school levy

Dr. Lloyd Martin, Mansfield Schools Superintendent, spoke at Thursday's meeting of the Mansfield Board of REALTORS Directors. He made some excellent points and a convincing argument to support this school levy. There is no doubt he is absolutely passionate about getting this levy passed and moving on to turn the system around. He made one point in particular that should resonate with any property owner, and that is that if this levy doesn't pass property values in the district will continue to drop at a cost far exceeding the additional cost of the levy if passed. As he put it, it's another case of "pay me now, or pay me later".
The schools haven't had an increase in funding since 1993, and in the face of all of the increases in costs since that time including health insurance, it's ridiculous to expect the system to function without a new levy.
The board voted unanimously to support the levy, joining an unprecedented show of support from business leaders, groups, and organizations who have all come to realize the economic fate of this region depends on the financial and academic well-being of the Mansfield schools.

OAR Spring Conference

The Ohio Association of REALTORS held their Spring conference at Easton in Columbus earlier this week.
The big news for Mansfield REALTORS is that Barbara Murray, the MBOR executive officer, has been recommended to OAR leadership to be appointed as 2008 Vice Chairman of the Association Executives Committee!
Action items of the Directors meeting included unanimous approval of a resolution supporting HB 110, SB 83 which will rescind septic system rules which became effective 01-01-07 and revert back to rules previously in effect, adopting new rules by 01-01-08 after reevaluation of the economic impact and drafting new rules.
Also passed unanimously was a resolution to support the recommendations in the report of the Task Force to Study Eminent Domain. The recommendations provide both procedural and substantive protections for property owners whose property is taken by a governmental agency through eminent domain, without unduly restricting the use of eminent domain for legitimate public purposes. The recommendations augment the Ohio Supreme Court ruling in the Norwood case, which held that the state constitution forbids the use of eminent domain for solely economic purposes.

B17G at mansfield 20 years ago

I shot this video nearly 20 years ago. B17G Sentimental Journey leaving Lahm field after a fly-in that brought over 2,000 people out to the airport on a workday morning. Give the video a couple of minutes to load (broadband). www.alanwigton.com/B17G.htm

short historical video

I posted a short historical video at the home page at www.jahci.org about the Indian villages of Greentown and Jerome's Town. It's a flash video...just give it a little time to load and it will start automatically.
The video is about how Montgomery Montour, a Delaware Indian, successfully petitioned Congress in 1806 to have the villages set aside for the Indians that lived there. Few people know the details of the story I've told in this video, including the fact that Montgomery Montour's chalk portrait made during his Washington visit became the basis for a painted portrait passed off as that of a chief of the Mandain nation.
The video is about 6 minutes long.

home of tomorrow

The home of tomorrow is back on the market now at $214,900

home of tomorrow

The Westinghouse Home of Tomorrow (1934) on Andover Road will be back on the market soon. This is a picture from one of the two original second floor baths.

2006 Mansfield real estate stats

Locally: MBOR's MLS Stats
Property Type..Number..Avg.Price
Residential......1,418....$121,894
Multi-Family...........53......$97,773
Vacant Land..........53......$56,776
Commercial..........21....$137,430
TOTAL:.............1,545....$117,078

Business Confidence Nationally: Practitioners expect to see much better home sale conditions in the months ahead as buyer traffic strengthens. At the same time, a slight easing in seller traffic could help tighten inventories, shoring up prices. (Practitioner confidence was surveyed in January and looks ahead six months.)

Homes Sales Nationally: Final 2006 existing home sales are in and the year was the third-highest on record with 6.48 million sales. A 4.9 percent increase in December 2006 pending homes sales - a leading indicator - suggests 2007 is shaping up to be another solid year.

richland engineering facade

The new facade on Richland Engineering has been uncovered. Work is still in progress, but it's near completion. Dan Seckel is the architect for the project that was approved by the Preservation Commission because of its location in the historic district.

doodle auction

Doodle Auction to benefit Mansfield City Schools Art programs.
Donated doodles by Mario Andretti, Donald Trump, Jamie Farr, Jay Leno, Phyllis Diller, Dick Goddard, G. Gordon Liddy, Dick Gregory, Arnold Palmer, Bob Barker, Rosanne Arquette, Randy Travis, Dr. Phil, .... and the list goes on and on.
Tickets, $20. Call Connie Pastor at 419 756-4543.

housing market

Mansfield's housing market posted a 5.9% gain in number of units sold in January, over the same month a year ago. The average price was $81,457, a 16.8% drop. Activity in the bank-owned and lower priced market appears to be the major reason for the price drop. Ohio overall had a 4.2% increase in units sold and a 5.3% price drop. The state average price was $140, 544.

