Stupid, Stupid, really, really stupid!

So, if that's not Toledo, what is it? I thought Toledo went all the way to the Michigan line. Have you told The Blah about this? ;p

I would question the order that things happened here. I would guess (or at least hope) that it was more along the lines of:
- prospective tenant shows interest, but shies away when he learns of the past-due taxes owed to Huntington
- city offers the Land Bank route to save the deal.
$342K is a serious amount of extra debt to incur, considering it would be in addition to whatever the sale amount of the property would have been. And considering the area, I really doubt anyone would touch a deal like that.

Anytime I've seen the Land Bank get involved in things like this, it has always been when the debt tied to the property far outweighs the property's actual value, and is preventing anyone from stepping forward.

nana

The city of Toledo does go to the Michigan line. However there is a part in there that is still Washington Township which has their own fire department, police department, road department, etc. They also own a fire boat if I remember correctly.

Lots of Toledo OH addresses are actually in other communities i.e. Ottawa Hills, Sylvania Township, Washington Township. I think Northwood has a Toledo zip code.

Many many years ago you could have a Toledo address and actually live in MI.

The property is in Washington Township - not the city of Toledo.

However, the old Toledo land bank 'sort of' merged with the new Lucas County land back program after the state authorized the county to enter that area. Some said it was just a way to get the entire county to pay for what was going on in Toledo while others said it would help the county as a whole.

That being said, suggesting that the property go through the land bank process does hurt the realtor if that person no longer gets commission on the sale.

I only wonder if the Washington Township Trustees are aware of what went on in the background and if the entire amount of past-due taxes (most of which would got to Washington Local Schools and the township) will be paid.

As an aside, there used to be a beauty salon in Merchants Landing. The owner said the new tax on tanning beds was just enough to price her locally-owned, non-chain service out of the market and that tanning was what enabled her to continue at that location. She explained it was a more steady flow of income and that the machines had been fully paid for - but with having to charge the extra tax, many of her customers would opt for the chains which could offer lower prices overall.

I didn't ask to see her books, but that is the reason she gave me when she told me she was closing.

The loss of Krogers at that location was the beginning of the end, though I believe West Marine still does a good amount of business there.

Maggie

Would the money for back taxes, if collected, automatically be sent to the right entities?

I live near Merchants Landing and that place has gone to hell ever since Kroger bailed out of there in favor of a furniture store on Suder.

Jackie, I have a Northwood mailing address but I live in Lake Township and my zip is 43619, so I see what yer saying. Always lived in Toledo before 2 years ago, never gave the outliers much thought. :)

I appreciate reading the explanations. Point Place has always given me a creepy vibe of decrepitude, and yet the houses are nice and the waterfront lifestyle seems great. I wondered why it's not more vibrant, commercially.

When I lived in that area and questioned why I had to pay Toledo city income tax since I lived in the township and worked in another city, it was explained that the area is "Washington Township, City of Toledo." But I agree he is a slumlord.

Viola,

I've lived in the Point since 1987 and have sadly watched the steady decline of the entire area. PP is a real mixture - $10k shacks to $1M+ lakefront properties - not too far from one another.

The same economic hard times that have hit the region have hit pretty hard here as well. That being said, IMHO, the real decline began when McDonald's was allowed to move into it's current location at Summit and 124th. We, the residents all said "NO" but were trumped by the braintrusts in the county.

Those who've lived here as long as I have may agree - or disagree.

Everytime I go to the PP McDonald's it reminds me of a senior center. Seemed liked a good fit for the area.

jae3133, I just completed a fight with the city over income tax for the exact issue you describe. I live in Washington township and work in Michigan. Check to ensure that your address is defined as being in the township and not within the city limits, AREIS should show you tax district as "WASHINGTON TWP-WASHINGTON LSD". Then also if your place of employment is outside of the city as well you can file an amended tax return to request that the city refund anything you paid (you can do up to three years back). You will need to submit a copy of your original return and W2s, along with the corrected paperwork.

When I went through the process I was denied, told it was the wrong paperwork, requested to fill out other forms (which were not applicable to me), until finally I called the commissioner of taxation and worked my way through the levels to get to an authority. The city is going to try to get you with a partial tax by having you submit saying you are a non-resident working in the city or a city resident working outside the city. Read everything they send very carefully. Took me about 6 months of calls and mailings to finally get my money.

Because it's a hop, skip, and a bullet shot from the violent North End. The city has no plan to stop the spread of it so the people who care about property value, safety, or quality schools get out when they can because the know the city is doing NOTHING about it.

I believe in personal responsibility as much as the next guy but many of the posters on this board feel it's the answer to stopping the spread of urban blight. So PP residents ammo up and march through your streets flushing out the hood rats. Just say "No to crime" it solves all the problems. Remember the Police or City Leadership shouldn't be responsible for corrective actions (no matter how much you pay in taxes), it your responsibility (personally that is).

It's funny that you say that, because my husband's grandma and great-aunts meet up at the PP McDonald's for coffee every week before heading to Mass at St John's across the street.

"They make money the way they are so why should I?" Larry Bush is the symbol of what is wrong with the political and economic leaders of our nation....no sense of community, no vision, no thought to the future or others....the only thing that matters is "money for me right now!"

"I wondered why it's not more vibrant, commercially."

viola, I've always wondered the same thing. Views of the lake, surrounded by water an all sides, this should be the most prominent section of Toledo.

Just as Toledo itself should be an economic powerhouse with it's geographic location and assets. But that isn't happening anytime soon either.

i lived behind the old krogers, i thinking your the one that was going around with the petetion about Bush a week or so ago? It was the best having that krogers there, so convienent and i use to go tan at that bueaty shop as well. but now its a ghost town there. its just to hard to get people/customers to go to that part of town. I thought making it into a bowling alley or something geared towards kids like a bounce place would do goog there. there better tearing it down and put up more condos there. and the whole washington twp thing and toledo thing are some issues. washington twp aint cheap either. water bill is twice as much as toledo, always paid for my own garbage pick and flood insuracne is kicking in back there and taxes themself are way higher as well-probably for police and fire, which is nice to have but at what price.

