Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by John Boutet on July 23, 2011 at 4:27pm

Let us please make sure we keep this discussion focused on issues and get past the personal attacks that have hurt several other discussion.  I know most of the individuals personally who have been involved in these discussions and you are all valuable to me and to this communities effort to improve.   We need to heal the interpersonal hard feelings which have developed before they sidetrack us from the reason we are here.

Margy you put on two very effective World Cafés for the 19WCA.  Do you have a team building exercise that you could get a neutral facilitator put on for us?  I would be interested in participating myself.

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Permalink Reply by John Boutet on July 23, 2011 at 5:09pm

On the discussion topic at hand, Louise do you have any information on precisely who Vi has been working with in fighting this eviction.  You said " Vi's house was paid for".  Do you have more information on this and what the claims of those forcing the eviction were?  Who from the city has been involved with this?  When Chief Sheppard came to talk to us after the in April after the March 28 Ravenwood eviction he said a new notification procedure had been put in place between the RPD and the group fighting evictions to avoid the rancor that characterized the Ravenwood event.  Was that new protocol followed.  Have you contacted Adam?

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Permalink Reply by Louise Wu on July 23, 2011 at 6:24pm

Okay, that's interesting.  I don't know about a new protocol from the police to prevent rancor.  That sounds like a great idea.  I'd definitely want to know more about that.  Who should I contact?

What happened on Appleton was WAY more police, for two days running, than on Ravenwood.  Wouldn't want to think that more police, for hours and hours, is how they are handling this with the new protocol.  How about the RPD leadership does the minimal amount of research on the foreclosure crisis in Rochester, and figures out that just throwing legitimate homeowners out on the street will antagonize the populace and cause a riot in this heat?  The riots in the 1960s here were also precipitated by racist housing issues, as I recall.  I don't think Chief Shepard wants to go there.  A riot like that would end his career.      

Vi is Virginia Henry.  Ryan Acuff, an advocate with Rochester Take Back the Land, knows about her case.  You can send him a message on the TBL Facebook page and he will answer your questions.  He was over there yesterday, and they (police and the real estate company, emptying out Vi's house without a court order, of several generations of possessions--Vi said there was stuff there from her grand parents just being thrown onto the truck-- what a violation!) threatened to arrest him right there for standing with Vi as she watched her house emptied out.

I think Mr. McFadden reads this forum.

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Permalink Reply by Louise Wu on July 23, 2011 at 6:31pm

Okay,  John Booty and Marg Meat, my name is Louise =).  That's like "Louis" with an "e" on the end.  Not a huge challenge.

 

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Permalink Reply by ShannonG on July 23, 2011 at 9:20pm

The 1964 race riot was sparked by alleged police brutality when the RPD attempted to arrest some drunk kid and the city went crazy.

 

Anyone paying attention can see for themselves that many of the foreclosures are precipitated by predatory lending, and blatant criminal practices. No one is saying any different. But some of us feel that there are more pressing crimes here. Like all the shooting and stabbings taking place for one. or that the neighbors in the middle of the Ward now have surveillance systems set up.

This is what I worry about. And as someone who has been sued for being a scofflaw, a trail of bad decisions help one arrive at the foreclosure point. It doesn't get that bad on it's own. You may have a lot of help when a company like Ameriquest gets their claws into you but you helped.

For the record, no one likes to be baited. And no one likes to be lumped in with others.

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Permalink Reply by Louise Wu on July 24, 2011 at 1:12am

There was a well done "Independent Lens" about the riot.  Before the brutality event you mention, the documentary (talked to Duffy, the FIGHT ministers) said that black people were crowded into sub-standard housing, as well as treated badly by the police.

We can agree to disagree about what is pressing.  With three empty houses on my block, at this rate, there won't be anyone left here to shoot or stab.  So the problem will be solved. Great you realize being stereotyped and baited is uncomfortable.  Don't think ! was doing that, but I'd expect you to take umbrage with just about anything anyone would write on this website.  Thats what you ladies did throughout the last threads about Emily.  Haven't heard from Sheri, though. 

 

 

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Permalink Reply by Margy Meath on July 23, 2011 at 6:37pm

LOUISE-  (corrected spelling of your name - the rest was originally posted 4 hours ago)

This is an interesting article and one that helps keep people up to date with some things that they may otherwise be unaware of. Clearly, you are passionate about these housing issues and foreclosures and you've been generous in sharing this with others in the 19th ward.