westinghouse home of tomorrow

The Preservation Commission toured the Westinghouse Home of Tomorrow (1934) on Andover Road yesterday. It's in the middle of some repairs prior to getting it back on the market after being foreclosed and going back to the bank. The flat roofs are going to be replaced with rubber when the weather allows.
I was happy to see some of the most outstanding features haven't been lost. The upstairs bathrooms are still in fantastic condition with the bakelight(?) veneer and inlay deco designs still like new. There has been cieling damage on the second floor from the flat roof areas, and some drop cielings applied in the past as cover-up.
Scott Schaut brought along an album of Westinghouse photos and we spent about an hour comparing the original photos with existing things in the house. The kitchen is the most radically altered part of the house, as you can imagine. Even though it was the home of tomorrow, we are talking 1934, so understandable that the original kitchen innovations of that era didn't survive the test of time so well.

the trolley-wreck building

I guess it's goodbye soon to the trolley-wreck building. City Council has approved purchase of the building by Economic Development, to tear it down and sell the lot to Minnick Mfg. next door for expansion. The Preservation Commission reviewed the issue at yesterday's meeting.
The building evidently sits in a flood plain, like Creamer's Hotel and other buildings on that block, so can't get financing due to insurance problems. It has been in such poor shape that it was never added to the Ohio Historic Inventory. And that area is zoned industrial.
All things considered, the Commission is not going to oppose demolition.

new septic tank rules

New statewide rules have gone into effect for residential sewage/septic systems. You can find out more about the rules at the Ohio Public Health website. Here's the best starting point for information (it's hard to find directly from the odh homepage):
http://www.odh.ohio.gov/odhPrograms/eh/sewage/sewage1.aspx
The new rules are intended to bring all counties under uniform compliance with the force of law.
We had an update this morning at Coldwell Banker Mattox McCleery from the Richland County Health Department. Here are a few of the highlights from my notes that aren't covered so well from the state website:
Older systems will continue to be used. No new inspections will be mandated. Typically an inspection takes place when a home is being sold, and if it passes under the old rules, there is no problem. If part of the system is broken, then it can be repaired (county health dept. should be notified by the installer). If a system discharges off the lot, it won't become an issue unless it is identified as a public nuiscance (i.e. your neighbor complains about you discharging raw sewage in the stream etc.) Variances for off-lot discharge (after treatment) will be given for existing lots that were too small.
Most new installations will require:
Soil scientist report which involves at least two test holes (about $100 per hole). Some scientists will do 3 holes minimum. Can no longer rely on soil maps. County will give a letter of suitability based on a soil scientists report, so this would be the extent of what needs to be done with a new lot prior to marketing it.
System Designer
Installer
Total cost being talked about at this time is $20,000.

More about Arlin Field

The News Journal had an editorial today about the effort to nominate Arlin Field. Their position was very supportive and I appreciate that. I want to make it clear that even though I disagree with the State Preservation Office opinion, I understand and I'm not angry about it or anything.
But here's my take on it anyway: the basic structure of the stadium has not been altered, and the additions are to the backside and haven't been incompatible. The new press boxes are perhaps the most noticeable change, but don't represent an irreversible alteration. All in all I think there should be a lot of weight given to the fact that the use of the stadium has remained the same and less weight to the alterations.
It seems adaptive reuse projects like the Voegle building on N Main St, which was nominated and renovated several years ago, got a lot of leeway with the alterations required for reuse. Specifically on that building, the white vinyl windows seem out of character, although they were installed with State Preservaton Office approval via the federal tax incentive program under which it was renovated. After the renovation, I'm afraid if the Preservation Office applied the same standards as they did to Arlin Field, then the Voegle building would fail the test as well.

I'm under the impression that a property being considered for nomination because of the tax incentive programs will be given a lot more leeway than we were given with Arlin Field.

Arlin Field

Dick Shasky of the athletic boosters came to me with the idea of trying to get Arlin Field listed on the National Register and we submitted a preliminary questionnaire to the State Preservation Office in December. I thought we had a good shot at it. The stadium was built by the Athletic Association in 1947. Herbert Jones of the Althouse and Jones firm was the architect. His other works included the Richland Trust building, Farmers Bank building, Westbrook Country Club, Ohio Brass office building, and Park Avenue Baptist Church. Harold Arlin, who was president of the school board and chairman of the Athletic Association is in the sports record books as the first radio sports announcer, from his days with Westinghouse and KDKA radio in Pittsburgh.
We just received word this week however, that later additions and updates to the stadium have made it a poor candidate for National Register status. The 1.7 million dollar 1989 renovation including new press boxes, have had the greatest impact on architecture. I tend to disagree with this kind of strict assessment, but I'll put this on the shelf till about 2050 when the alterations have achieved 50 year old status and we can try again.