Over at Sharon Gilbert's blog, there is an article about Russ Blewett, who is a candidate for Hesperia City Council.
It is a copy and paste, but since I don't really read the high desert papers, I thought I would post it for three reasons. First, I think Blewett has an interesting idea on how to handle the foreclosure mess. Second, I have profiled other candidates in various races when papers have run in depth articles on candidates. Third, there is an interesting back story between Blewett's family and Mark Kirk's family. Kirk is another candidate running for City Counicl.
He also has a prescription for the city’s ghost town’s worth of foreclosed homes.
“Right now, there’s 1,000 [foreclosed] homes and there’s probably going to be another 1,000. We need to get those cleaned up and in the hands of owners, not renters,” he said. “Nothing good is going to happen in this economy, for anyone, until we’ve solved this foreclosure problem.”
Blewett would have the city get into the business of second mortgages for buyers, paying for 15 percent of the cost of a home. The second mortgage wouldn’t have to be repaid, if the buyers (all of low-to-moderate income) live in their new house for 11 years. (Buyers would also have to take a class on building and maintaining good credit to qualify for the loans.)
“What have you done? You’ve created a stable neighborhood,” he said.
It would also eliminate vacant houses — a popular target for burglary and other crime in the city — and pump cash through the local economy.
“Just think about how nice it would be to have 1,500 [renovation projects’ worth of] flooring and window coverings and get some money to local businessmen.”
The program could be “up and running” in 60 days, he said.
And then there is this little blurb at the end of the article.
Blewett and Kirk
Blewett’s connections to Hesperia tangle him up with another candidate running for one of the two open seats on the Hesperia City Council: Mark Kirk.
Blewett moved to the High Desert in 2002, “but my daughter had been up here for a lot of years.”
His daughter, Lori Nielson, served on the Hesperia Unified School District school board from 1991 to 2003 and last year, she spearheaded an ultimately doomed attempt to recall three current board members, including school board president Robert Kirk, the father of Mark. It’s led to frayed nerves in both families, but Blewett said the pair have a non-aggression pact and would be able to work together if both were elected.
Russ Blewett has a blog that can be found here. Mark Kirk has a website that can be found here.
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