I do find it quite curious that you feel the need to add something here hoping that I (and others who I will not speak for) will "go easy" on you for posting this and follow this up with a comment that I (and others) so far haven't "taken any prisoners". You seem to be lumping 3 different people (and we are VERY different re: our views!) into some single category.....

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Permalink Reply by Louise Wu on July 23, 2011 at 7:44pm

I don't know Margy.  This dialogue doesn't inspire confidence.  It's kind of like you'll let a giant killer robot loose in your neighborhood from the predatory financial sector, which has been covered in very accessibly  in mainstream media, like Time and Newsweek, take out house after house with deregulated mortgage scams and foreclosure factory paper mill frauds.  Here's some stuff for you to read, if you wish.  This neighborhood is going DOWN in a way that meth labs and crack houses could never pull off.  Unfortunately the RPD are (unwittingly) colluding by carrying out foreclosures uncritically.

 

 

 

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/liening_on_brXWsORtBjnxgpXskq...

http://www.law.com/jsp/nylj/PubArticleNY.jsp?id=120248293280

http://www.peoplesworld.org/cook-county-sheriff-refuses-to-foreclos... 

April 8, 2011

New York Subpoenas 2 Foreclosure-Related Firms

By GRETCHEN MORGENSON

 

Eric T. Schneiderman, the New York attorney general, has issued subpoenas to the state’s largest foreclosure law firm and a related company, indicating that his office has some doubts about the effort by state attorneys general to resolve questionable foreclosure practices among the nation’s top banks.

The New York investigation appears to center on two of the state’s foreclosure industry giants: the Steven J. Baum firm, headquartered in Amherst, N.Y., and Pillar Processing, a default servicing firm set up by Mr. Baum that was spun off in 2007. Representing JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and other large banks, the Baum firm has handled an estimated 40 percent of foreclosure cases in the state. Pillar Processing provides extensive services to the firm.

A spokesman for Mr. Schneiderman declined to comment. Mr. Baum said in an e-mail: “The firm will cooperate with the attorney general in this matter. We are confident that after a full review by the attorney general they will find no wrongdoing.”

Attorneys general across the country have been working on ways to rectify foreclosure improprieties by the nation’s biggest banks and have entered into negotiations in recent weeks with these institutions about a national settlement. Tom Miller of Iowa is leading that effort. While Mr. Schneiderman has been participating, his new investigation points to the possibility that he will take a different path.

Large foreclosure law firms have come under scrutiny in states outside New York. Last year, the Florida attorney general began investigating the David J. Stern firm, the largest in that state. That investigation is continuing, but the law firm stopped bringing foreclosure cases last month.

Like the Stern firm, Mr. Baum’s operation flourished as the mortgage crisis deepened. Since the end of 2007, it has filed more than 50,000 new foreclosure cases in New York, according to data compiled by the New York State Unified Court System. The firm employs approximately 70 lawyers.

Along with the attorney general, federal prosecutors in Manhattan have requested information about the Baum firm’s practices, according to a lawyer who has represented borrowers against the firm. The lawyer spoke on condition of anonymity because the communications with the prosecutors were private. A spokesman for the Department of Justice declined to comment.

Scrutiny of the Baum firm has increased in recent months after significant errors surfaced nationwide in legal paperwork used by banks to seize delinquent borrowers’ homes. For example, documents detailing how much borrowers owe have been signed by bank representatives who say they have not verified the information. Other problems involve the questionable notarization of documents, or paperwork indicating that the foreclosure process was begun without providing proof that the entities involved had the legal right to foreclose.

The Baum firm has drawn rebukes on its legal practices from judges in several New York jurisdictions. Judges in courts across the state have rejected scores of cases filed by the Baum firm, saying it has failed to provide the documentation necessary to commence foreclosure.

Last November, Judge Scott Fairgrieve in Nassau County district court imposed sanctions of $5,000 on the Baum firm in a foreclosure case and required it to pay more than $14,000 in fees to the borrower’s lawyers. When awarding the sanctions, the judge wrote: “Bringing legal proceedings when there is no legal right to do so, due to lack of standing, stalls the efficient administration of justice in the system.”

