Monday, March 10, 2014

The House at 1034 Fourth Street

The scene on Friday night as the sun literally set on the rubble of 1034 Fourth Street
The view last November
One of the recurring themes on Loraine Ritchey's blog over the years has been the unsuccessful attempts by her and her neighbors to get the City of Lorain to do something about the nearby vacant, deteriorating house at 1034 Fourth Street.

With the house finally demolished last Friday, it was strange to see the difference in coverage by the two local newspapers.

The Chronicle Telegram led the way with a great article last Thursday by Evan Goodenow, which included the whole story of how Loraine had contacted each of the city administrations since 1976 trying to get something done. But The Morning Journal's front page story on Saturday by Richard Payerchin had no mention of Loraine at all.

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I was curious about the original owners of the house, so I checked the city directories at the library. Amazingly, the house had been in the same family for more than a hundred and ten years at least.

The 1903 city directory (the earliest available edition with residents listed) had Frank and Louisa Gow at 234 Duane Street. Mr. Gow was employed as an electrician at National Tube.

Duane Street later was renamed Fourth Street as part of Lorain's street renaming plan. Numerical addresses were also adjusted, so consequently 234 was renumbered as 1034.

Anyway, as much as I usually don't like to see old things torn down, it looked like this one had to go.
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6 comments:

  1. Loraine RitcheyMarch 10, 2014 at 11:01 AM

    There is as always a reason for my name not being mentioned in the MJ and part of it goes back to the fact one of their illustrious reporters took me to task on facebook as being a hypocrite in fact the epitome of hypocrisy - due to the Settlers' Watch coverage the week before after I had written a blog post about the MJ -

    http://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2014/01/19/morning-journal-lorain-going-going-oops/

    He didn't get that there are many hats I wear - one my personal blog and the other one of the spokespeople for Charleston Village - and the fact a press release even done by email or the phone when it is last minute does not constitute a "favor"

    I have had my issues with bully pulpit behavior from the Mj in the past so I believe I am now not the person to whom they will contact ;)

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  2. Dan BradyMarch 10, 2014 at 11:15 AM

    I think that's terrible that the MJ was being vindictive when they left you out of the article. If they did THEIR job as a watchdog for the community, then there might not be a great need for bloggers to have to comment on these issues.

    It's sad that the C-T covers Lorain better than the "hometown" newspaper does.

    I've been pretty disappointed with the MJ since it emerged from bankruptcy last year. There are no editorials that address community concerns and skimpy coverage of local news. The edition that I get in Sheffield Lake has more news about Bay Village, N. Ridgeville and Rocky RIver than Lorain! The best thing about the MJ is that they are making a definite effort to promote and highlight Lorain businesses with well-written profiles. But other than that it is hard to find a reason to buy it except that I don't want to miss an obituary.

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  3. http://www.thatwoman.wordpress.comMarch 10, 2014 at 12:11 PM

    Well they do what they have to do I guess to stay in print and business ... but I don't have to agree with the way they do it or buy it so I won't but I hate to see the demise of "newspapers" and good journalism.... sad day all around but the bully pulpit is not new but you are only as good as the people you hire and the direction from the top

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  4. -Alan D HopewellMarch 10, 2014 at 2:58 PM

    The "Urinal" was a crappy paper before I left back in '91.

    Lorraine-keep on keepin' on....you too, Dan.

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  5. Dan BradyMarch 10, 2014 at 3:28 PM

    Hi Alan,
    I just think the MJ could pick up more subscribers if it truly was THE place to go to find out what was going on in Lorain. It's an aging town and senior citizens read newspapers. But most newspapers now are a shadow of their former selves. The Plain Dealer was a great paper and now it's only delivered certain days of the week and it's as slim as a supermarket tabloid. I just wish the MJ would at least do an editorial once in a while, and quit trying to be the paper for Westlake or Rocky River and embrace its Lorain roots.

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  6. AnonymousMarch 12, 2014 at 7:00 PM

    "You are only as good as the people you hire"
    So true. Payerchin did an article on Gov Kasich, and throughout the article kept calling him a democrat. In the letters section I pointed out the mistake, but it was never corrected so I called the Journal and made sure they knew, and it still wasn't corrected. The Journal hasn't been newsworthy for years. especially local.

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