Weekly Link Round Up

24142988739_ea550f9fdb_z

Photo by NR Flickr user Brian Wolfe. The weekly link roundup is a collection of links related to Newburgh, revitalization, urban planning and anything else that might inspire change or create dialogue.

School district plans for NFA West [Times]
Eleven Signs a City Will Succeed [The Atlantic]
Eating On Broadway, A Cultural Awakening [The Sentinel]
Newburgh develops property tax policy [Mid Hudson News]
Britain’s heritage renovations revive demand for old skills [FT]
Why Historic Preservation Districts Are Crucial to Cities [City Lab]

Add your own photos depicting city life to the Newburgh Restoration flickr pool to be used on the blog, or email me. **Flickr users please do not forgot to remove disabling of downloading of pictures. Otherwise I can’t use them**

13 Comment

  • No, you can’t raise property taxes on people who do not maintain their property. That’s extortion, so they might want to change the language on that meme. Maybe that’s the way they roll in socialist areas around the world. On that note, frickit, why don’t we just take it to the next step ‘Ocare style where in EveryBody pays. Then you can get your fee. How’s that working out for everybody regarding costs parity? Stop it already. It’s why there is codes enforcement, which apparently was designed to fail. We were sold a box of bs … hire more people, expand their roles in order to get a handle on the issue. Epic fail. Sooooo, let’s go for the low hanging fruit as obviously analysis paralysis has taken hold. I’ve pointed out several times on this site the disparity in property taxes with little correlation to condition. I’ve presented data to the assessor and was given the ‘not enough proof’. The data is there. They’re putting up a straw man in investigating the tax collection office, warm but not quite. It’s the elephant in the room that they recognize but trip over themselves avoiding. This is the result when your property is a credit card of sorts issued by you to your cash starved muni and school system. Now they’re competing for your $. Maybe I’m interpreting it wrong. Maybe the ‘unkept properties’ is political speak for the specific neighborhoods at large that have had restorative development and increased sales but some how avoided increased assessments. Multi-family sales were up, so there’s justification. It’s has to happen. This ‘ain’t’ common core math where there is no negative answer.
    http://www.cityofnewburgh-ny.gov/assessor/pages/recent-sales…nothing to see there, ayyy
    http://www.cityofnewburgh-ny.gov/live-video-streaming Closing Comments from the Council 21:30 in
    Get back to me when the muni and school district begins talks. In the meantime, I don’t hold contempt for my neighbor that can’t afford to maintain his house.

    • Many of the poorly maintained houses are owned by people who CAN afford to maintain them but do not. Absentee landlords from the highlands etc. whose tenants run the places into the ground and have them over run with vermin. They never visit, just collect the rent.

      I am an absentee landlord in the city for over 10 years. I hire a landscaper, someone to remove the snow etc., and any reported issue by the tenants is fixed quickly. I am also VERY selective about who I rent to, the current set of tenants are there over 7 years. I visit at least once a month, more in the summer.

      Yes, enforce the codes. I had to go thru an inspection to get a rental license and did so. Hopefully the codes enforcement results in fines to these landlords who willfully neglect their properties and ruin entire areas. If you own a property, upkeep it or sell it. Everyone wins.

      • So where is HUD and the myriad of housing authorities? Too busy issuing grants and streamlining renters to developers riding the moral high road? In lieu of waiting for a mass slumlord extradition or a ‘tenant cleansing’ (give me a heads up on the latter, social upheavals tend to get messy) it’s time to indulge less in the hopium and make a deliberate move to get the monkey off the back. The governor is kind enough ; ) to use our tax $s to pay for a shot of naloxone… https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-cuomo-announces-25-million-funding-local-governments-and-school-districts-throughout

        • You know where HUD, etc. are. More and more layers of bureaucracy added on, accomplishing nothing. Wasting money on grant after grant to do nothign. That’s govt. in general. I’ve seen “tenant cleansings” in Greenpoint, LIC etc, many sections of which looked like Newburgh in its worst times. Not as messy as you think. Just requires a group of people who decide they’re going to live there, buy the properties and get rid of the criminal element tenants.

          Call me naive, but I’m hoping the rental license thing at least moves the slumlords to fix their places. I believe I read somewhere that the city is going to fine owners of those derelict properties. Or maybe it was a proposal. Not sure.

          Anyway, I’m waiting for you to run for city council. If it takes hot dogs to get votes for you, I’m buying. Hand them out at your meet and greet, corner of liberty and broadway where the flea market is held.

      • Oh, you’re so correct. Some of those people actually live in the city and/or have businesses here. And they talk about dirty tenants! But try telling our lazy building inspectors to do their jobs. If you fight them, they roll over, whether you’re doing it right or doing it wrong. As Walt says, taxing them is illegal. What isn’t illegal is being the squeaky wheel in putting these complaints out there where everyone can see them(BTW, is the FYI Newburgh app defunct?). Make the worst offenders the low hanging fruit. Information is key- as the City Manager has been working hard to streamline that information. Thank you, Peter, for being one of the responsible landlords. Speculating on property is as detrimental to the local community as market speculation is to the global community. It is basically putting all the onus- and expense and headaches- on those who do the right thing. The slumlords who rent to storefront churches/non-profits or keep their storefronts empty doubly hurt the community.

        • Thanks for the kind words. I fell in love with Newburgh the first time I saw it. I bought the house years ago with the intention of moving there some day and I still plan to, unless the city hikes the taxes to some obscene amount. At some point it won’t make sense.

          As I’ve stated many times, the key is to attract industry and small businesses to Newburgh to help with the tax burden. There has been some success in this area. The renminbi is rising again and at some point we may see a return of smaller manufacturing plants. Newburgh has to be an alternative for them.

          In the services arena, I don’t know if anyone has ever looked into attracting call centers to the area. Cheaper real estate for company premises, native English speaking folks in Orange county and proximity to 2 main highways for them to get to work. And employees like to live close to work, possibly attracting folks from other areas of Orange county or Dutchess to move to Newburgh.

          My 2 cents.

        • My point is taxation as a penalty is extortion…regardless of its target. My concern is with the proposal in general and the context it is placed in to garner support. ‘Careful what you wish for.

          • With you on taxation (as in higher property taxes) as a penalty. But there have to be fines levied against those who let their properties decay and run down entire areas. Currently, you and I are paying for their mess. I’m willing to bet some of them are behind on their water and sanitation and maybe even property taxes too.

            As long as the codes guys don’t get ridiculous and start fining me for the wrong color light bulbs or having a cracked shingle, I’m okay with fining the slumlords.

  • Peter, your ward council woman provided an anecdote at the recent meeting http://newburghny.swagit.com/play/02082016-1101 closing council comments, 1 minute in