Scottville Gets Ludingtonized: Rental Rehab and Rental Registering

[XLFD]

A couple of bits of news are coming up US 10 from Scottville-- or is it going the other way?  The first has to do with the fixing up of the apartments above Charlie's Bar courtesy of new Scottville/Ludington Community Development Director Heather Venzke, and the other has to do with the proposed new ordinance that would have landlords check out whether they were renting to sex offenders courtesy of new Scottville/Ludington Police Chief Mark Barnett.

 

Public Money Going Where Private Money Fears to Go:

In this article, courtesy of the Daily News,   RR above Charlie's Bar, we find out that the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) has generously given $50,000 to the owner of Charlie's Bar to help fix up two apartments, while the owner had to only pay $15,910. 

Not mentioned was that the local administrators got somewhere around $11,000 from the MSHDA as well for 'administrative fees', not to mention all the tireless hours on the public timeclock they invested in seeing that this money was doled out to this private interest for creating apartments in an area where there is a huge surplus of affordable housing.  But, I don't want to echo the first commentator to that article. 

Although I did not conduct the interview, Heather Venzke assures us:  "The program is one of MSHDA's best.  The biggest thing is creating critical mass in your downtown.  People who live downtown are more likely to eat downtown and shop downtown and make that critical mass in your downtown."  LDN p.1

Then why doesn't everyone move downtown and revitalize the area?  I looked at that in Rental Relapse and it isn't rocket science to determine that using state funds for this is not helping low-income renters find places to stay, or helping the local economy significantly except for the recipients of the public tax money and the local government.

Heather continued:  "The program also provides additional affordable housing in the community, which is needed."  and "We've never had an apartment on the market for more than six months.  There's definitely a need for (the program and the apartments it helps make available)."  LDN p.3

I am amazed at her ability to talk in parentheses like that, yet it surprises me that after her own acquisition of a Freddie Mac home at a big discount, she doesn't have any better advice about acquiring affordable housing for others.  As for the statement she has made about never having an apartment on the market for six months, I say put the records that show that information on the table.  It's fiction.

Thanks to Heather, a whole bunch of new facade, rental rehab, and obsolete properties rehab (OPRA) projects, money, and administrative fees are likely coming to downtown Scottville.  And the downtown will only get worse off.  We need entrepreneurs to save Scottville's downtown, not beggars.

 

Barnett's Failed Landlord-RSO Policy is Coming to Town

 

I have discussed Police Chief Barnett's policy to pass the buck when it comes to keeping track of registered sex offenders onto the hands of a landlord posse, and have routinely checked in to see "how's that working for us?", the last time in June of this year  Landlords on Patrol where you can go to the sublinks to find previous updates and the wording of the law.  Two of those three registered sex offenders (RSOs) depicted there are still living in the school safety zones (SSZs), along with three others.

As I said there:  "State law gives the duty of verifying whether RSOs live in a school safety zone to local law enforcement with jurisdiction, period.   Passing this duty to civilians is ridiculous, and against the public interest."

But Scottville is planning on passing Barnett's Law just like Ludington did back in 2007, and I hope the citizens of Scottville speak up about this.  I don't want to beat a dead horse on this issue, I want to instead show how great a job the current Scottville Police force is doing in this regard.

According to the current up-to-date RSO listings for the Scottville area, there is a RSO living at 113 E State Street and one living at 209 Thomas Street.  The following graphic shows that these fall within 1000 ft. of the Scottville Elementary School's property:

 

The black lines are 1000 ft. according to the scale and are drawn from the closest part of the RSO's property to the school property whose property line follows the red line, roughly.  As you can see they both make it within 1000 ft., and as you can see, both locations are far enough away from the school property that you wouldn't suspect it being a problem.  But it will soon become a big problem for their landlords, as these two young men have moved in since the state law took effect, and wouldn't be grandfathered in, like a couple Ludington RSOs are. 

Here's the landlord's penalty and here are the sanctions.  Just like Scottville, the civil penalties will be increasing fines from $150 to $250 to $500 from the first to third offenses after receiving notice, and $500 ever after.  It does not preclude other penalties including injunctive relief, quasijudicial enforcement, and other administrative sanctions. 

As I peruse the state law, the local police are responsible for monitoring this, so if you live in Scottville or Ludington and get a written note from the police telling you that you are in violation of that local ordinance, remind them that they are the ones in violation of a state law.  Then protect your head from the billyclub.

[Marty Redman]

Wow!  Great stuff.  So the L/SPD can fine you when they find out that they've failed to do there job?   Thats crazy stuff.  And I have to ditto the rental rehab stuff too.  I can't see George Washington or Thomas Jefferson seeing our limited goverment doing stuff like that.

Thanks for the links to the previous RSO news.  I missed that earlier.  Scottville bend over and cough.

