Demolishing Structurally Sound Buildings - Just for the HELL of it - Destroying History for a Library Parking Lot

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3555 Fulton Road, Cleveland, Ohio

BEFORE Councilman Cummins quit riding the fence and joined the rest of the gang:

And AFTER Councilman Cummins quit fence riding, jumped the fence, and joined all the other pitiful elected officials in this area:

The city is wasting money destroying a structurally sound building that was neglected for many years by the prior owners who should be in jail - Brian and Paul Stark of Stark Group LLC.

The politically connected Brian and Paul Stark failed to pay property taxes for TEN YEARS before the county finally decided to step up to the plate and file a delinquent property tax foreclosure.

Stark Group LLC owed $35,608.34 in delinquent property taxes for the property located at 3555 Fulton Road.

The neglectful Brian and Paul Stark host the radio show Stark Group LIVE - advising others on the ins and outs of real estate - despite the Stark brothers and their family members

ripping off Cuyahoga County for hundreds of thousands of dollars in demolition fees, court fines, and property taxes.

The Stark Group also ripped off their mortgage companies.

Brian Stark neglected this building which, according to Christopher Busta-Peck, MLIS [2], was built in 1925. http://www.clevelandareahistory.com/ [3]

Brian Stark ( Who allowed this really cool old building to be neglected for 10 years) - believe it or not - is a trustee for Cleveland Restoration Society. http://www.clevelandrestoration.org/about/board_members.php [4]

MORE on the Stark Group of Con Artists here http://realneo.us/content/brian-stark-stark-group-real-estate-radio-show-does-not-pay-property-taxes-gus-frangos-appea [5]

A new owner - Larry Underwood - recently purchased the property via a state foreclosure auction.

The new owner had good intentions and the financial ability to make the necessary repairs for this cool old building, but he was not afforded an opportunity to make the repairs.

Recently, Mr. Underwood spent several hours wasting his time getting the run-around from the City of Cleveland's Demolition and Building & Housing Departments.

Both city departments were giving the new owner a hard time over drawings, specs and other typical run-around BS from the city.

Mr. Underwood found at the Demolition Department that the "green card" for the certified or registered mail had never come back to them, which means nobody can prove they notified the owner.

Despite the city not being able to locate Mr. Underwood, the new owner was easily located within 2 hours.

The new owner was receptive to neighborhood concerns, immediately met with those that were concerned, and he even allowed others to tour the building with his contractors.

The conctractors and others that toured the building all agreed the building was structurally sound; however repairs were necessary due to the Stark Group neglecting the property for ten years.

Although Councilman Cummins insisted that the building was in poor condition and required immediate demolition, the condition of the structurally sound property was not in such poor condition that required immediate demolition- especially when the property was just recently purchased, the city failed to work with the new owner, and the city failed to contact the new owner regarding the upcoming demolition.

The demolition contractor complained that he has already started the remediation process because he dumped dirt in piles in the vacant lot next to the property.

The demolition contract was allegedly awarded June 21st.

According to neighbors of this property, Councilman Cummins said, " This building is coming down. I have the money."

And on July 3rd, the vicious demolition process began.

BELOW are pictures of the building which prove it was a structurally sound - solid brick building:

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Despite the new owner with the financial means and desire to repair HIS property, the City and Councilman Cummins decide to NOT work with the owner and not notify the owner - prior to destroying the new owner's property:

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This new owner of this really cool old building that was STRUCTURALLY SOUND had two problems. The library located right next to the property has a very small parking lot. Way too small.

And Councilman Cummins wanted to help the library with the parking issues.

Below is a picture taken in the library's parking lot - notice the old building in the background:

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Cuyahoga County is well known for demolishing property that is not worthy of demolition - destroying our history.

Many residents in Cuyahoga County have complained about the demolition issue and destruction of perfectly sound properties.

Many constituents of Councilman Cummins are not pleased with Cummins. Actually, they are quite angry with Cummins.

Is Cummins going to personally pay for the demolition cost and damage to the new owner's property since the new owner was not properly notified?

Or will the City or County waste all the federal demolition funds to pay for the damage to the owner AND the community?

The City and County are too damn excited to waste the MILLIONS of Federal Dollars for demoltion- designed to remove blight and NOT perfectly sound buildings.

They want to demolish everything in sight.

Apparently, the traveling demolition con artists made themselves available for Cummins:

And Robert Klein of Safeguard Properties has traveled the country on a 'demolition crusade':

Fernbacher’s company GSPS is a contractor for several property preservation firms. All they do is tear down homes. They are the last resort for many communities all over the country overrun with blight.

One of Fernbacher’s clients is Safeguard Properties, the Ohio-based property preservation firm. Its founder Robert Klein is taking Fernbacher around the country this year from conference to conference on a demolition crusade, to convince cities to pursue the clean slate their hardest hit communities crave.

Their first opportunity is a quiet place left even more silent after the housing downturn. In Slavic Village, a community located in Cleveland, Ohio, home prices plummeted from nearly $150,000 during the housing boom to roughly $39,000 today, according to data from Altos Research.

Safeguard and GSPS will start a pilot program this year to demolish 2,200 Slavic Village homes that are considered beyond saving. But it isn’t as simple as that.

Barbara Anderson was one of the first black homebuyers in Slavic Village. According to her Senate testimony in 2007, a broker approached her with a refinancing proposal and approved her for a loan at 8.5% through the now-defunct Conti Mortgage. Within four years, the rate jumped to 14.5%, pushing her monthly payment higher by nearly 60%. Her loan was sold 15 times over that time. Today, the result is apparent. Slavic Village is a ghost town.

Klein with community leaders and the local city council president in February with their solution.

Safeguard placed all Slavic Village properties into three categories. Owner-occupied homes fall into the first category, homes in need of rehabilitation but vacant are the second category, and the third category consists of ones that need to come down.

Most of the properties sit in either of the first two categories, but any progress waits on tearing down the ones in category three.

“No developer will come in when you have five occupied properties, five vacant properties and one that needs to be demolished. Those five properties are affordable, and can be rehabbed fairly cheaply. But nobody will come in until you’ve demolished that one property,” Klein said. “What we’re doing now is we’re putting together a model to make this thing work in Slavic Village. If it works in Slavic Village, we can do this anywhere in the country.”

http://www.housingwire.com/news/2012/04/02/creative-destruction [11]

Read more on the traveling con artist SAFEGUARD PROPERTIES who is long overdue for a nice long chit chat with the FBI here http://realneo.us/content/fbi-raids-indiana-city-county-buildings-county-land-bank-scandal-next-stop-cuyahoga-county [12]

However, property that deserves to be demolished fails to even by cited for a simple housing code violation.

Such as the property owned Gus Frangos' shell LLCs. Gus Frangos is the PRESIDENT of the Cuyahoga County Land Bank.

Doors and windows wide open - slum properties that have blighted an ENTIRE neighborhood and should have been demolished years ago get a free pass.

The county can't waste precious demolition dollars on this: ?????????????????

Cuyahoga County Land Bank - President GUS FRANGOS Adds FUEL to the FORECLOSURE CRISIS and DESTROYS ENTIRE NEIGHBORHOOD

http://realneo.us/content/gus-frangos-president-cuyahoga-county-land-bank-and-his-shell-llc-properties-new-photos [13]

It would be in the best interests of the individual owner to be left alone to work with his property.

Government employees should not be using government money to work against individual property rights and entrepreneurship.

Another property DESTROYED for a damn parking lot. Thanks Councilman Cummins!

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