Abandoned houses afflict Anderson (Indiana)

[melnjones]

"ANDERSON, Ind. — Twelve houses in the city will be demolished to prevent criminals from setting them on fire or using them for drug activity, officials said.

Anderson building commissioner Michael Widing has compiled a list of 40 houses that are unsafe and need to be demolished soon.

Most of the houses on his list have absentee ownership. As 30,000 GM jobs left, so did nearly 20,000 residents over the past 30 years from the city 35 miles northeast of Indianapolis."

..snip...

"He said he would have no trouble adding 500 more houses to the demolition list, plus another 500 houses that are unsafe but could be repaired. But it costs $5,000 to tear down a house, and the city has only about $100,000 to do the work, enough for 20 houses, The Herald Bulletin reported Sunday."
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200550509003

Yay for our fantastic economy...

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[melnjones]

2. Oh for crying out loud...

We've had a democratic governor for a long time before Daniels was elected last year. That's a load of shit. The people who are dealing with these problems are typically the ones who DO vote democrat. The entire state of indiana my ass, thanks for stereotyping all of us and saying that we all deserve this economic crisis.

[silverlib]

5. Agree...

I'm from Texas, and we pay for this administration daily. No community deserves this. Yes, there are a lot of disenfranchised people who voted Republican - they believe the lies and have been hypnotized by the media. And in their midst are people fighting like crazy to get the democratic message heard. Neither side needs to hear crap about the voting record of a State. The Republicans use these tactics and it is WRONG.

[JitterbugPerfume]

3. Church of God (fundy) Headquaarters

is at Anderson Every summer they are saturated with them


Drug problemis BAD in that whole area---Muncie, NewCastle,Anderson

EVERYBODY in this godforsaken state did not vote for Repubs

I was just talking to my (Dem) neighbor

He said Fort Wayne is turning into a Ghost town due to unemployment

[melnjones]

6. Before you go stereotyping all Church of God folks,

I'm one of them:hi:

I'd love to see ChOG take more leadership in Anderson in dealing with the issues here, and there are quite a few who are doing that. I think we have a ways to go though.

By the way, I know an awful lot of ChOG folks who are most definitely democrat. The ChOG movement is more progressive than it's given credit for, and I've seen some of that in the university (Anderson University, ChOG affiliated). I'm a proud alumni, and it was there that I learned to think critically about this stuff.

[SpeedwayDemocrat]

9. I agree, Melnjones

that the Church of God really needs to step up and help out Anderson, beyond that one event a year. The University is really one of the better things about Anderson and I hope they keep their home in Anderson. I'm sure it's a tough battle, trying to "sell" kids on attending AU, when the City of Anderson really doesn't have much to offer them for night life, arts, etc. Once they're at AU, they get a good education and become great critical thinkers, but then have no companies they can apply to for employment and stay in town. Just another of Indiana's "brain drain" issues.(BTW: I'm a BSU grad, so I learned how to tap a keg and pass out in people's yards, so I envy those who could afford the good, solid AU education!)

[melnjones]

10. Thanks so much for your kind words

about my alma mater. We don't hear that very often! I graduated a year ago and am sticking around Anderson because, well, they need people to stick around! My job options were a lot better before Daniel's budget cuts though. My degree is in social work and Spanish, which would have afforded me tons of opportunities, except all the social work jobs are being cut. So, it's back to school for me! (seminary, back at AU, maybe going into ministry?)

There really are some cool services that ChOG does in the community, like Dove Harbor for example (women's shelter). I just think there's a ways to go, given the number of ChOG churches we have in the area and the fact that our headquarters are based here.

BTW, plenty of AU students learn to tap a keg as well, even though it's against our rules. They go to BSU though a lot to do it:hide:

[AwakeAtLast]

15. That's me, too, mel, and I agree!

:hi:

Can't believe there are others here in A-town like me. Everything except the AU grad, that is (sorry, BSU for me), but I may get a Master's Degree there someday. :D :D :D

:woohoo:

[melnjones]

20. Dude!

Come to AU for grad school! Are you thinking of seminary? We could be classmates!

