I am writing today to announce the closure of the Michigan Messenger. After four years of operation in Michigan, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news into a single site, The American Independent at Americanindependent.com. This is part of a shift in strategy, towards new forms [...]
An abstinence-only presentation provided to numerous school districts in Calhoun and Eaton Counties in October of this year provided false and misleading information to students about HIV, experts allege.
Two county registers of deeds filed a class action lawsuit Monday on behalf of Michigan’s 83 counties alleging that the Mortgage Electronic Registration Services owes millions of dollars in property title transfer taxes.
Despite evidence of the impact of mercury on children and public health, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette last month joined with 24 other state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to scuttle new EPA regulations that would reduce mercury emissions from power plants.
The state of Michigan is expecting nearly $300 million in federal funding for a series of local land banks throughout the state that could help communities redevelop tens, perhaps hundreds, of thousands of foreclosed and abandoned properties. The Detroit News reports:
Michigan is poised to launch an ambitious plan to take control of thousands of foreclosed, blighted and vacant properties statewide through land bank programs, and hopes to get $290 million in federal funds to accomplish it.
The state leads the nation with 29 land bank authorities, which are quasi-public agencies whose aim is to spark commercial and residential development in struggling areas.
Most states have one or two.
With the federal money expected to come in January, cities such as Detroit and counties such as Oakland are starting land bank agencies for the first time. The state filed for the Housing and Urban Development funding through a coalition that includes 12 city governments and eight counties. It’s a national competition, and the overall fund totals $1.9 billion. Battle Creek, Benton Harbor, Hamtramck, Highland Park, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Pontiac, Saginaw and Wyandotte also would be targeted for revitalization.
The Michigan Land Bank Fast Track Authority would provide land bank services in Detroit; Oakland County, including Pontiac; and Kent County, including Grand Rapids, until local land banks are ready to take over.
A land bank allows the local government to transfer foreclosed and/or abandoned properties to the government. Abandoned properties are a huge problem for local communities because they get run down and aren’t taken care of, thus lowering the value of surrounding properties.
By clearing away the legal hurdles to transfer ownership of those properties to the city or county, the land bank can then make decisions on how to redevelop them. They can do so by razing some of them, rehabilitating and selling others and grouping several properties together and selling them to a developer who will rehabilitate them and rent them out or sell them off.
Land banks are a very powerful weapon against the blight brought on by the foreclosure crisis and the abandonment of so many properties.
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