HISTORIC STOTLAR HOUSE BEING DEMOLISHED
Properties of residents, absentee landlords outlined in map
By Jane Adams
A full-color map of the Arbor District, showing landlord-owned and owner-occupied properties in 2005, is available on the Arbor District website.
An analysis of ownership of residential property in Carbondale is available here.
The tax rolls show that between 36% and 41% of all single-family homes and small (fewer than 5 unit) apartment buildings are owned by landlords. Of these, 40 percent live outside Carbondale's city limits. Most live in the surrounding region, with only 17 percent living outside the 629xx area code.
Most landlords are smallholders, with fewer than 7 properties. The analysis shows who owns seven units or more. The largest landlord, by far, is Henry Fisher (aka Home Rentals), with 168 rooming houses and 10 apartment buildings with 6 or more units.
The tabulation of landlords with more than 7 properties is here.
Working with me, Christina Bearden-White created the map using 2005 data from the Tax Assessor’s office. Property ownership is also available on the site: one data set is organized by the Tax Assessor’s “Property Identification Number” (PIN), one is organized by owner, and one organizes the data by street.
The house, owned by Henry Fisher (who is currently in prison for molesting a young child), is in Carbondale's Historic District.
Despite the protections that Historic District designation is supposed to provide, the City issued a permit for demolition. It appears that demolition on the rear portion of the house had already begun (see photo below).
There is considerable irony in the City permitting this demolition since, as the article below on the Comprehensive Plan states, housing reclamation in the older parts of the city is the central focus of the new Comprehensive Plan.
Perhaps citizen action can stop the permitting and persuade the Fishers to sell the property to people who value the city's history. (See story in Southern Illinoisan)
Thanks to the spontaneous outpouring of citizen outrage, Mayor Brad Cole's December 1 proposal to sell the City's Water and Sewer System was not considered by the City Council when it met Dec. 15 and voted to raise the City sales tax to cover a major budget shortfall.
Citizen comments on Cole's proposal are summarized in City Council minutes for December 1 and December 15 are posted on the city web site. The position by the Arbor District Board on sale of city assets, taxes, and services was published in the Southern Illinoisan on Dec. 13.
A citywide Citizens' Committee has been formed to continue to oppose privatization of the City's water and sewer system. For more information contact Yolanda Comiskey yolandacomiskey@gmail.com.
CARBONDALE, ILLINOIS
We live in Carbondale, a college town in a largely rural region of Southern Illinois. Outside our town, the scenic hills are still dotted with wooden barns and the peach and apple orchards which once made the region famous. Within our town, much of the pre-World War II housing still stands. It's a reminder of a time when neighborhoods were "walkable" and services were nearby...and cars were far more rare.
But, after World War II, Southern Illinois University expanded from a small regional college to a major research university. Across the United States sleepy college towns awoke to the heightened national interest in higher education following WWII. They all shared the problems of growth in the universities that we face. Similar issues have been dealt with in towns like Ames, Iowa and Albany, Georgia, Durham, North Carolina and Lawrence, Kansas. We are fortunate in that the internet now connects the neighborhood organizations of all those cities, and more.
We encourage a careful study of these sites, and the links that they afford.
The Arbor District
Our Carbondale neighborhood is located between two of the largest employers in Southern Illinois, Carbondale Memorial Hospital and SIU. Living here dramatically drops the costs of transportation. Many people actually walk to work in reasonable weather! Grocery stores, dry cleaners and service stations are nearby. Precious time is saved.
But, we also face the continued degrading of housing stock by landlords as well as the inappropriate use of the single-family dwellings. These issues have been addressed many times by college town neighborhood associations. Here is an ordinance from W. Lafayette, Indiana, the home of Purdue. Might be a worthwhile idea for Carbondale:
http://www.city.west-lafayette.in.us/ government/ minutes/ord17-01.htm
Over the past 30 years, absentee landlords have acquired large numbers of homes in Carbondale's core neighborhoods -- the Arbor District on the south, stretching north past the old high school to Willow Street. With little reinvestment, many of these homes are now in grave disrepair. Thousands of new rental units have been built over the last two years, and, due to Arbor District initiatives, inspections of rental houses have been stepped up. We -- and the City -- are deeply concerned about what will happen with these houses.
"The Committee, and the consultants the city has hired, are aware of this looming crisis," Adams reports. "I have stressed that solving the substandard housing problem will also go a long way to addressing the area's excessively high crime rate. It''s less clear, in this economic recession, what the near-term solutions are."
Improvement of the area's housing stock is one of the Arbor District's central concerns. We will update this page from time to time, with more information. Write Jane Adams jadams@siu.edu with ideas or for more information.
UPDATE DECEMBER 2009
The planning process hit a snag when the most of the elected and appointed officials expected to participate in the "Priority Setting Workshop" November 9, 2009, did not show up. Only two city-council members, a handful of the Planning Commission members, and the regular minority of the Plan Review Committee attended. Mayor Brad Cole did not attend, signaling the value he placed in the planning process.
Arbor District representative Jane Adams said, "The citizens' representatives have been diligent in coming prepared to every PRC meeting. It's disconcerting to see that the people who actually make policy -- most of our elected representatives on the City Council and the appointed members of the Planning Commission -- do not take the process seriously."
There will be an Open House and a Public Hearing by the Planning Commission in February. Citizen participation is important.
TownGown World's 'Best Practice' Neighbourhood Community Organizations listing. www.towngownworld.com
Old West Duram
http://www.owdna.org/siteindex.htm
They contain valuable examples of programs that have revitalized their historic neighborhoods. Duke directed the building of townhouses and separate housing for staff and faculty in a planned community. In Ames, Iowa, the University finances low cost loans for faculty and staff . In a number of college towns historic preservation is accomplished through revolving loans that are backed by the universities and communities.
A few other neighborhood
associations
A web search on university neighborhood association yields a great many organizations like our. Here are a few:
South Campus Area Neighborhod Association, Ames, Iowa (Iowa State University)
http://www.scanames.org/
North University Neighborhood Asociation, Austin, Texas http://www.nuna-austin.org/
South University Neighborhood Association, Eugene, Oregon http://www.sunaeugene.org/2009/03/hello-world/
South University Area Association, Ann Arbor, Michigan http://www.a2southu.com/The International Town and Gown Association links communities like ours http://www.town-gown.net/.