It's so nice to see that there are a few of us in Anderson. Feel free to PM me anytime you need to vent:rant:

[SpeedwayDemocrat]

4. There's enough blame for EVERYBODY...

I was born in and grew up in Anderson. We've had governance by Repubs and Democrats, and neither group bothered to look beyond their own backyards and into the future. Anderson got complacent back in the 1970's, when they had Delco Remy, Guide Lamp, Nicholson File, Anaconda Wire, and other auto-related industries. Economists warned them that Anderson was too tied into the auto industry and should consider bio-tech and other industries, all of which would have required a more educated and advanced work force. But did the City of Anderson do anything? Nope. They sat by and watched as factory after factory shut down. Delco Remy went from 13,000 UAW employees to less than 1,000, then moved operations outside the city limits to Pendleton and south of I-69 to avoid paying the city any further taxes.
By the way, the entire state of Indiana DID NOT VOTE GOP - go look at the numbers for Marion County. We carried that county for the Democrats and worked hard to do it. So stop painting us all with the same red brush and making broad assumptions on things you really know nothing about, FlemingsGhost. We are still here, fighting the good fight, despite our very stupid neighbors and leaders...

[melnjones]

8. Hey neighbor!

:hi:

[Chipper Chat]

11. Give us a break will ya?

Indiana is centrist - maybe even leaning a bit liberal. Senator Evan Bayh is a staunch Democrat, and Sen. Lugar is a centrist Republican and well-respected by Democrats (or he couldn't have been elected all these years). There are and have been excellent Republicans in state offices (Connie Naas, Suellen Reed, Paul Helmke, Harold Handley, etc: who couldnt be elected without Dem support.
Unfortunately, it's the presidential elections that have branded Indiana as a reddy-RED state. That plus the small but organized & vociferous fundie element that seems to control recent elections and have delivered our government into the hands of rightwing ignoramuses like the present gOVerNOT Mitch Daniels, loonie David Mackintosh, the disgusting Dan Burton, and the nutjobs Mark Souder and Steve Buyer.
Hang in there Indiana Democrats!

[SoCalDem]

7. Not surprising at all.. Jobs leave..people abandon homes

If they were "buying" them, they no longer had the income, and probably owed more than they could sell for. so they walked away.. If they were renting, and lost a job, they could no longer afford rent, so they walked away..

Empty houses always attract vandals.. no surprise there..


Too bad that Habitat for Humanity or some of the "Extreme Infomercial Makeover" people don't swoop down there and rehab those houses for people who are languishing in rundown shelters:(

[NYC]

12. That's precisely what I was thinking.

Why couldn't they do something to accommodate the homeless? They did not say the houses were demolition-worthy.

[melnjones]

13. Well, some of the houses are at or near that,

and besides, this article doesn't mention that there are already TONS of houses for sale in the area, many of which ARE in need of some work. I just bought a foreclosure house myself, and before I could even get my mortgage I had to beg the seller (a bank) to put on a new roof and put in a furnace and water heater (they had been stolen out). They did so, but not without some complaining. Houses in the area that are for sale and ready to move in can be kinda rare. Also, there are a lot of houses currently being rented that are in horrible disrepair, to the point of barely being livable. Some people don't have the money to put into repairing a house that still isn't going to be worth much b/c the market values are so low right now. Others simply don't care if the houses go into disrepair, as long as they don't have to live in them. Habitat for Humanity does do some work here, but the problem is far beyond the scope of what they can reasonably do.

[NYC]

14. Too bad.

I think we need more organizations like Habitat for Humanity, and I think we ought to have a government department that saves houses from becoming uninhabitable, and allows people to live there rent free or whatever it takes -- to save the houses and save the people.

Obviously, I'm too humanitarian, and think government has a responsibility to its people.

[AwakeAtLast]

16. And just to make people really want to stay

Indiana's budget mess has caused Anderson schools to cut at least 65 teachers.

