I believe the appearance of just two real government representatives on this list, and that they are mayors of historically blighted Pepper Pike and Bay Village is foolishness.

That they are neanderthal, conspiratorial Republicans Bruce Akers and the political suicide candidate he just ran for County Commissioner Deborah "911" Sutherland makes certain the Preservation Resource Society is not suited to represent the people of Cleveland, and it or the board must be replaced by something that protects our great historic assets, like Frank's home and farm demolished.

Disrupt IT

Let's see... most of our historic property (which by basic definition is most property in Cleveland) is lead contaminated, and much of that is the fault of our hometown Sherwin Williams, represented in litigation by home town Jones Day, which are together fighting tooth and nail to escape any responsibility for the lead poisoning crisis here, and refuse to do anything to help, are both represented on this list... yet nobody involved in solving the crisis is included.

Pure fraud. And dangerous to society.

Representatives of Sherwin Williams and Jones Day should be removed.

Disrupt IT

This is no place for a county elected official who has a huge responsibility for property that may be misrepresented by false privileges of people associated with the Restoration Society, that should be eliminated. 

The board is full of large scale and sprawl developers and architects, lawyers, banks and other parties self interested to influence property decisions, and historic preservation related factors may mean millions in many deals.

TOO MANY CONFLICTS OF INTEREST!

Disrupt IT

Read this well-written article:

http://www.clevelandfed.org/Research/PolicyDis/pdp25.pdf

See page 5 for this exerpt, with bold emphasis added.

Under Ohio’s proposed land banking system, a county land bank would be organized as a corporation empowered to foreclose on tax-delinquent properties. Once the county land bank had title and obtained appropriate municipal permits, it would either contract the properties for rehabilitation or demolition or sell them to responsible developers. If properties were rehabilitated, the county land bank would resell them individually to homeowners. Alternatively, county land banks could bundle clusters of acquired properties and sell them
to developers.

Consider the possible abuse of this redevelopment tool on pg. 6:

Granting CLRCs broad powers and immunities makes them a powerful redevelopment tool in the right hands. Such powers and immunities, however, also raise the question of who will operate as a check on CLRCs to balance out their powers. In this case, the answer is twofold. First, the board of directors of every CLRC will comprise elected officials or their designees.40
Thus, voters could change the leadership of a CLRC by electing different officials.

Ask yourself--how comfortable do you feel with your elected officials? The bill has passed in the state senate and is now in the house.

The Ohio Senate approved the countywide land bank legislation on Wednesday. It now moves to the Ohio House, where a vote may be held next week.

BOTTOMLINE--THIS LAND BANK DOESN'T STOP FLIPPING--IT PICKS UP THE PIECES ONCE THE LAND VALUE HAS BEEN STRIPPED DOWN TO NOTHING--AND GIVES IT AWAY TO DEVELOPERS.  

Do I have the time, influence or ability to write a bill that actually addresses point-of-sale housing violations and gives municipalities the ability to confiscate and HOLD properties that endanger communities? 

No, but the City of Cleveland HAS a law department and tools already on the books--receivership, spot eminent domain--which are not used to stop this white collar crime.  Also, theoretically, the Community Development Corporations could/should hold properties and rent out as lease-to-own properties, but there are so many CDCs in Cleveland, run by incompetent family and friends, that the County Treasurer endorses a strategy that sets up, yet another layer of bureaucracy. And, meanwhile, our useless newspaper cheerleads and never bothers to evaluate the administration of the treasurers' office as it pertains to the management of the county's downpayment assistance program, which pools "poverty" dollars so that first-ring suburbs can also get in on the HUD band wagon.

Chris Warren---I am asking you to speak out against this cycle of parasitism that is killing us.  You, especially, should have some conscience about the land transactions going down in Tremont.

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  Is dead...and I imagine, although I can't be sure, that he was one voice against the wholesale destruction of Frank Giglio's house, the Olney Museum and other historic properties along West 14th St./Jennings Ave. Now, that one voice is silenced...the pillage can take place.

Heard on NPR: Take Back the Land - Miami. Makes sense. I've been wondering why someone is not doing this here... or are they?

