“It doesn’t help our houses that look nice and it just makes the whole neighborhood look bad.”
But it’s to improve neighborhoods like Adams’ that the City of Springfield recently approved a quarter of a million dollars to tear down 40 houses across the city over the next six months.
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Stephen Thompson, the administrator for planning, zoning and code for the city, said he feels Springfield has just recently been able to turn a corner in recovering after the housing and foreclosure crisis over 10 years ago.
“Springfield is definitely not alone but this money will go a long way to help us start to see some significant improvements in neighborhoods,” he said.
Thompson said the money comes from various funding sources that aren’t restrictive about where in the city the money can be used.
He said the quick turnaround is due to the city doing its homework, including finding who the owners of the properties were, issuing orders to them and following legal processes.
Thompson said to demolish a house, it costs about $8,000. That includes removing any junk, trash or furniture inside the house and taking care of asbestos issues.
At any point in time, the city has a few hundred properties that are on its radar to potentially do repairs on or demolish.
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“A lot of these properties have been problems in neighborhoods for a number of years, and once those structures do come down, the neighbors are really appreciative,” he said.
Adams said she’ll be glad to see the properties around her neighborhood be bulldozed, but she was also optimistic about what could be next for the sites.
“They could put like gardens for food where we, the neighborhood could help and distribute the food,” Adams said.
The city has also been working with the Clark County Land Bank to demolish several properties. A demolition of a house on Woodward Avenue created a large green space.
The Conscious Connect, LLC then installed a reading park and little library there, where kids (or adults) can take a book or leave a book. There is also a Frisbee golf course that anyone in the community is able to use.
Thompson said a lot of these demolitions will happen in big pockets of the neighborhoods, so people who live there will see a more dramatic impact.
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