THURSDAYS “READERS FORUM”

1. SB 232: Land Banking Bill

   Senate Bill 232 authorizes a county, consolidated city, or second class city to which the unsafe building law applies to establish a municipal corporation known as a land bank to manage and improve the marketability of distressed real property in the county or city that establishes the land bank. The bill passed the Indiana House of Representatives and Senate without a nay vote.

   This legislation supports the core land bank authorization sought since 2012. The legislation is permissive in allowing local governments to form land banks but does not require them to do so. The priorities outlined in the legislation allow local governments to form and operate land banks specific to the needs of their communities, and it establishes land banks as transparent, accountable, single-purpose entities with the statutorily-defined mission of mitigating property abandonment and repurposing properties to enhance economic development. In the biggest disappointment, the legislation does not include a funding mechanism for ongoing operations of the land bank.

   Section 9 of the legislation lays out details of the land bank’s purpose to to acquire a diverse portfolio of properties to enable the land bank to dispose of diverse properties in diverse real estate markets in the county or municipal territory and, thereby, generate revenue for the land bank in a sustainable manner. A land bank’s priorities concerning the disposition of properties from the land bank must support the mission of the land bank. The priorities for sale or transfer of properties from the land bank include:

   redevelopment that will act as a catalyst for further development
   support a comprehensive development plan or strategic plan for neighborhood revitalization
   reduce blight in the community
   revitalize or stabilize neighborhoods
   return properties to productive, tax paying status;
   return properties to productive uses, including development of side lots, green spaces, and gardens;
   make properties available for immediate ownership or occupancy without a need for substantial rehabilitation
   make properties available for use for affordable housing
   generate operating support for the functions of a land bank

   Once the land bank is established within six (6) months the county or municipality shall furnish the land bank with a list of real property located in the territory of the land bank for which the eligible unit holds: (A) a tax sale certificate issued under IC 6-1.1-24; or (B) a tax deed issued under IC 6-1.1-25. This list is constrained to those properties not committed to a redevelopment project or for another purpose. At the time the county or municipality furnishes the list to the land bank, the unit of government shall offer to assign the tax sale certificates and convey the real property described on the list to the land bank at no cost to the land bank.

   The bill requires a land bank’s bylaws to require the land bank board to approve any conveyance of real property in an open meeting and consider any pertinent information regarding the property’s value or the financial ability of a person before approving a conveyance.

   This bill allows the land bank to enter into an agreement that conditions the purchase, transfer, or lease of property upon the person fulfilling conditions related to the mission of the land bank. It provides that the material failure of a person to fulfill the agreement may void the purchase, transfer, or lease, unless the land bank grants the person additional time to comply with the agreement.

   The bill also specifies that the procedures for disposal of real or personal property by a local government do not apply to the land bank. The legislation explicitly articulates IC 36-1-11 dealing with the disposal of real property by units of government does not apply. Among the constraints of this statute relieved by this legislation include 2 appraisals, a minimum bid established for public auction, and selection of the highest and best bidder. A land bank will have additional flexibility.

2. I’ll ask again. Is anybody going to follow up on Billy Bolin’s offer to do an interview regarding the Louis Milan storm trooper raid or are we left to assume he reneged on the offer?

3. This section….:
   “and it establishes land banks as transparent, accountable, single-purpose entities with the statutorily-defined mission of mitigating property abandonment and repurposing properties to enhance economic development.”

   …it deals w/ transparency. And this has been the problem with the EBC and any successor entity in Evansville…doing ostensibly valuable goal-oriented work, but totally privately and off the books. This is just flat-out wrong and creates opportunities for corruption and patron-rewarding contracts.

   Is there an Indiana law attorney who can comment and/or speak to the efficacy of this language as it relates to a local land bank’s requirements to make its reporting (income, expenses, etc) public/transparent to the public?

   • …..this is directed to Pressanykey’s excellent post here above.

4. I find it very curious that the PEW RESEARCH FOUNDATION failed to enter the data for Syria in the “support for Sharia” graph in this document. Is that because we are seeing an influx of Syrians here in America and PEW did not want to alarm Americans?

   http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/12/07/muslims-and-islam-key-findings-in-the-u-s-and-around-the-world/

   It seems Barack Obama’s agenda of changing the face of America is continuing apace.

   • 13 Percent of Syrian Refugees Support ISIS

     http://www.clarionproject.org/analysis/13-percent-syrian-refugees-support-isis-poll#

     • Hillary Clinton will almost certainly begin US military operations in Syria. She’s far more of a military hawk than Donald Trump. Trump has been quite clear. He intends to withdraw US military from the world. That is ignorant, short-sighted, uninformed, and proof of Trump’s incompetence in foreign and military affairs. (And is why long time war hawk Republican Brent Scowcroft just endorsed Hillary Clinton.)

