"A TALE OF TWO CITIES:" CANTON & NORTH CANTON - NEIGHBORHOODS HEADING IN TWO DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS?

VOLUME I

RECOVERING

FROM THE

BLIGHT

AFFLICTING STARK COUNTY NEIGHBORHOODS

VIDEOS

JASON SCAGLIONE

CANTON CITY COUNCILMAN

WARD 3

ON

EFFECTIVENESS OF CODE ENFORCEMENT

...

J.R. RINALDI

MAYOR BERNABEI KEY PERSON

ON

HISTORY, PRESENT & FUTURE

OF

CODE ENFORCEMENT

...

ALEX ZUMBAR

DAVID THORLEY

BOB NAU

ON

HISTORY OF STARK CO LAND BANK

In 1859,  Englishman Charles Dickens wrote concerning London and Paris:

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way ... "

Not to copy the "all things exaggerated Donald J. Trump" way of expression, the Dickensian quote is brought forward in this blog to emphasize the "stark" Stark County contrast on how two key Stark County cities are coping with decades decline of in some of their neighborhoods.

A decline that literally threatens the ongoing viability of both major Stark County cities.

The incredible progress that Canton through code enforcement is making incredible progress is exemplified in this video interview by The Stark County Political Report with Canton Ward 3 councilman Jason Scaglione:



Contrast the Canton approach of "code enforcement" (a typical Democratic Party advocated approach to governance) with that of North Canton "community reinvestment" model. (a typical Republican Party advocated approach to governance).

Canton is run by card carrying Democrats.

North Canton is run (except for Ward 1 councilman Doug Foltz) by Republicans.

So far the scorecard clearly indicates wisdom, can-do belief, enlightened, hopeful and heavenly for Canton's  "code enforcement" model as contrasted to the North Canton way of redeeming of decades of neglect of the respective cities aging neighborhoods.

But the Canton successes are very, very, very recent in the making.  Only the election of former long time Democrat Thomas Bernabei (turned political "independent" with the November, 2015 election against two-term Democratic mayor William J. Healy, II) led to the unleashing of "code enforcement" power as a key mechanism to deal with and over time eliminate neighborhood blight.

Code enforcement has been available during all the years of neighborhood decline in Canton, but council after council after council and mayor, after mayor after mayor have sat idly by and allowed Canton's neighborhoods decline.

In the following SCPR video, Bernabei top troubleshooting official J.R. Rinaldi (while crediting the folks in Canton's code enforcement department of government) describes in some detail the past, the present and the future of code enforcement in Canton.

Get this.

Since Bernabei has been mayor, Canton has increased code enforcement from some 1,500 per year to in the range of a projected 11,000 or better this year.

Isn't that something for the day-in, day-out neighborhood folks of Canton to get excited about!

Here is J.R. on Monday night:



In recent years North Canton's governors (i.e. the city council and the mayor and his administrators) have opted to take an incentive approach to entice neighborhood property owners to upgrade the city's housing stock.

But there has been a major, major, major failure in the incentive approach with the brouhaha over the misapplication (as some North Cantonians say) of North Canton's legislative scheme of community reinvestment (CRA) in favor of an apartment complex known as North Ridge Place which allowed the foregoing of upwards of $1 million (over 12 years) of 70% of real property taxes normally inherent in a project like North Ridge Place for North Canton City Schools.

North Canton  council has acted to recover from the debacle in fashioning a legislative package in which the schools recover approximately one-half of the foregone tax revenues.

But a casualty of the "failure" has been an abandonment for at least the time being of North Canton's CRA approach to neighborhood redevelopment.

It very much looks like that effective code enforcement is the better way to stop and reverse neighborhood decline than an incentive approach.

Some time ago, the SCPR lauded then-Massillon-councilwoman Nancy Halter (a Republican) for making code enforcement a top priority in the city of Massillon.

A major assist to cleaning up Stark County's blighted neighborhoods is in place with the development in 2012 of the Stark County Land Reutilization Corporation (SCLRC, also known as "Land Bank") headed up by Stark County treasurer Alex Zumbar who by the way interesting enough is a former finance director of North Canton and council member of Alliance, another Stark County city trying to reverse neighborhood decline.

Here is an example of the properties that the Land Bank is dealing with in terms of having it and others spread across Stark County demolished.

What follows is an introductory video taped snippet of Zumbar and Lank Bank colleagues David Thorley (legal counsel) and Robert Nau (executive director, Stark County Regional Planning).



Any Stark Countian who cares about the quality of Stark County's neighborhoods should be fully engaged in absorbing the material presented in this SCPR series.

While the Hall of Fame Village Project is glitzy (at a cost of at least $800 million) and in light of America's fascination with and addiction to being entertained has the attention and notice of the general Stark County public, the battle for a prosperous and a enjoyable living experience is in enhancing the qualities of neighborhoods that dot the venue of  Councilman Jason Scaglione's. Ward 3.

Fixing Canton's and the rest of Stark County's deficient neighborhoods will not cost anywhere near $800 million dollars.

The overriding question in this series of blogs is whether or not Stark County's political/government leaders possess: (a la the "A Tale of Two Cities" literary structure quoted above)

• a vision of wisdom, 
• a belief in the productiveness of the unglamorous, 
• a willingness to embrace the light of effective neighborhood management, and
• a fostering of hope that through dedication to and persistence endeavoring that one day our county's neighborhoods will by and large have a heavenly tone to them

The SCPR as a "solely in the public interest, no-advertising"  media outlet seemingly is "alone" in being willing to take on a series like this which may not be the most entertaining therefore not widely read material by the general public.

However, there is no doubt that an understanding of the dynamics of recovering the county's declining neighborhoods is critically necessary for all of us to maintaining and increasing the financial equity we have in homes.

Moreover, "kept up" neighborhoods are perceived by most of us to mean "less crime."

Accordingly, quality Stark County neighborhoods are "pocket book viability" and "safety" issues that each and every Stark County home owners ought to be focusing on in achieving and insisting upon.

What's more, housing stock investors (i.e. the landlord community) also have a huge financial profit stake in the quality of Stark County neighborhoods.

What's more, attractiveness in the economic development sense of living wage job producing companies start ups springing up in or established companies relocating to Stark County is inextricably tied up in the quality of Stark County neighborhoods.