[AQUAMAN]

Another nice photo op of the grand couple enjoying the new trappings of luxury around town, with their new-found wealth, courtesy of Mason County Taxpayers too. Such good fun......cheers. Or was this at Charlie's?, having a party to celebrate the funds trickling down, free drinks on the house....lol.

[XLFD]

Sorry Aq, I forgot to properly attribute the photo.  According to the person who provided this pic, that is Heather Venzke on the left, and her brother on the left, at some social function that looks like it had an open bar.  I figured it was most applicable to her most recent accomplishment at Charlie's Bar.

Marty, you're sounding an awful lot like Johnny Carson with your three mentions of "stuff".  But it is "wild stuff, really wild, wild, stuff."

[Heaven Therzke]

so X-LFD what do you have against improving downtown scottville.  do you just want to see it sink into the ground and fade away. 

where'd you get the picture of heather and her brother.  you been hanging around taking pictures of her.

[Dave]

The question is this though, is it really improving downtown Scottville? If you can find a place to rent that includes the same things that the apartment in the above story for cheaper pretty much any given day in the LDN, is it really that great of an improvement? Wouldn't a person looking for cheap affordable places to live try to get the cheaper, more affordable place, specially if they were on a tight budget?

[Heaven Therzke]

listen dave, if you make apartments available downtown people will move and want to be downtown and they will shop downtown.  even eddie-aquaman recognizes that if you live on top of a bar your going to get a lot more business in that bar and the nearby stores.  this is the principal of making a critical mass.  if you can get more bodies downtown the downtown will grow and support them.

[Dave]

That's debatable... in theory that would make sense if say in this case the person/people moving into the apartment above the bar is an alcoholic. People wont necessarily go to local stores in the Scottville area being that they are a relatively short distance to Meijer and Walmart to do their shopping as they will more then likely save more then enough on their shopping at those stores then what it cost in gas to go to those stores plus have the benefit of being able to do most if not all of their shopping in one place instead of having to go to multiple stores. Its kind of a shame that Scottville is as close to Ludington as it is, I think it hurts the town from having much of any real nationally known business come in. For example, at this point, there is nothing that really draws me to want to go to Scottville other then to drive through it as I head to someplace east like Mt Pleasant which I plan to do at the end of the month. Even if I moved to Scottville I probably wouldn't do much if any business in town.. I'd still be heading to Ludington for work and on my days off either heading to Muskegon, Manistee or Traverse to enjoy the time off as their is simply not much of anything to do in Scottville.

It comes down to this, you need to have more in downtown then just nice apartments. Because you put a few people in the apartments doesn't mean they are going to do anything other then sleep in those apartments.

[XLFD]

As Dave demonstrates, 'critical mass' does not support the expense here.  The people living on top of Charlie's Bar may or may not shop in downtown Scottville, just like those living around the town of Scottville. 

When I was growing up in Scottville in the 70's, the downtown had everything you needed, and even had competing interests in sports stores, pharmacies, hardware stores and grocery stores (if you extend the downtown over to where Farmer John's popped up in that decade).  If you wanted something you could go downtown to find it at a usually competitive price.

The invasion of the box stores and the installation of the bypass sucked up all the above (other that Nichol's Drugs) and now you have a bunch of struggling businesses that must rely on a smaller set of people that go to the nearby one-stop shops in the west of Amber twp. and beyond even if they live downtown or within walking distance of downtown.

[XLFD]

Heaven,

I think Scottville took quite a blow when US 31 bypassed the town and it isn't the crossroad community it once was.  The traditional main business stretch on South Main is not nearly as well traveled as it once was, and it will be hard for any business there to thrive. 

It is like the creation of an oxbow lake, little or no flow goes into the meander once the river erodes its way into a more direct course.  Water will still get into the new lakes channel, but a lot more water passes by.  Scottville's businesses are almost exclusively on the oxbow, and Scottville will best prosper by having entrepreneurs recognizing the existing reality and adapting to it.  Throwing good money into ideas not taking into account  this new reality won't get you anywhere.

If I had actually been the cameraman taking the above picture, I think her expression would be different, Heaven, to answer your last question.

[Heaven Therzke]

nice geography lesson that totally misses the point.  this isn't a river its a city with people not drops of water.  put all the people on that oxbow part and the other channel dries up.  for your next post maybe show a volcano and describe how your blog resembles that.

[Willy]

Nice job of reporting X.

[XLFD]

Thanks, Willie, and here was the arrival of the Santa train in Scottville today.  Me and the munchkin wanted a change of venue from the First Street Crossing in Ludington we have seen Santa at in the last two years.   Let me tell you, Santa doesn't look anything like LSPD Chief Mark Barnett, nor does LSCDD Heather Venzke look like Mrs. Claus.