If tried in Cleveland, I would guess that local police would be diverted to stop it. But his point is well taken: 

"Mission
People of African descent have been systematically denied control of land in their communities- from slavery to sharecropping to segregation to the current gentrification and displacement of our communities.

Elected officials and high ranking bureaucrats have sold out the black community in favor of enriching already wealthy and politically connected developers.

We assert our right to the land in our community and to use public space for the public good- specifically, to house, feed and provide community space for the poor, particularly in low income black communities. As such, we are Taking Back the Land and empowering the black community, not the politicians, to determine how to use land for the benefit of the community.

Our struggle is fundamentally one of land, and control over that land. We take inspiration from and support our sisters and brothers across the globe engaged in similar struggles for control over land for the benefit of the people.

Objectives
Take Back the Land pursues three core political objectives:

First, feed and house people. Taking control of land to feed and house those impacted by the crisis of gentrification and low-income housing is the ultimate in public space for public good.

As such, the Umoja Village provides free food and modest housing for 50 people. While the housing is not “up to code,” it is far better than conditions under local bridges and even some of the nearby slum housing. We strive to consistently improve conditions and the quality of life on the land, including regular delivery of food and other goods, as well as upgrading housing and amenities.

Second, assert our right to control the land in our community. This movement is not fundamentally about homelessness or even housing: it is about land. We contend that the land in the black community is not the domain of wealthy developers or the politicians who do their bidding. The land belongs to the people in the black community. As such, the people have the right to control the land and its uses.

Instead of giveaways to wealthy developers to build high cost, high profit condos which do not serve the needs of the community, the land on which the Umoja Village sits is used to benefit the community. Particularly during land related crisis, such as gentrification and housing, public land should not be used for the enrichment of wealthy, politically connected interests. Instead, the land must be used to solve problems to the benefit of the community. Our communities must determine its own priorities and the appropriate use of land in accordance with those priorities.

Third, build a new society. Instead of replicating the power and social relationships of the broader society in a smaller setting, we build a new society in which people relate to one another differently and the power to make decisions about the Village is centered on them, not the politicians.

While critics charge we are anti-development, nothing could be further from the truth. However, development is not about buildings, technology and the latest consumer products. Development is fundamentally about human beings. The building of structures without the development of human beings is nothing more than a profit making venture, something not worthy of the social status attached to “development” projects."

Foreclosurepedia founder D. Paul Williams has started massive data crunch to show how Cuyahoga County Land Bank is a massive rip-off.  

Whole process has been documented here at REALNEO with investigative reporting of Lily Miller, who initiated her research starting with the case of Frank Giglio.

"The sheer magnitude of this Project known as #OpCuyahoga already takes up nearly 4 gigabytes of storage across two cloud servers. So, while this introduction to #OpCuyahoga is spartan, the Series we roll out will have ramifications Coast-to-Coast. In fact, critically acclaimed Hollywood Producer Patrick Lovell has agreed to take a look at our Findings when we officially present them. Lovell is best known for his first person account of the Foreclosure Crisis in Forward 13: Waking Up The American Dream. Lovell was additionally interviewed on MSNBC and founded Everyman SuperPAC."

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And - checking Cuyahoga County Planning Weblog (last updated...(?) 3/2014)

The Ohio Housing Finance Agency allocated $49.5 million in federal Hardest Hit Funds to 11 counties with established land banks. The Cuyahoga Land Bank received $10.1 million. Last year, the state obtained permission from the U.S. Treasury Department to use a portion of the foreclosure-prevention funding to demolish blighted properties. A Plain Dealer editorial called it "a smart investment in stabilizing neighborhoods."

Meanwhile, the Ohio Attorney General's office awarded an additional $3.8 million from the 2012 national mortgage settlement to support demolition programs in 87 counties. Cuyahoga County received $602,202. Counties must use the funding by the end of September.

In his final State of the County address, Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald said that he "directed [his] staff to find an additional $50 million in bonding capacity to fund the most sweeping effort to not just demolish, but to demolish, protect, and restore our neighborhoods."

In addition, an Ohio coalition is seeking $200 million from a $13 billion federal mortgage-fraud settlement with J.P. Morgan Chase. The proposed Ohio Plan (PDF) would use $144 million to support demolition programs. A Plain Dealer editorial concluded that it "may be a long shot, but it's a shot."