 Paul D. Stone, a lawyer in Tarrytown, N.Y., has been defending a foreclosure case against the Baum firm since 2009. “I’ve never seen any firm file such ill-conceived, ill-researched, nonfactual materials with a court,” Mr. Stone said. The judge overseeing his case recently ordered Mr. Baum’s firm to pay some of the borrower’s legal costs.

Hoping to eliminate defective filings, last fall New York courts began requiring lawyers bringing foreclosure cases to attest to the accuracy of their papers.

The Baum firm was founded in 1972 by Marvin R. Baum and has been overseen by Steven J. Baum, his son, since the elder man died in 1999.

Steven Baum created Pillar Processing in 2007, a provider of real estate default services, and it is located in the same office complex in Amherst as the law firm. Pillar was purchased in 2007 by Tailwind Capital, a New York hedge fund; some of Pillar’s debt and equity is also held by Ares Capital, a publicly traded investment company in New York City. Representatives of Tailwind did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment. An Ares spokesman declined to comment.

Pillar Processing’s default servicing practices have attracted criticism from Cecelia G. Morris, bankruptcy judge in the Southern District of New York. In a court hearing on Feb. 5, 2008, Judge Morris said she would no longer accept any material from Pillar Processing in her court and added that if more paperwork from Pillar came in, she would deny the motions associated with it.

Linda M. Tirelli, a lawyer in White Plains who represents homeowners, discussed three current foreclosure cases in which she faces the Baum firm. “The documents don’t make sense in any of them,” she said. In another foreclosure being defended by Ms. Tirelli, a lawyer for the bank told the court that the Baum firm had filed inaccurate documents as it sought to take over a borrower’s property. After trying unsuccessfully to find every link in the chain of title on the property, the Baum firm prepared inaccurate papers to fill in what was missing, according to court documents.

Speaking generally and not specifically about the Baum firm, Raymond H. Brescia, assistant professor of law at Albany Law School, said: “We’re seeing a disproportionate number of cases in the foreclosure context where questionable filings have been made. I think it’s easy to say this is the largest and most wide-ranging fraud against the courts in the United States. Lawyers have to have a good-faith basis for the factual assertions they make to the court; they are responsible if they file pleadings that are baseless.”

 
 

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Permalink Reply by Mark Sweetland on July 23, 2011 at 11:05pm

The police do not make the laws, they enforce them.

 

In this neighborhood forum, I think an adversarial tone has developed that is unneccessary, and not in keeping with the objective of bringing collaborators together.  Let's end the discussion and that on meeting attendance with a summary from those who feel it beneficial, and move on.  Thank you, all.

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Permalink Reply by ShannonG on July 24, 2011 at 7:35am

Thanks Mark I agree 100%.

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Permalink Reply by Louise Wu on July 24, 2011 at 8:10am

So what about police enforcing un-just laws, like during the civil rights era?  It's no longer possible to look at this so simplistically.  There is a massive fraud going on, and these real estate people, the banks, and the law firms, are all party to it, taking advantage of extraordinary de-regulation and a culture of extreme business dishonesty inculcated in the 80s and 90s.  I invite Mark and Shannon to actually read something about it.    "Just doing their jobs," ignoring what is going on, and enforcing grave social harm by mistreating legitimate home owners is not what the police should be doing.  If the illegal foreclosures keep going at this pace, the 19th Ward will look like the abandoned neighborhoods in Detroit.  You have a chance to do something about this now, if you choose to, before you lose your shirts and your property is worth zero.

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Permalink Reply by Margy Meath on July 24, 2011 at 8:28am

The 19th Ward Community Association is looking for volunteers to become involved in their housing committee. This was discussed quite a bit at the World Cafe in June and a few people volunteered to help get this work group going. I'm not sure of the status of that committee or when they will start meeting, but I am quite certain that part of their agenda is related to preserving housing in this neighborhood. There are many, many issues that can influence what happens to housing - crime, foreclosure, poverty, rental properties, landlord issues, personal responsibility, relationships,  etc. No one single issue will destroy the neighborhood and no single approach will save the neighborhood. The challenge is to find ways to work together, connect collaborative efforts and not kill one another (literally and metaphorically) in the process.

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