       • A complete drawback of all foreign-based U.S. forces is probably a bridge too far, but I think most folks on this board could agree that having dozens of permanent and temporary overseas bases and 10’s of thousands (hundreds of thousands?) of troop abroad at any one time is a bridge too far in the OTHER direction.

         We have a mind-boggling amount of fiscal and human resources tied up in non-domestic military assignments.

         • DeltaBravo…most folks on this board would agree with that.

           Cause most folks here are a bunch of whiny-ass liberals who agree with Trump that US military forces should be withdrawn to the US. I lean libertarian, am pro-business, but I believe American military force leadership in the world is critical. Trump is bad news.
           But Al Sharpie and Pressanykey are with the whiny ass liberals.

         • …No offense meant, LKB.

         • What? You haven’t heard? If elected Trump is going to witbdaw all overseas military personnel except the Marines at our embassies. This will result in the financial collapse and ruin of a of our western bloc and Asian allies’ finances. Trump will then use his personal assets to buy the bankrupt countries so he can build golf courses on them.
           In the meantime, all returning military personnel will be reassigned to the U.S. southwest where half will provide labor to undertake the largest Corps of Engineers project since the Hoover Dam or the Panama Canal; the construction of the Trump Plaza Wall and Olympic Swimming Moat. The other half of the troops will be assigned to either shoot illegals as they attempt to enter the U.S. by crossing the border with Mexico without proper documentation or to man all legal U.S./Mexico crossing stations along with displaced TSA Gestapo airport security guards where all vehicles owned by non-U.S. citizens will be completely disassembled for inspection for contraband. Average border crossing time for non-U.S. citizens will be effectively increased to 12 hours. Border crossing time for U.S. citizens returning from abroad (through customs) will now be 4 hours. This should effectively eliminate the importation of Mexican Super Meth, black tar heroin, and weed by indiginous and aboriginal landscapers, roofers, and housekeepers and American mules.

           Next on the list: the world’s longest unprotected border; the U.S. vs. Canada. We’ve got to keep Michael J. Fox, Neil Young, Anne Murray and Celine Dion types out of tbe U.S. They’re ruining the Oscars and Grammys. Later, on the agenda, he’ll stop the importation of such non-American things like hockey and soccer along with the Blue Jays.
           Sadly, we haven’t heard of any plans for Trump to construct a golf course in Cuba. Maybe he’ll just nationalize the island after invading and open a cigar factory with the main product a 52 ring Robusto in Oscuro wrapper named “The El Clintono”.

     • Your boy is wearing very hot pants today. http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/factcheckingtrump/trump%e2%80%99s-attack-on-clinton%e2%80%99s-character/ar-AAhuEB2?ocid=spartandhp

5. Please look at today’s CCO link to the Mesker Trust legal docs. It looks like the Trust may have had authority since 1973 to use the Trust income to improve and enhance Mesker Amphitheater. Blockbuster find by the CCO.

6. good find on the Mesker docs…..

7. Rush Limbaugh spent most of his show yesterday pleading with listeners not to abandon Trump because he’s patently a liberal. And he’s having to apologize to his listeners for giving in to Trump and losing the R-L bona-fides that indeed he’s sold out 25 years of his conservative values. (Sounds familiar: Pressanykey)
   Gone is the bombastic, cause he’s worried….Trump isn’t doing what it takes to win. Limbaugh is blasting anyone who is critical of Trump, then whining cause the Democrats keep pointing out “what a tool” Trump is.
   Limbaugh today, “That’s how perilously close we are here.”
   WHAT in the HELL is the speaker’s line up at the RNC Convention? This is a dumpster fire.
   James Carville is eating this up. Eating it UP. “More Trump! Louder! More Donald Trump!!”

   • This is from Reince Preibus today:
     “Trump’s campaign is a disaster. Trump is a disaster, you can’t declare bankruptcy again after the fall election! We’re gonna lose both Houses of Congress because of this guy. He’s a massive tool. He’s a cake eater. He’s a clown. I’m sorry to cast aspersions on the guy, but he’s gonna get us all killed.”

     (Well, ok, he didn’t say that. But everyone here knows that is exactly what he is thinking.)

8. The Community Organizer-in-Chief bravely protecting the environment that ISIS operates in. It really makes you wonder what side Barack Hussein Obama is on.

   http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2016/06/23/obama-limiting-airstrikes-on-islamic-state-protect-environment/

9. I am glad to see that justice prevailed in Baltimore. The prosecution should have taken more time. They rushed to get the officers charged and now it’s bit them in the butt.

   2nd comment the attorney General Lynch. Really. The best way to respond to terrorism is to show love. I guess she has never been a fight. Some one punches you should hug them? Mrs Lynch take that talk to Chicago and tell the shooting victims families that. You will be run out of town in a heartbeat.

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