7/21/2006

More Flipping News...

Michele Johnson and Marc Odien have expanded the dialog and discourse here in Buffalo, NY regarding the condition of some of the City's poorest and most neglected neighborhoods. See Flipped, the movie.

Aaron Bartley and Eric Walker are carrying the heavy load at PUSH - Buffalo and their story is beginning to get some traction. Earlier this week Marc Sommer from the Buffalo News wrote about the debacle they've uncovered and Geoff Kelly, Artvoice editor has been on it from the beginning.

Today Donn Esmonde contributes details about the human side of this municipally sponsored malfaesance.

By DONN ESMONDE Delores Powell dreamed of owning a home.

She sweated and saved. She bought a wreck on the city's Lower West Sideand stripped layers of paint off woodwork. She tore down walls andnailed up drywall. Powell, a nurse's aide, and her teenage son paintedthe place. The daughter of a Jamaican contractor turned a hovel into ahome. Read the rest...


I've taken the 1499 properties that JER Services manages and placed them on a "social spread sheet" via Editgrid, a free web 2.0 application. Here's the link. It works like any website. You can view the list, search by street and share it with others.

I posted "Nailing Albany" earlier in the week, lots of links. If Michele and Marc were to collaborate with Aaron and Eric the sequel would be, Screwed!
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Artspace ArchiveAnnals of NeglectBAVPAWhere is Perrysburg?Broken Promises...
Writing the CityWoodlawn Row HousesTour dé Neglect - 2006

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

4 questions:

1.) What specifically must the Common Council do to help prevent the flipping problems, and what's taking so long? Is there some legislation stuck in committee?

2.) Even if the flipping stops, which of course it should, won't the root problem still exist? (i.e., abandoned houses will deteriorate, it's just that their ownership won't change as fast?) Aside from flipping investors, nobody expects any real market demand for these houses... or do they? Just asking.

3.) Since Pataki has only 5 months left, will the problems about houses Esmonde wrote about be solved on Spitzer's "day one"?

4.) Should some group involved in these issues start pushing for legislation to make demolitions less expensive? (Bypass some current rules or whatever? I suppose unions might oppose that, but hey, worth a try. Could post pics of any politicians opposing that on the houses, same as was done for Pataki.)