Spring 2005

LOCAL ARTS THRILLED TO BE AMONG BEST IN KID BOOKS
Excerpt from The Post Standard, October 27, 2004, Page E-6

A children’s book illustrated by Syracuse artists Bob Dacey and Debra Bandelin has been selected to be part of a New York City show that celebrates the best art in children’s literature. The exhibition, "The Original Art: Celebrating the Fine Art of Children’s Book Illustration" features 150 pieces of original artwork. "To be part of this show is quite an honor", said James Ransome, chairman of the 2004 show. "Each judge gives their vote, and most publishers submit what they feel are their top books. To get enough votes to get in means your fellow peers are truly respecting what you’ve done." "We’re totally excited." Bandelin said. "This is a really important show to be in."

Dacey and Bandelin operate Bandelin-Dacey Studios out of their home in the Berkeley Park Historic District. Dacey heads the illustration program at Syracuse University and has won many awards for his artwork, including a Gold Medal from the New York Society of Illustrators. Bandelin used to work as an adjunct professor and symposium coordinator for the same department and also has won many awards.

COMMUNITY TRUST ADDS HAPPINESS …
Excerpt from The Post Standard, 7/25/2004

We Americans are told in our Declaration of Independence that three things are sacrosanct — "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness". And like fellow hedonists in Asia, Europe and elsewhere, we’ve clearly taken the message to heart. We work hard, we earn money and spend it. We indulge, we gratify — and therefore, we expect to be the happiest damn people on the planet. So, why aren’t we?

Happiness is, of course, a subjective quality with links to genetics, health, personality, income level and expectations. The word "happy" in no easy to define and means different things to different people. Americans tend to equate happiness with self-esteem and personal success, whereas the Japanese, joy derives more from self-discipline and fulfilling one’s obligations to family, company and community.

David Halper, a consultant for a British study on the politics of happiness, adds that community trust is a factor. He contends that happiness is largely determined "by how much a person trusts the other people in his or her community". That idea is consistent with an unusual school of thought about happiness — that adversity can in some instances promote good feelings about oneself.

Emile Durkheim argued that both natural and man-made disasters were good for societal happiness because they gave people a chance to capitalize on "potential relationships" — in other words, to make new friends.






SYRACUSE OWNERSHIP EFFORTS GROW …

Increasing homeownership among low-income and minority households has been a priority in Syracuse since the 1980s. Several financing and construction initiatives have helped more than 200 low to middle-income families buy homes. Jubilee Homes of Syracuse, Inc. has built and sold 88 homes in Syracuse’s southwest side since 1984. Their website www.jubilee-homes.org offer the example of a home valued at $128,000 and sold to a buyer for $52,000 after a write-down of $75,000 and downpayment of $1,000. Often the buyer can qualify through the bank for financing that can cover or all of the downpayment. The purpose of the Housing Visions is to revitalize neighborhoods. Housing Visions started out 14 years ago at the urging of the Rev. Harold Garman. It has since renovated 54 buildings, providing homes for 156 families in Syracuse. It creates rental homes intended to be sold to tenants after 15 years. Some of their houses are in the University Neighborhood, Since Syracuse Model Neighborhood got started in 1984, it has built 127 new homes in Syracuse for low income buyers. While these and other efforts to encourage low-income home buyers exist, there’s still a gap. In the 4-county Syracuse area, about 70 percent of householders own their own home according to the 2000 Census. The rate is higher among white households and far lower among minorities.







AGENCIES TO EASE HOME LOAN RULES …

The nation’s largest mortgage lender has pledged to help 55 percent of all minorities become homeowners over the next 10 years. Officials at Fannie Mae unveiled a plan (1/19/2004) to help 6 million first-time homebuyers buy homes by 2014. The announcement came after the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development announcement their fiscal 2005 budget would eliminate the statutory requirement of a minimum 3 percent downpayment for FHA-insured single-family mortgages for first-time homebuyers. "Offering FHA mortgages with no downpayment will unlock the door to homeownership for hundreds of thousands of American families, particularly minorities," said HUD Acting Director, Alphonso Jackson. For those that choose to participate in the "Zero Down Payment" program, HUD would charge a modestly higher insurance premium which would be phased down over several years, and would also require families to undergo pre-purchase housing counseling. The program also commits Fannie Mae to financing homes for physically disabled buyers over 10 years.







REVERSE MORTGAGES … BEWARE OF FEES …

A reverse mortgage is available only to homeowners 62 years or older. This type of loan allows senior to convert equity in their homes into tax-free cash without selling or giving up title. Borrowers can take the loan as a line of credit, a lump-sum payment, fixed monthly payments, or a combination. The loan size depends on the borrower’s age and other factors, and the loan does not have to be repaid until the borrower moves out of the home or dies. The most widely available reverse mortgage is the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage created by HUD and is federally insured. For more information go to AARP’s website on this topic at www.aarp.org/revmort/ or call (888) 687-2277 to order a free copy of "Home Made Money: A Consumer’s Guide to Reverse Mortgages". Fannie Mae offers a reverse mortgage called "Home Keeper". For more information about this product call (800) 732-6643.

