the slum lord problem is the rent problem. Government housing actually drives working families out of the area. Even with our min. wage jobs we had trouble affording housing. They could get more money from government subsidized rents. I was told this on more than one occasion. I had the same issues with childcare.
It has been over 12 years since we've lived in East Liverpool. Low paying jobs and unaffordable rents were part (not the whole) reason we left the area. We live in another part of Ohio now and own our home. While there are renters around us, our neighborhood looks nothing like some of the ones we see when we go back to EL. I am now a teacher and my husband is a manager. We would never move back to East Liverpool.
Shel--
Thank you for your relevant comment. I hope the council members who read this blog see it, especially the last part: "We would never move back to East Liverpool."
Your story is full of insight on just how insidious the poverty industry truly is. We lose too many productive citizens because of its effect on the quality of life.
To be fair, there are many neighborhoods in the city that do not suffer from the problems you describe, but way too many do, and unless our elected officials take an active role in solving the problem, it will only get worse.
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