There is a smell coming from Cleveland Heights and contrary to what some would like you to believe it’s not from the construction at Oakwood and Cedar Center North. It’s the stench of desperation in the form of Tax Abatements. For those not in the know, that’s when the city grants an exemption on property taxes in hopes the property will sell. Usually such property is new and overpriced. Once the exemption expires the homeowner must start paying property tax. The theory behind this is that people who buy a tax abated property will fall in love with their homes and communities over the years and won’t bail when the tax bill comes. Doesn’t always work that way. Turns out that tax abatement is not a surefire selling tool going by the vacancies at Bluestone, Severance Place, and Courtyards at Severance. Not to mention Cutters Creek in South Euclid.
Fact is if you tax abate housing you are effectively providing city services like trash collection, police and fire, for FREE. We all know in this world NOTHING is free. So you’re really passing on the costs to other residents.
Heights politicians are proposing a new development at Meadowbrook and Lee which will include ground floor business and upper floor condos. All tax abated. Read the article and the comments at Patch. Go ahead. I’ll wait.
http://clevelandheights.patch.com/articles/developer-envisions-modern-apartments-at-meadowbrook-and-lee
Ok, now you better sit down before you read the next sentence. Believe it or not, I agree with Fran Mentch and Garry Kanter on this issue. Although given Garry’s business of reselling old houses which do not receive abatements, it’s possible he’s motivated by self-interest rather than the public good. It is funny to read his comments about “traditional” and “non-traditional” Cleveland Heights renters though. What exactly does he mean by that? Jew vs. Gentile? White vs. Black? As if Cleveland Heights is in a position to be picky about who moves to their town.
Tax abatement is the wrong way to grow cities. It was wrong when South Euclid did it with Cutters Creek and it’s wrong when Cleveland Heights does it with Bluestone, Severance Place and if they get away with it Meadowbrook & Lee.
Cleveland Heights would do much better by its citizens and local business owners if they brought their income and property taxes in line with their surrounding neighbors rather than offering abatements to a few cheapskates who will get buyers’ remorse after their first break-in. Then they wouldn’t have to cry “POACHING” whenever a business leaves for greener pastures.
Cleveland Heights would also make more headway with bringing people to their shopping districts if they cracked down on the crime that has made people so fearful to be there after dusk. Offering free parking on weekends is only gonna get you so far.
Monday, August 27, 2012
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Douchebag of the month: Al Zarzour
It’s barely August and we’ve already found our Douchebag of the Month!
Al Zarzour says he’s been in the auto business since 1972. Gee, that’s right around the time the American auto industry started to go into decline. Zarzour says that under the bailout, his dealer was closed along with many others. What he doesn’t say is that if there hadn’t been a bailout, the dealers would have closed anyway because GM would have gone out of business. Zarzour also fails to mention that closing dealers were given incentives to throw a blow-out closing sale. The commercial makes it sound like poor Al lost everything and is now barely hanging on, and that it‘s all President Obama’s fault. What a sob story! That of course is not the case, and our crack research team has determined that Zarzour has no one to blame for his dealership’s demise than himself.
According to the Romney commercial, Al Zarzour lives in the suburb directly to our East. This "loyal" American owned a Nissan dealership back in the 70s. Know what Nissan did during World War II? Built military trucks and the engines for the Japanese planes that were used to bomb our sailors during World War II! Nissan was not exactly pleased with the way Zarzour ran his showroom which was reportedly sloppy and poorly stocked, with sales figures that reflected that. Zarzour’s Japanese masters gave him an ultimatum: Shape up or lose the franchise. Zarzour “saved face” by selling his Nissan franchise and opening a Chevy dealership in Chardon. Remember this was back in the days when GM was building crap vehicles, so that doesn’t say much for Zarzour’s ability to pick a winner. But he was certainly able to hedge his bet by hiring his wife, son and son-in-law to work in the dealership with him. In the business this is known as “feathering your own nest.” The problem is, how do you fire your own family if they’re not delivering? In time, Zarzour’s franchise had the reputation as one of the worst underperformers in GM’s Ohio network. Then the economy collapsed, and GM and Chrysler started taking on water. In 2009 Obama’s people showed up and saved the day. Most of the dealers who closed sold Hummers, Saturns or Pontiacs, which were all discontinued. Zarzour was a Chevy dealer, one of the few to close. Zarzour is probably as pissed at GM as he is at Obama.
By the way, I gotta say, GM has really cleaned up their act. I recently bought a Chevy Cruze and I just love it. Great mileage, runs like a top and the build quality is far and above what my old Oldsmobile had.
Oh, and what’s Zarzour doing now? He ain’t hurting, folks. He’s general manager of a Mitsubishi dealership. Anyone wanna guess what Mitsubishi was doing during World War II? Al Zarzour sure has an odd way of showing loyalty for his country, which makes him our DOUCHEBAG OF THE MONTH!
Al Zarzour says he’s been in the auto business since 1972. Gee, that’s right around the time the American auto industry started to go into decline. Zarzour says that under the bailout, his dealer was closed along with many others. What he doesn’t say is that if there hadn’t been a bailout, the dealers would have closed anyway because GM would have gone out of business. Zarzour also fails to mention that closing dealers were given incentives to throw a blow-out closing sale. The commercial makes it sound like poor Al lost everything and is now barely hanging on, and that it‘s all President Obama’s fault. What a sob story! That of course is not the case, and our crack research team has determined that Zarzour has no one to blame for his dealership’s demise than himself.
According to the Romney commercial, Al Zarzour lives in the suburb directly to our East. This "loyal" American owned a Nissan dealership back in the 70s. Know what Nissan did during World War II? Built military trucks and the engines for the Japanese planes that were used to bomb our sailors during World War II! Nissan was not exactly pleased with the way Zarzour ran his showroom which was reportedly sloppy and poorly stocked, with sales figures that reflected that. Zarzour’s Japanese masters gave him an ultimatum: Shape up or lose the franchise. Zarzour “saved face” by selling his Nissan franchise and opening a Chevy dealership in Chardon. Remember this was back in the days when GM was building crap vehicles, so that doesn’t say much for Zarzour’s ability to pick a winner. But he was certainly able to hedge his bet by hiring his wife, son and son-in-law to work in the dealership with him. In the business this is known as “feathering your own nest.” The problem is, how do you fire your own family if they’re not delivering? In time, Zarzour’s franchise had the reputation as one of the worst underperformers in GM’s Ohio network. Then the economy collapsed, and GM and Chrysler started taking on water. In 2009 Obama’s people showed up and saved the day. Most of the dealers who closed sold Hummers, Saturns or Pontiacs, which were all discontinued. Zarzour was a Chevy dealer, one of the few to close. Zarzour is probably as pissed at GM as he is at Obama.
By the way, I gotta say, GM has really cleaned up their act. I recently bought a Chevy Cruze and I just love it. Great mileage, runs like a top and the build quality is far and above what my old Oldsmobile had.
Oh, and what’s Zarzour doing now? He ain’t hurting, folks. He’s general manager of a Mitsubishi dealership. Anyone wanna guess what Mitsubishi was doing during World War II? Al Zarzour sure has an odd way of showing loyalty for his country, which makes him our DOUCHEBAG OF THE MONTH!
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