Don't know if you ment me, Oldtimer or Foodie, but no I was not the one with the petition. I heard that the Washington Township meeting last Thursday was packed with people complaining about Merchants Landing. I don't live back there (behind Merchants) but used to live in the "back" of the Point and had to look at Larry Bush's crappy properties all the time.

or maybe one of dem speling playces

Foodie -- interesting point, the mix of $10K shacks and much more expensive homes. Sounds like the housing at old-fashioned beach communities before "investors-gone-wild" gentrification. There's a lot to be said for living in a small house surrounded by more expensive ones!

I've been living in Point Place for several years now after relocating from Detroit to take a position here, and I love it. I can walk to the library, parks, bars, restaurants, and Kroger and Meijer are only a short drive away. The commercial vacancies are somewhat worrying, but there are enough homeowners that take pride in the area that I think it will stay nice for many years to come.

"Don't know if you ment me, Oldtimer or Foodie, but no I was not the one with the petition"

Nor was I. Wasn't even aware of who Larry Bush is prior to this thread.

And milesdriven, you are correct. As sad as it has been to see PP's decline (along with most of the rest of Toledo) we're still quite happy here. The housing market being what it is has invited too many "investors" buying properties to rent them out and also allowed low end buyers into homes they otherwise would not have been able to afford but, that's the case most everywhere these days. I'm all for home ownership at any level for those willing to commit the time and effort to maintain the property. Seems an awful lot of the aforementioned low end buyers are not of that mindset - at least in our area.

We LOVE the fact that we can hop on the x-way and be most anywhere in the area within 20 - 30 minutes and not have to deal with the congestion of W. Toledo, Central Ave., etc.. And, since we spend a good deal of time in the suburban Detroit area, we're close to that as well.

Needless to say he quit paying taxes on them, let the insurance lapse and quit paying Huntington on the loan.

I guess it's part of our more "civilized" society, but goddammit....unless you file for bankruptcy and literally have zero dollars in the bank, in a trust, in a sock....this guy's ass ought to be thrown into a brand new, we-brought-it-back "debtor's prison". Didn't we used to have these 100 years ago? Why not now?

He's not worried about you or your property. He'll be just fine. He'll be walking around, eating a nice meal, planning a few nice things for himself...even though he stiffed the government and his creditors. He's not broke--he just decided "well, hell...I'm not going to pay anymore." Hello "Pottersville" with guys like this in charge.

Without the threat of prison (until he pays up), what incentive is there for him to pay up? And this country's banks are tossing all kinds of people into foreclosure for missing one house payment after faithfully paying for years? But with guys like this, it's just "business as usual"...

AAARRRRRGGGHHH!!!! <disgustedly throws up arms>

I see the Point is misunderstood by a lot of people so I would like to address some of the comments. dbw8906 infers that the Point has a crime problem when if fact the Blade crime maps show it as one of the safest neighborhoods in the city http://www.toledoblade.com/metrocrime . Even the old north end, north of I280 is not as bad as many other section.
Commercial business have a different problem. In order to succeed you need thousands of households within a few miles of most business. Put a business on Monroe St near the Mall and you have tens of thousands of homes in all 4 directions. Put a business on Summit Street in the middle of the Point and 2 blocks to the east you have the Maumee River. 1 mile to the west, the Ottawa River. 1 mile north and your in Michigan, farm fields and wetlands. Go south 1 mile and you get the Golf course and lower income Northend. When Monnett’s Market went in I knew there was no way it could survive. It take a special kind of business to survive the lower population numbers.
Sorry Foodie but the McDonalds did not start the Point's decline. I know it was controversial going in, but many of the people who complained are the morning senior crowd in the place everyday, and it looks a lot better than the ratty old Edgewater Furniture building.
One of the Major problems to the Point is that all of the older sections are Toledo Public Schools. While the grade schools are great, we moved out because we did not want to send our kids to Woodward High School, even though I went there myself. We didn't go far though, just across the river to Shoreland and Washington Local Schools. The Point has gone though cycles of good and better. Things like the floods in the early 70's lowered property value in the back of the point and increased renters, but with the flood walls in it rebounded in the late 80's. The Houses range from little cottages from the 20's and 30's that have been added on to many times to many high dollar homes all along the huge amount of waterfront property. If you like water, small town atmosphere and safe streets it still is the best place, anyplace, Point Place

oldhometown posted while I was writing my post and I would like to say that Huntington bank is now going after ALL of Bush's properties and is foreclosing on them. I would like to ask Ohiokimono if you like to photograph old neglected properties, go shoot the Bush Marine building on Edgewater from the outside. You would not believe how bad an operating business could look

You don't have to cross the river to get Washington Local schools. My home, while physically "closer" to Woodward and TPS, is Wash. Local for schools. Yet, the very next block to my north - physically closer to WLS and further from TPS - is TPS.

I'm not complaining mind you - makes my home that much more valuable - such as that is in Toledo.

True enough, when Edgewater Furniture closed, the building went into disrepair - as have so many closed commercial properties in our area. McDonald's moving in changed the dynamics of that area as I'm sure you are aware. The fact that TPS has become a cesspool of a system certainly hasn't helped any.

Monnette's unsuccessful run had very little to do with population numbers - it was the fact that he was trying to peddle produce that belonged in the dumpster. I believe had he done it right, it would have been a very viable operation. Even though I am no fan of Monnette's in general, I gave him several chances. He blew it.