<sigh> I don't wanna stay either. x(

[melnjones]

18. Hey neighbor!!!!!

Yup...I work at Robinson and I'm watching the carnage. I have a feeling it will be worse than we even think though before it's all done. Lucky for me, I'm employed under a grant that's up this year, so I already knew my job was done.

[KamaAina]

17. Has this gotten really bad in the last five years?

Census data for 2000 show Anderson with a vacancy rate slightly below the national average of 9 percent (!). Could this be just a symptom of a nationwide, or at least region-wide, problem, or has it taken a sharp turn for the worse during the Bush** era?

I've always wanted to redesign a declining city like this along progressive lines (good transportation, green housing, local business rather than Sprawl-mart, etc.) but this might not be the one; I'm trying to imagine myself in the midst of all those fundies every summer...

[melnjones]

19. Wow...

I have a hard time believing that statistic is accurate. Then again, I've only been here since fall of '99, so maybe it really is just recently that the vacant houses have popped up. Not sure.

Also, the "Fundie" convention only lasts a week, and truth be told, they're not all necessarily fundies :hi:

[Robert Oak]

21. Michael Moore's "Roger and Me"

depicts what happened to Flint Michigan when GM closed the plant.

There are many more areas in the US like this, completely decimated,
people in poverty...when manufacturing moves overseas
it leaves entire towns destroyed, lives destroyed.

Most amazing to me is how many of these people voted Republican...
and I would blame that more on the democrats for not
have a plan and a clear formulated message, coming out of the mouth
of every democrat on how to save the middle class and stop
these tragedies.

If you haven't seen this documentary, it's a "must see". It personally
opened my eyes to the propaganda against unions and blue collar
that most "bought" in the 80's..the real onslaught against the
middle class was rolling high by that time.

[melnjones]

22. Yup

"and I would blame that more on the democrats for not
have a plan and a clear formulated message, coming out of the mouth
of every democrat on how to save the middle class and stop
these tragedies."

THANK YOU. I think that's a very valid observation.

I'm so afraid that we are on exactly the same path as Flint. Not good.

Honestly, I was fairly anti-union myself until I started working at a school and saw first-hand how necessary they are. Needless to say, the dues are now taken out of every one of my paychecks:thumbsup:

[SpeedwayDemocrat]

23. Thanks for supporting the Union...

The UAW put food on our table, braces in my mouth and gave us a great extended family who cared for each other. Calling it a "brotherhood" is very accurate, as that is how some of us feel.
As for A-town's downward slide, it started for real in the late 1970's with the first round of lay-offs from Delco. Nicholson File and Anaconda left town then, too, so I'm not sure who to blame other than the lazy town council who refused to try to market the city to potential new industries. I can remember my father telling me in 1991 that if your hire date with GM wasn't prior to 1973, that you were no longer employed at Delco or were on "permanent" lay-off. Even skilled trades (welders, milwrights, etc.) were not immune from the carnage. And, sad to say, New Castle Indiana is headed the same direction, with Chrysler pulling out of town. My brother has been laid off from Chrysler for 18 months now, pulling 80% of his regular pay (thank you, UAW) and waiting for the small chance that he will get called up to Kokomo -- or anywhere Chrysler will send him. The deal Chrysler cut - if a job come open, and we offer it to you, you must go, or you are DONE forever with Chrysler.
Roger and Me could have very easily been placed in Anderson. I creid the first time I saw it, as it really hit home for us UAW brats.

[melnjones]

24. Another article...

http://www.theheraldbulletin.com/story.asp?id=12659

City takes action on abandoned homes
By LISA ALLEN

Manuel Diaz and his family were sitting on their front porch one summer evening when they couldn’t believe what they saw.

“We watched him set the house across the street on fire,” Diaz said. The man they watched later died before he was convicted of torching the abandoned house in Anderson.

Diaz declined to give more details, saying he suffered some repercussions from telling the police what he saw. He chased away someone who was pouring gasoline on Diaz’ garage.

But he’s adamant about one thing.

“Abandoned properties bring in the big game of arsonists, thieves and druggies,” he said.

City officials agree.
snip...