When it comes to a reverse mortgage, the interest rate for the most part doesn’t vary too much from lender to lender, what varies the fees. You can expect: an appraisal fee ($300-400), an origination fee (lenders have the right to charge a minimum of $2,000), a mortgage insurance premium (cannot be more than 2 percent of your home’s value or 2 percent of the FHA loan limit for your area — whichever is less) — there is also an annual insurance premium of no more than 0.5 percent added to the interest rate charged on the loan, and a servicing fee (FHA limits the servicing fee to $30 per month if your loan has an annual adjustable interest rate and $35 per month if the interest rate is adjusted monthly). For more information, try the reverse mortgage calculator at the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association website at www.reversemortgage.org)






PROGRAM PROTECTS VALUE OF HOMES …
Excerpt from The Post Standard, 7/4/2004

Increased home values in Syracuse over the past 3 years have slowed interest in a $5 million program created two years ago to protect homeowners against falling property values. The Home Value Protection Plan has enough money for 400 homeowners a year to sign up. Only 74 have enrolled as of 7/4/2004. Homeowners pay a fee of 1.5 percent of the home value they want to protect. (The fee can be financed at 6 percent interest rate over 3 to 7 years.) After living the house for 3 years, they can sell it, and will be reimbursed for part or all of the loss if the property values in their zip code have dropped. The program is administered by Home Headquarters, a non-profit agency.

The average sale price for city homes rose more than 20 percent from 2000 to 2003, from $56,312 to $70,130 according to the Greater Syracuse Association of Realtors. This is good news for the local housing market, but, despite low enrollment, U.S. Rep. James Walsh R-Onondaga said the program is needed because it protects homeowners against future market decline.

Karen Shroeder, Community Relations and Development Coordinator for the program, said that the success of the program shouldn’t be measured by numbers alone. The program gives people a reason to stay in the city. The program spurred Linda and Sehl Burns to move from Fayetteville to the city’s Outer Comstock neighborhood about two years ago. "That probably was the deciding factor on whether or not we moved into the city," Linda Burns said. The Burnses paid $1,650 to protect their $100,000 home on Arnold Avenue for $110,000. The couple bought more protection because they planned on making improvements. "It allowed us to purchase a house knowing that we weren’t going to lose our investment," Linda Burns said. If the couple sells their home for less than $110,000, the program will make up part or all of the loss. Peter Lesko of Carbon Street on the city’s North Side paid $750 to protect his home for $50,000. He bought the house for $35,000 and made numerous improvements. Lesko views the program as an insurance policy which made him more comfortable buying a home in the city.

Walsh secured the $5 million as part of the Syracuse Neighborhood Initiative, a program he created in 1999 to demolish and rehabilitate some of the city’s more than 1,000 vacant buildings, build new homes, and offer home improvement loans to homeowners. "I want to see if we can prove this out," Walsh said. He has heard from other cities including Portland, Oregon and Dayton, Ohio that are "fascinated" by the program. If the program is successful in Syracuse, Walsh said, it could have implications for urban areas across the country.

For more information about the Home Value Protection Plan contact Virginia Smith at Home Headquarters 474-1939 ext. 248.







MORTGAGES EXPECTED TO CLIMB …
Excerpt from The Associated Press, 7/12/2004

Jump in now. That is the advice from experts to people who are thinking about refinancing a home or buying one in light of recent drop in mortgage rates. Those falling rates are seen as temporary. Forecasters predict rates will again start to slowly climb through next year. Lower rates, generally speaking, reflect investors’ growing confidence in the Federal Reserve’s ability to keep inflation under control. They also signal investors’ sense that the economy will grow solidly.







GO PAINT YOUR NEIGHBOR’S HOUSE …
Excerpt from CNN/Money, 7/16/2004

"There may be no such thing as a free ride or a free lunch, but what about a free coat of paint?" Affinity Neighborhoods, a private investment group, extended to residents in the Los Angeles suburbs of Compton on a recent Saturday. With $5,000 in supplies and 50 volunteers, the group painted 5 houses and planted 100 trees in one day. "The residents really responded," said Richard Hollingsworth, President of Gateway Cities Partnership, a community development group that works in Compton and other cities. "It got them thinking about what else they could do to improve their homes." Affinity, which owns 20 single family houses in Compton, is already making plans for siilar clean-up events. Not only do they hope to spark some good old-fashioned neighborhood pride, the group may also make a good old-fashioned profit when selling their houses."







STRENGTH IN NUMBERS …
Excerpt from CNN/Money, 7/16/2004

In 1996, David Frayne, now Affinity Neighborhoods Head of Research & Development, rallied friends and family to buy property in Oakland, California where real estate was cheap compared to prices in San Francisco. He thought they stood a better chance of improving their property values by buying in the same neighborhood and fixing up their houses at the same time. "It was kind of an experiment," said Ingrid Johanns, one of 10 people who bought 16 houses that year (now Affinity President & CEO) The experiment proved a success. The houses have sold or are in contract to sell for about twice what each buyer paid. After property values shot up in Oakland, Frayne suggested his friends and family buy in Long Beach, a city south of Los Angeles that seemed undervalued at the time. Again they bought 16 houses and once more they saw a jump in their property values.

