Housing, Neighborhoods and our future

In my last post I noted the Oil City Derrick’s article on the Venango County Housing study conducted by CZB.

Thanks to Joan Wheeler for clueing me in, here is a link where the full report can be found: http://czb.org/worksamples.html

I urge everyone concerned about our neighborhoods and our future as a community to read it. The study conducted by the consulting firm CZB contains some hard truths. I suspect many of us instinctively knew or at least had a suspicion of some of the things that CZB found and made crystal clear in its report, including that cheap, substandard housing leads to further decline.

Some of the suggested solutions to our housing problems are going to draw fire, notably the call for rental unit registration and inspection. On at least two prior occasions when that was brought up in Oil City it met with a firestorm of criticism from landlords and obviously failed to go anywhere.

The consultants also called for strict and aggressive building code and property maintenance enforcement. Again, this is not going to be popular with everyone, but in my mind is absolutely necessary if we are going to save our neighborhoods and our community.

The report also clearly indicates we have way more housing than we need, especially of the cheap and substandard kind. This is not good for Oil City, or the county as a whole. The report suggests that we move to demolish the worst of that. Council has long recognized the need to demolish our condemned and abandoned houses, but as with all things, is constrained financially.

Getting our housing market right is necessary to preserve our neighborhoods. Preserving neighborhoods is necessary for economic development.

It's Your Turn

On Dec. 2 an anonymous commenter said:

“Could you possibly start a new post asking for ideas on how to attract or market O.C. to them? I'm thinking about a post just for that purpose. You could bring it up at a council meeting and tell folks with solid ideas to go to it. They would most likely be interney savvy!!”

So that is what this blog post is going to be all about.

I’d like to hear your ideas about marketing Oil City, attracting businesses and residents and overall improving our town.

And I mean real solid ideas with as many specifics as possible, not the “bring jobs” that we so often hear and that does nothing. We all want that, and so much more. What I want to hear as how we achieve all our hopes and dreams with as many details as possible.

For our downtown business district a similar “no-holds-barred” approach to thinking about crafting a new future is beginning with the Main Street Program. You can become directly involved in that as well, and I urge you to do so.

So, let’s hear what you come up with.

A Must Read

The article in this morning's Derrick is a must read.

http://www.thederrick.com/Derrick/1.shtml

Please, take the time to read it.

I'll have more to say when I have the time
John

First Year

Well, I’ve completed my first year on Oil City Council.

There’s nothing like on-the-job training.

I spent a lot of years covering municipal government in my former life as a reporter. I thought I was well prepared with a good understanding of the workings, the possibilities, the limitations and the difficulties of local government.

I soon learned you never know what to expect and that it is a lot harder and far more time consuming than I ever imagined.

It is also often quite frustrating. At the same time in can be invigorating and incredibly fulfilling.

High on my list of frustrations, and one I think is shared by everyone on council, is knowing what you would like to do and what would be good for the city and not having the money to do it. This is a somewhat THE all-encompassing problem/frustration.

I will also admit to having become quite frustrated with the critics and naysayers who only offer criticism and no real solutions, or even solid suggestions.

It is not enough to tell me or any other member of council that we need to “bring jobs” to Oil City, or “grow the tax base.” Tell us how you think that can be done, and realistically. Believe me; all of us on council want to hear those ideas.

So what is the flip side, what invigorates me and makes it so fulfilling?

At the top of the list is seeing so many people work so hard to make Oil City a better place and seeing their successes. There are too many to list, but Venice Lewis is certainly one shining example.

Another is truly believing that we are making progress, perhaps only incremental at times, but good things are happening.

We are an interesting lot; varied backgrounds, varied beliefs and heaven knows great differences in personalities. The good Lord also knows we don’t always agree, and some of our disagreements have been pointed. But that has not prevented us from working cooperatively. I think that says a lot for the other people around the table from me.

I wonder how I and we are viewed from the outside. What is my freshman GPA?

Budget Discussions

Council’s budget discussions and ultimately our decisions will have an impact on the city and all of its residents.

Already it has generated a great deal of discussion and more than a few comments to posts on this blog. I thought it would be appropriate to put up a post dedicated to that discussion. I would like to hear from all of you.

These are troubling times for the nation’s and world’s economy, perhaps the most precarious since the Great Depression according to some commentators. Many people are fearful, nearly everyone unsettled.

It is not easy trying to balance a budget and meet the city’s needs in any year, let alone in a year like this. Yet we must.

There has been some criticism of council’s request to get an idea of the cost to taxpayers of putting some money aside for paving, emergency demolition and marketing/economic development beyond the current spending level. I think all of us are looking to the future in asking that, but I don’t know of any yet committed to taking that step. We are still sorting through things. We don’t even know yet what it will take to balance a status quo budget.

I don’t know of anything left to cut in city operations, but I’m willing to look. However, I also think we need to very carefully consider the future in what we do and not just today. I also think in today’s economic climate and given the needs of the city we need to be very careful we don’t make any rash decisions. Of course, rash, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

And finally, I will tell you I think there are worse things than a tax increase, and that would be allowing the city to decline to the point where resurrection is all but impossible.

New Comments on Trick or Treat

Many of you might be interested in the new comments recently posted on the Trick or Treat column from a few weeks back.
An AP story carried nationwide about Oil City's returning to nighttime trick or treating prompted several people to write.

So much going, so little has been said.

It doesn’t seem possible, but it has been nearly five weeks since I last posted.

I know that is no way to attract and keep readers. When I started this blog I thought there would be more comment and feedback, leading to my having more to say and the introduction of new topics.

I encourage everyone to participate. My intent was to foster discussion.

So, where do we go from here; well a lot has gone on.

There is an effort to create an Oil City Main Street program. Perhaps of greatest interest is that the Main Street steering committee explored and is trying to work out some details of taking an innovative approach for a Main Street program by partnering with the Oil Region Alliance. This could get the program off and running a year or two earlier than if the traditional approach was taken, meaning we could have a Main Street program up and running in 2009.

Outdoor furnaces are under discussion and there’s likely to be a proposed ordinance in the near future that will establish a number of restrictions on them. There’s also some work on updating our dog/animal control ordinances.

A consultant has been chosen to undertake a new joint comprehensive plan with Cornplanter and Rouseville, which will include a look at Oil City’s zoning regulations.

A consultant will soon be selected to undertake the Comprehensive Waterways Plan.

And of course the 2009 budget is on everyone’s mind. It is going to be a tough year. In my mind, there is absolutely nothing left to cut in city operations, although there might be a few efficiencies in operations yet to be found that would give us more bang for the buck. I also strongly believe, as I believe other members of council do, that we need to invest in the future..

What are your thoughts on these and the many other programs and issues facing the city?