Yesterday, CBS news magazine show 60 Minutes shared with the country a gloomy aspect of Northeast Ohio that isn’t going to surprise anyone here: its glut of worthless, abandoned and gutted houses left in the wake of the ongoing foreclosure crisis.
Reporter Scott Pelley adopts the requisite masquerade of concern as he chats with former county treasurer Jim Rokakis about why it happened and what is being done, while taking a walking tour of some afflicted neighborhoods. Rokakis, who was the canary in the coal mine, warning the country about the oncoming crisis a decade ago, recites a litany of facts about the number of abandoned homes, the loss of nearby home values as a result, and the cost of demolishing homes that have been vandalized.
Pelley also talks with Clevelanders who struggle to keep up mortgage payments in the face of unemployment, loss of their business, and health issues. Now that's what I call feel-good TV!
If you think you can stand hearing about any more of this, the video’s online:
