October 2002 RKG Housing report

From conclusion. Ten years ago next month!!   How accurate was this?  When the new Housing Policy is released will the conclusion be followed this time?  I have the entire two page conclusion if nayone wants it, I can e-mail it to you:


The City's policy of using the many CDC's to develop low income housing should be reconsidered.  While the renovation work has helped stabilize some of the neighborhoods, especially at a time when the redevelopment was needed, their subsidized redvelopment has alienated some local builders/developers.   In adition, this policy has little, if any, affect on the owner-occupancy rate. 

Another alternative to renovating triple deckers would be to thin out selectively some of these buildings and make the sites ready for single family homes in a townhouse style, and market the sites to private developer for construction.

The CDC's in the future should be considered more of a developer of last choice, and the focus of the CDC's should shift to creating necessary amentiies that are lacking in some of the densely developer areas in the submarkets.   In addition, the CDC's should facilitate with future residential planning, site assemblage and land banking if needed.   Managing condominium associations for

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Comments

I have not published a couple, but please keep them coming.  Forwarding them to someone who will look into these allegations

Home Ownership Center

Received a couple comments about this that I did not post.     Can anyone enlighten me on this place??  How is it funded-how irt works, etc??


Thanks

Confused

Telegram Comments

Have not read them in months, what a joke.  The Telegram should be embarrassed by their whole comment section and should require people to have a registered name, just like a letter to the editor.  Until then these comments are a complete waste of time and you can tell reading them who exactly they are from and do nothing to advance the story.

As journalists, Mike Efland should raise the standard to make the comment section something worthwhile to read.

Blistering report takes city, CDC's to task

Headline in today's newspaper.  The thing that is interesting about this headline, and what I have been saying for years, is that the city is partners with the CDC's.  In fact not only partners, but the buck actually stops with the city (the PJ - Presiding Jurisdiction), not the CDC's.   Let me explain.

Mr McGhourthy after requiring three years of documentation.  Wait a second, three years of documentation??!!

• Does this mean money was given to them without any documentation?
• How can this all be Jackie Vachon Jackson's fault when she was not there three years ago?

Evidently money was given out without documentation and now we are asking for three years of receipts and financial audits.   Jahn, imagine running a business like this??  We will give you whatever money you request for three years and then we will ask for the reports later.

Then he goes on to say "If we are unable to justify certain costs disallowed by HUD, the impacted sub-recipient will be required to pay the disallowed cost."   Although these sub-recipients may show net asset value, they typically do not have much CASH, especially when their Executive Directors receive compensation in the mid-$100,000s.  If the sub-recipient does not have the cash, who pays HUD back?

• In the words of Bruce Almighty , if you said the PJ, the presiding jurisdiction, or the City of Worcester
• BINGO Yahtzee .   You are right!!!

There is a great chart in the newspaper showing the average cost per unit of 6 different projects averaging about 350,000 per unit and that is all Jackie Vachon Jackson's fault too?  Hey, why not blame George Bush while we are it.  Don't get me wrong she was involved with some questionable dealings, of which we are sure to hear more, but she surely is not responsible for this scathing audit.

I could go on and on about this, but it is a beautiful Sunday morning and the Pats first home game today. At  the same time you got to love the quote from Mullen Sawyer "The city does not build affordable housing, we build affordable housing".  That's great then you do not need the City of Worcester giving you any more money then?     

Lets hope this audit sheds some light on the systemic problem that has existed in the City of Worcester for at least the past ten years.

1. An over reliance on CDC's as the developer of choice in the City of Worcester.
2. We need to evaluate, if we really need more low income housing when we are well above the target set by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 

Lets hope also that the new RKG Housing Report, that will be coming out soon, will be listened to this time unlike it was ten years ago. 

93 Grand Street

great 94 more affordable housing units

Total cost of $22,500,000--that is a frggin bargain in this city on 240,000 per rental unit

Does it ever end?

CDC's

Harry I was going to write something but then changed my mind. What I was going to say, is that I drove by these new houses built by Main South CDC on Hammond and Kilby Street all the time...

They are very nice but I can't help think to myself:

• probably cost 300+ to build each one
• even at a hugely subsidized cost say at 129K, they will not sell

Meanwhile there are empty bank foreclosed multi families throughout the neighborhood.  Imagine if they took that same money and used it to help a home-owner buy the bank foreclosed property, while requiring them to move in?   

Chicago Public Schools Strike

I noticed this line in this story.  



A $5.73 billion budget for 2012-13 emptied cash reserves to cover a $665 million deficit, and the school board also increased its share of the Cook County property tax by as much as the law allows.  


Couple key parts:

1. 665 million dollar deficit
2. emptied cash reserves
3. increased property taxes as much as possible

Defined Benefit Plans

Spag's unfunded pension liability is $6 million.  City of Worcester is, I believe, over 600 million!!!

Right now we need to jump through hoops to balance budget never mind give monies towards this unfunded liability and the unfunded health insurance liability....    Bottom line the City of Worcester needs to make dramatic changes in their daily business activities to avoid the fate breing suffered by Spag's.

No changes will be made and the City of Worcester will be in bankruptcy in 5-10 years.

Spag's pension

unreal story Thanks Harry T

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JetBlue break

Think we all need a little break, although I am not backing off.  Next three days the blog will be a jetBlue free zone.

Nick K

I have been trying to focus solely on JetBlue until an announcement, which I feel is coming in October. That said... Read Nick K article in the Sunday Telegram.

1. Great story
2. 650,000,000   million unfunded health insurance liability
3. it is this amongst other unfunded olbiglations that concern

Mike O'Brien has done a great job.   I know some people may disagree, but I really believe he has done a good..     Boys and girls, if there is not something real dramatic that happens in our futue over the next ten years, there is no escaping the fact the City of Worcester will be in bankruptcy.

City Council, I hope you are listening!!!!!      Versus worrying about stuff that simply does not matter, we are the Titantic heading for the iceberg.    Do you want to call out an alert, roll up your sleeves and make changes to avert the iceberg or do you want to simply do nothing and keep getting elected every two years??

Sign the Petition today

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Access road-let's learn from our mistakes

For a moment let's look at our train station:

• we build a new train station
• we build a new garage
• now we are working on better train service

Now for the airport

• we build a new terminal

Many people now say we need an access road.   Let's not make the same mistake we made with Union Station.  We do not need an access road right now, we need reliable airlines!!! 

JetBlue2ORH!!!   Have you signed the petition yet?

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Contest made Wall Street Jurnal

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JetBlue2ORH

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If anyone wants to post on their website, I can send you the code!!

Sign the JetBlue2ORH Petition

SIGN TODAY 

In light of the upcoming October announcement, please sign the petition above to show JetBlue how much support their is for their services in Central Massachusetts.

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