Friday, December 20, 2013

Banks shed foreclosures, reap benefits


Editor's note: The bankers involved in this fine article seemed to know exactly what they were doing. Similarly, the bankers involved with the Estate of Alice R. Gore, a disabled 99 year old ward of the Probate Court of Cook County knew what they were doing. Both bankers used the law to the determent of the public to reap benefits for themselves.  Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com  

 

Part threeBanks shed foreclosures, reap benefits Published Dec. 19, 2013

Theadora McNeil lives next door to a vacant property in the 700 block of North St. Louis Avenue that was donated to a small West Side charity.
The idea seems noble enough. Financial institutions donate foreclosed homes to charities, which then hire local residents to rehab the properties for ownership by low- to moderate-income families. But the real story of this urban renewal effort is not so simple, the Tribune found. With the charities often failing to deliver on their promises, the only clear beneficiaries of the process appear to be the banks, which rid themselves of problematic buildings while reaping tax benefits for their donations. Some donated homes remain unsecured shells used by criminals and vagrants — ugly scars in battered communities.


interactive featureA deepening divide Published Dec. 20, 2013

The once-stable South Austin community is emblematic of many low-income African-American neighborhoods in Chicago that have been battered by population loss, rising rates of poverty and joblessness. Even as revitalization projects rise in neighborhoods wrapped around Chicago’s commercial core and to the north, conditions worsen in communities on the South and West sides, to the detriment of the entire city. While prosperous areas teem with residents and bustle with new development, neighborhoods like South Austin are being hollowed out, awash in vacant and dilapidated buildings.
Using census data stretching back four decades, the Tribune conducted a sweeping analysis to reveal the story of two Chicagos, increasingly pulling away from one another with each passing decade. In the graphic below, each dot represents a Chicago community. Click on any dot or enter a name to see how it compares to others and how that changes over time. The Tribune included South Austin as well as the larger Austin community because the “Poverty and Profit” series has focused on the area of Austin south of Chicago Avenue.

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Per capita income in 2013 dollars
Income figures for 1970 include earnings for those 14 and older.
Figures for 1980 and later years are for 15 and older.
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%$0$10,000$20,000$30,000$40,000$50,000$60,000$70,000$80,000$90,000
Percentage of African-American residents
Note: Data for 1970 through 2010 come from the decennial U.S. census. Data for 2011 are from the American Community Survey's 5-year estimates, collected on an ongoing basis between 2007 and 2011. The estimates are based on a population sample in each community and are subject to a margin of error, which is not shown. Census questions have changed since 1970 and can affect comparability; see the individual categories for more information. Boundaries of the census' geographic tract areas also change regularly. These generally align well with Chicago's official community areas, but the match is not always exact.
Sources: National Historical Geographic Information System, U.S. Census Bureau
Graphics and design Alex Bordens, David Eads and Ryan Nagle
Data reporting Alex Richards

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