Last year, a beautiful house at 2606 Riverside was mysteriously condemned and mysteriously torn down.  Now, the lot has been cleared at taxpayer's expense, transferred to the land bank, and ready to be picked up by a developer.

And, down the street, along Denison, the City of Cleveland with compliance from the Ward 15 councilman tore down another house, also questionable--now lined up for another developer with a potential environmental disaster a la the Spring Creek/West 14th Interceptor fiasco, now, in the works.

The answer to how Cleveland solves its problems?
Instead of paying developers to ruin my community with my tax dollar, can I get the utilities, roads, sidewalks, sewers, and curbs restored and repaired???

OLD SEWER SYSTEM PLAGUES NEW HOMES

Edition: CITY FINAL
Section: NEWS SECTION 2
Page: 13
Record Number: 9807240022
Copyright (c) 1998 The Toledo Blade Company

PROPOSED HOUSING HITS SNAG OVER APPARENT CHANGE IN PLAN

Edition: CITY FINAL
Section: NEWS SECTION 2
Page: 16
Record Number: 9808010065
Copyright (c) 1998 The Toledo Blade Company

RECORDS SHOW LAND PAYMENTS INFLATED

Edition: 1 STAR
Section: METRO
Page: A1
Index Terms: MICHAEL LAMPERS SR. RODGER MCKAY MIDLAND COMMERCE GROUP ; REAL ESTATE FRAUD EAST AKRON NEIGHBORHOOD DEVELOPMENT CORP.
Record Number: 9908090062
Copyright (c) 1999 Akron Beacon Journal

For access to the full text, please enter your library card number and PIN. 

  Here's an excerpt from the first one:

``The system was not designed to hold these homes,'' said Kurt Schell, a project superintendent with Neighborhood Revitalization Partners, which built the homes.

Mr. Williams said clogged city pipes and faulty connections between pipes on private and public property also could cause the backup, but the problem such as that at Toledo Homes occurs all over the city during heavy rains.

Regardless of the cause, Hildebrand residents, who lease the homes, said they're mad the houses were built in the area when the sewers can't handle it.

``Look at this. This is absolutely disgusting,'' Vickie Caulton, another area resident, said as she pointed to damaged personal items in her basement.

Mr. Schell said apparently no one with the city considered the ``antiquated'' sewer system when construction of the houses was approved.

Mr. Williams agreed, but he said some things could be done to prevent more flooding. Sump pumps along with check valves and stand pipes could stop the sewage from getting into the houses.

The city would have to spend an enormous amount of money to improve the old sewer system, he said.

Mr. Schell said only some of the houses, because of their elevation, had sump pumps installed during construction. As of yesterday, none of the houses had check valves or stand pipes because city codes do not require them in new homes.

The city code and the old sewer system cover a large part of the city.

Ms. Walton said she has been trying to convince Roger Rife, who is in charge of managing the housing development for Gerdenich, to install check valves since the first floods several months ago.

Mr. Rife was not available for comment yesterday.

However, conditions for the residents may improve, WilliAnn Moore, ONYX president, said. She talked to several of them yesterday, and said if check valves solve the problem, the management company will install them in all the houses.

Ms. Moore said cleaning services soon will finish cleaning residents' basements.

  A 72-unit apartment complex for the elderly in South Toledo that once was headed for approval now faces an uphill battle with the city council after the developer apparently changed the type of project being proposed.

The developer said the project would be an assisted-living facility for the elderly when the firm sought to rezone the 12-acre site in the 5000 block of Airport Highway near Eastgate Road, said Rob Ludeman, District 2 councilman who represents the area.

``To us, that sounded like a convalescent center,'' Mr. Ludeman said.

But a week ago when meeting with residents, a representative of Neighborhood Revitalization Partners of Cleveland said the project would be apartments for the elderly, some of them with three-bedroom units.

In addition, Tim Morgan, a company representative, told residents at the time he had the necessary zoning approval for the project when in fact he did not.

TRACING DONATED LAND

Last fall, Appleton's North Akron partnership paid Midland $19,500 for four properties that, according to Akron officials, had been donated to the city under a program to make vacant properties with delinquent taxes available for redevelopment.

After forgiving the taxes on the donated properties, the city transferred them to Appleton's partnership for $200, officials said.

But as with the other deals in question, it's unclear how the unaccounted for $19,300 was disbursed.

Several sellers contacted by the Beacon Journal said they received no paperwork on their deals.

Some said Lampers paid them in cash -- in amounts not reflected in public documents. 

ALSO IN THE ARTICLE:

Instead of simply brokering the property transfers, as was the case with the city deals, Lampers was under contract with the partnerships to buy the properties and hold them until the Appleton organizations received the money from the city and state to pay for them.

The Appleton partnerships were formed to take advantage of a federal program to encourage the creation of rental housing for low-income residents.

The program offers federal income-tax credits to attract private investment to construct or rehabilitate housing. Under the program, properties are acquired in the first place using predominantly state and city grants.

In monitoring the tax-credit program, the state Development Department requires partnerships to submit paperwork certifying the land-acquisition and other costs they incur. But the state is not responsible for overseeing or approving the partnerships' individual transactions.

  The Southwest Citizens group of Brooklyn Centre residents, who will be affected by the type of transaction described above, meet tonight.

Southwest Citizens Area Council Meeting

Gino's Cento Anno • 1314 Denison Avenue • (216) 351-4488