AlyssaKatz.com

Neighborhood values

Lately it’s been a popular question for observers of the political scene: Why are Americans so seemingly apathetic in the face of unceasing greed among the already extremely wealthy? Why no demonstrations in the streets here as the middle class crumbles?

Watching the deceptively gentle documentary When a House Is not a Home, produced by two residents of a historic Atlanta neighborhood ravaged by years of unchecked mortgage fraud financed by Bear Stearns and other loan securitizers, I wondered whether the correct charge would not be “apathetic,” but “pragmatic.” We don’t have street protest to speak of, but here in Zip 30310, which has seen more foreclosures than any neighborhood outside of Cleveland, residents got together to investigate exactly why it was that a third or more of the houses on their blocks sat empty, and why their tax assessments were rising based on implausible property values. They pored through county real estate records (the video instructs other citizens on how to work the spreadsheets), published and distributed a newspaper, organized regular meetings attended by elected officials, law enforcement, bankers, academics and others in a position to help, and weighed in to make sure that one of the worst perpetrators of the real estate schemes received the maximum possible prison sentence. Some of the participants in the video — including co-producer Brent Brewer and State Senator Vincent Fort — appear in my book.

The 30310 Mortgage Fraud Task Force won’t ever get AIG bonuses returned or stop Treasury from subsidizing speculation in bad assets, but it has accomplished something just as important in its own way. Its members have asserted ownership of their neighborhood, and proven that property values are not the only ones that count.

April 6th, 2009 | Tags: 30310, Atlanta, mortgage fraud
Posted in A Lot More | 2 Comments »