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   From: obama-biden-disasters@msnbc.com   
      
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   Shades of Obama's economic incompetence.  Flash forward to Joe   
   Biden in 2022.  The stench of Obama is everywhere.   
      
   The cost of demolishing condemned properties in Milwaukee is   
   squeezing city finances. So this week, leaders will ask the   
   state for more aid to combat the problem. It grows bigger by the   
   day. We took a first hand look.   
      
   Huge metal teeth bite into the second story of a house on North   
   26th Street. Moments later, support beams crack and the walls   
   fold. Finally, the roof collapses. Perhaps that’s an apt   
   metaphor for the effects of the recent economic downturn. The   
   recession caused the roof to fall in on many homeowners.   
   Hundreds, unable to make monthly payments, abandoned their homes.   
      
   "In many of our neighborhoods once those buildings no longer   
   have a person living in them that seems to be a green light for   
   opening the door for criminal activity," according to Art   
   Dahlberg, commissioner of Milwaukee’s Department of Neighborhood   
   Services. It hustles to secure properties – board up the windows   
   and lock the doors, as soon as they’re vacant, but other   
   visitors often arrive first. Dahlberg says it’s amazing how   
   quickly empty houses attract “scrappers” –slang for renegade   
   recyclers who illegally rip out anything of value.   
      
   " What they do is they come in there looking for all copper, all   
   of the electrical, sometimes the electricity hasn't even been   
   turned off yet. The water may still be on as they’re cutting   
   plumbing out, so that creates a pool of water in the basement   
   that fills the house with humidity that causes all of the   
   plaster to start dropping, causes all of the floors to buckle,   
   and then when you look at how much it costs to repair that   
   property, it’s not an economic viable alternative," Dahlberg   
   says.   
      
   Dahlberg says ruined houses victimize the neighborhood. In   
   addition to hurting property values, they often attract criminal   
   activities – drug dealing and arson, spreading fear among those   
   living nearby.   
      
   From his front porch on North 30th Street, Raymond Moody saw   
   people strip a pair of vacant houses. Afterwards, he says people   
   took up residence in them, despite their decrepit condition.   
      
   "Unfortunately, some homeless people was squatting and they were   
   just looking for shelter. They didn’t really care if it had any   
   utilities or working water or things like that. It was sad. You   
   know you pray for yourself but you also pray for others, but it   
   was sad," Moody says.   
      
   He says he was also frightened.   
      
   "Because you don’t know what might happen, fire or something,   
   then that would put my property in immediate danger," Moody says.   
      
   Moody says he lobbied for three years, and finally the city had   
   the resources to clear the lots. Now he hopes they attract new   
   housing. In the meantime, Moody has posted a sign in his yard,   
   identifying himself as “block captain.” He reaches out to   
   neighbors to try to strengthen their street.   
      
   "You know, we’re put here to serve a purpose, what is your   
   purpose. I feel in my heart, I pray that I know that mine’s is   
   to serve society, you know, make the world a better place,"   
   Moody says.   
      
   That kind of community activism is not always visible.   
      
   In his recent State of the City address, Mayor Tom Barrett said   
   the foreclosure crisis has hit three areas particularly hard:   
   the Washington Park, Amani, and Metcalfe Park neighborhoods and   
   affected everyone living there.   
      
   "These neighborhoods are just two percent of the city’s land   
   area, but in 2012, 13 percent of the city’s violent crime and   
   eight percent of all crime were committed in these three   
   neighborhoods," Barrett says.   
      
   The city recently received a pair of federal grants to pay for   
   increased policing and code enforcement in those areas. Still   
   Milwaukee needs $7.5 million to remove their boarded up   
   properties. Jennifer Gonda directs intergovernmental relations   
   for the city. Today, she and other local officials will detail   
   the scope of the problem for the Legislature’s Joint Finance   
   Committee.   
      
   "When we start to give them the numbers that we have 8,000   
   vacant or foreclosed homes right now in the city, that’s really   
      
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