For my first blog post on our brand new website, I would like to give a little background on myself and how I came to be a part of the land bank. Growing up in the City of Columbiana and realizing the struggles that our area faced, I had a desire for finding ways to better the quality of life in whatever area I happened to call home. This is an area that has seen many ups and downs, but it truly is resilient in many ways. It sounds cliché to say that the people are hardworking and never give up, but looking at the challenges this area has and continues to face, this is a very true statement.
Traveling has always been a passion of mine. I enjoy seeing what makes different places vibrant. Constantly wanting to learn what other areas are doing differently that either have made them more economically successful than The Valley or what their struggles are that we do not face. I know that Northeast Ohio has a tendency to have a grass is greener mentality, and I have to admit, I was pretty guilty of this back when I was in high school. After graduation I moved down to Florida, went to school down there and quickly was immersed with people from all over the world and so many different cultures that existed. My classes were involved in geography (a subject that I was always obsessive about, especially the cultural side) and where I first was introduced to GIS (geographic information science). I enjoyed my time down there, but realized that after I was finished with university, Florida was not a place I could see myself settling down in and building a career.
Finishing up my undergraduate studies had me coming back to the area to finish at YSU. In doing so, I met the Director of the Economic Development Office for Columbiana County in one of my geography classes, and was soon after offered an internship. I began being involved with a new program that had started the prior year. Columbiana County had just established its land bank. This was a program that was initiated after the foreclosure crisis, and federal dollars were to be used to go after tax delinquent and vacant residential properties.
The program started out being awarded $1.6 million based off the need of the established target areas of East Liverpool, Salem and Wellsville. Early on we worked with the Prosecutor to go after homes that had sat vacant for years and start foreclosure. This allowed us to build our inventory and start demolition. Our work really started to make an impact in 2015, and we haven’t slowed down since. Shortly after 2015, meeting our goals of acquisition and demolition, we were awarded another $1.6 million to continue our efforts. As I type this, at the end of 2019, we have far exceeded our expectations. For example, in the Village of Wellsville they originally came to the land bank with a list of 18 homes, we have since had an impact on 53 residential structures.
Our work will continue into 2020, and we hope to have diversified our role in the county to assist in more economic development projects and residential rehabs. We will also pay close attention to House Bill 252, which will create a more permanent funding for land banks to not only go after residential, but commercial and industrial properties as well. In doing this blog, I hope to inform you more on the work we do in trying to improve the residential neighborhoods of Columbiana County.