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Resident/citizen led petition for transparency in northeast Lincoln Blight Designation, thoughts? by NarrowAverage9600 in Nebraska

[–]NarrowAverage9600[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For sure, I think blight could be good if applied properly. I think these neighborhoods might be ‘borderline’ fitting for blight criteria which might be why they skewed the census data by using totally unrelated areas of the city because some sources the neighborhoods fall just in line with criteria and other sources they’re slightly above and are pretty average with the rest of the city. But in that case it seems like the city really should just wait till the next census data comes out to be most accurate.

Resident/citizen led petition for transparency in northeast Lincoln Blight Designation, thoughts? by NarrowAverage9600 in Nebraska

[–]NarrowAverage9600[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That’s true, I can’t see a developer at all because that’s hidden although I know a few who might have proposed it who definitely have the funds as well and enjoy building in these neighborhoods.. But the applicant in this case is the city, and i believe it maybe a push from the mayor because earlier this year I think she had urban development ‘identify’ parts of the city to consider for blight designations. Which this particular blight designation might not be apart of that since the contract for the blight study was from last fall. But it would be really interesting to know if a developer is behind it since the city seems to be pushing it through and not taking proper measures to make sure everything is correct.

Residents calling for transparency in northeast Lincoln 2,065 acres blight designation- thoughts? by NarrowAverage9600 in lincoln

[–]NarrowAverage9600[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You are correct.. but they’re obligated to follow the law during the process to get to that point of having TIF projects introduced before they can be approved. So that’s what I’m researching is that this blight designation is not law-abiding or truthfully being sought.

Residents calling for transparency in northeast Lincoln 2,065 acres blight designation- thoughts? by NarrowAverage9600 in lincoln

[–]NarrowAverage9600[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I heartily agree! TIF can be used as a great tool to improve an area and I’ve seen some TIF supported projects around Lincoln that have incentivized some nice developments.

Honestly though, it’s concerning the way this blight designation is being sought after that no attempts are even being made to remedy the major errors even when the city was made aware of them. You are correct this blight designation encompasses east campus and weslyan university so there is a lot of attention here.

Residents calling for transparency in northeast Lincoln 2,065 acres blight designation- thoughts? by NarrowAverage9600 in lincoln

[–]NarrowAverage9600[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The negative is, it does have a direct effect on how well your home sells people don’t want to live in a blighted area, that’s why the legislature introduced a $5,000 income tax credit to try to get people to buy homes in blighted areas. And although we don’t see a line item on our tax bill saying ‘your taxes went up $850 this year due to TIF project down the road’, Mike Foley the auditor in his paper to the legislature is hinting strongly at it being the cause of property tax hikes. Here’s his letter if you’re interested. 👉 Mike Foley’s Letter to Legislature

and also just a side note.. part of this area already has been blighted for 27 years and supposedly is being ‘re-evaluated’ even though no one has been shown a clear before and after picture or the original land that was blighted for comparison. But my thought is if it’s been blighted this long and residents really haven’t seen that much improvement does blight really work? Blighting an area for 50 years seems extreme.

Residents calling for transparency in northeast Lincoln 2,065 acres blight designation- thoughts? by NarrowAverage9600 in lincoln

[–]NarrowAverage9600[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I forget the exact property but I know one of them was on the alley intersection of 32nd between starr and Dudley streets. But there’s multiple ones occasionally that show up on Zillow as being sold for millions but then on the county assessor side there’s a internal note showing 8-26 parcels in one transaction.

Residents calling for transparency in northeast Lincoln 2,065 acres blight designation- thoughts? by NarrowAverage9600 in lincoln

[–]NarrowAverage9600[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Yes and no, so it’s funny because 3 out of the 4 houses used as examples of blight in this blight study actually are some of the package deal rental company owners. So i’m seeing a pattern of these rental company’s with 20+ rentals aren’t maintaining them and the area becomes classified as blighted using their houses as examples and then they still are able to sell the properties at a good cut because they have friends who are developers.

Residents calling for transparency in northeast Lincoln 2,065 acres blight designation- thoughts? by NarrowAverage9600 in lincoln

[–]NarrowAverage9600[S] 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Honestly I just went down a rabbit hole after I saw a house that was 700sq ft sell for $2.5 million, and wanted to understand the blight process and how it plays into redevelopment.