In 2003, Affinity Neighborhoods formed and began accepting investments for their first private fund, Affinity Properties LLC. The fund now has 22 investors, 31 properties, $1.7 million invested capital and an estimated $7.8 million in real estate. Its projected return on investment for the 12 months ending in August is 70 percent.

Affinity focuses on buying undervalued property, fixing it up, and selling it for a profit. That said, one of Affinity’s goals to have a positive impact on the neighborhoods where it buys — and not just because it’s good for returns (although it is). Of course, skeptics argue that Affinity will only price out the same people it says it’s trying to help. "We’re very sensitive to this," says Ingrid Johanns, who as one solution gives tenants a lease to own option.

Hollingsworth of Gateway says that his hope is that the new investment will help boost the property values of existing homeowners and bring back residents who grew up in the area, went to college, and could now be leaders in the community. "I don’t call that gentrification", he added. "I call that re-investment."







POETRY SCAVENGER HUNT …

Last summer, families were invited to a poetry scavenger hunt and collected lines of a poem commissioned from Westcott area native, Georgia Popoff. The lines of poem found were then assembled as a whole. Thornden Park is the third Syracuse city park for which she has written a poem and created a poetry scavenger hunt. A native of the Westcott area, the park has been a constant in her life. With this poem, the Thornden Park Association hopes you will enjoy learning more about the history and the elements that make Thornden Park the gem of the East Side.

The Echo of Memory: A Thornden Park Journey in Time – by Georgia Popoff

We begin a journey of memory, of time and laughter,
the many voices that have sung together, shared meals and games.
Neptune has risen from the sea to lord over our water
from the hill above and keep safe watch over us in our discoveries.

Amid the sounds of children climbing, sliding, swinging legs
through summer air, we can distinguish the chatter of parties,
the morning patter, the evening meals from the home long ago
burned down, the surrounding orchards and comforting hills.

The squeals and giggles on a sweltering day fill the spray,
mixing with cannonball splashes and the cicada high in the trees.
The steady rhythm of laps in early morning, arms slicing turquoise
water, and a gentle kick; silver sun and white stucco shine bright peace.

Stand quietly, imagine for a moment the splash (not of swimmers),
trout in the pond, replaced by applause and symphony, the disciplined
breathing during katas, belly dancers jingling their sways, an aria of birds.
Here where 10,000 filled the tiers to celebrate a gathering place for the future.

If we sit in silence, just a minute to be quiet, the scrape of blade
against ice fills us, skaters who once glided the frozen field, the rasp
interlaces with the cheers of parents and coaches, young football champions
who rule this field now on brilliant autumn afternoons.

Marriage and union, history and just this season lush with rose perfume.
Tunnels of petals and leaf, color and scent, more than 10,000, a city of roses.
Patient and persistent roses, year after year, generations lined back to back,
famous throughout the world and, yet, just waiting here for us to breathe in.

The deep purple of columbine, the spring dance of iris in the sun, day lilies,
the delicate fugue of waterfall against lily pad hidden in the middle of it all.
Choose left or right, it does not matter which stairs, they both lead you
along the brick path to Carriage House and home.

A little maze, a labyrinth of savory, dill, lavender, lamb’s ear,
marjoram and sage, soft aromas of summer sun and busy kitchens.
In winter, herbs snuggle deep in mulch and snow, restoring,
their roots grip the soil like anchors, resting and waiting for spring.

Pines of all orders stand proud for those who have passed,
themselves resilient and diligent, they carry the honor of memory
that no disease can ever erase, even the fury of Labor Day
storm slicing trees to splinters does not diminish love.

The Weeping Beech, mother of us all, an umbrella to protect each,
she cries no tears of sadness, her leaves are shade and blanket
for generations; those who smelled apple and peach when all that stood
here was fruit, the echo of Onondagan footfalls travelling through before any
of us, and now, no matter age, skin, faith or feeling, citizens united in Thornden.

For more information about the Thornden Park Association contact Marilyn Zaleon at 422-1798.






HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE
If you hear of a house coming up for sale, or if you hear of someone who wishes to live in, and buy a home in, the university neighborhood, by all means call UNPA at 476-5228. We will network with real estate agents and share information about what help is available from UNPA and other organizations.

UNPA’s goal is promotion of owner occupancy. At this time, most "mint condition" houses in our neighborhood are selling very well. The challenge now, as when UNPA was formed in 1990, is bring back into owner occupancy some of the houses that have been rental properties. We are particularly interested in hearing from rental property owners who are ready to sell a house in the area. There are several blocks in the area that will benefit from the return of two or three homes to owner occupancy. With that change, they can join may other blocks that have the balance of families and students that many of us appreciate about the neighborhood.

We look forward to hearing from you.