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Title: Baltimore Has Decided Some Neighborhoods Just Aren’t Worth Saving
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URL Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/balt ... arent-worth-saving-2012-2?op=1
Published: Feb 24, 2012
Author: Yepoka Yeebo
Post Date: 2012-02-24 09:50:28 by Ada
Keywords: None
Views: 123
Comments: 3
In Baltimore the wrecks stretch for blocks in every direction. Shattered windows, buckling walls, sometimes just a façade, propped up by the houses on either side. The vacant streets are punctuated by the odd meticulously-kept home; a living city slowly turning into a ghost town. Click here to see some of the abandoned homes > Baltimore has tried to deal with the tens of thousands of abandoned houses that mar the city. They’ve been refurbished. They’ve been raffled for $1. They’ve been demolished. But the number of vacant houses keeps growing. There were radical efforts to seize abandoned homes and sell off city-owned property. In the nineties, $100 million was poured into some of the most troubled areas. Now the city is trying another approach: jump-starting the housing markets in healthier neighborhoods. As Baltimore faces a $52 million budget shortfall, there is a more urgent need than ever to deal with the vacant homes, which still require public services like fire and police patrol. 47,000 vacant properties. The numbers vary depending on who's counting, but the highest estimates suggest there are 46,800 vacant houses and lots in Baltimore — 16 percent of the city's residences. Around 16,000 actual vacant houses are registered with the city, many owned by people who just walked away, leaving the city to clean up the mess and eventually seize them in tax foreclosures. The Housing Authority Of Baltimore is focusing its limited resources on rehabilitating almost 1,000 houses in the neighborhoods with the most viable housing markets. It will pursue and fine slumlords to force them to sell or make improvements. Where the houses are owned by the city they’ll be put up for sale, with tax breaks and small grants to encourage people to buy and developers to invest. As for the rest of the abandoned properties, where it can afford to, the city will still be dealing with the most dangerous structures. Eventually, the plan calls for demolishing the most distressed housing, and holding onto the land until there’s scope for large-scale development. Baltimore Slumlord Watch names and shames the owners of the most decrepit buildings. The blogger behind it said while residents wanted a solution more than ever, the city was just replicating the problem: They were asking people to buy abandoned homes in struggling neighborhoods with no guarantee the rest of the block would improve. "It's basically the same initiative, just re-branded," said the blogger, who asked to remain anonymous. ‘Afraid to come out of the house.’ When Regina Shields bought her tidy, three-story row house in central Baltimore 15 years ago, her neighborhood was quiet and full of families. As they moved away, the problems grew. The house next door to hers has been nothing but trouble. "People would go in and use it as a shooting gallery, I would be afraid to come out of the house," said Shields, who is 56. Junkies would hide in the vestibule and try to mug passing residents. Prostitutes and Johns would sneak into the basement. Her car windows were shot out, Shields said. The chaos kept spilling into her home: "Somebody went in and tried to bust through the wall to get into my house," said Shields. She had to call the city and beg to have the house locked and boarded up. “For the neighborhoods, it’s devastating,” said Dan Kildee, the president of the Center for Community Progress, which develops strategies for cities with huge vacant property problems. “Abandoned property is like a contagious disease. A city block with one abandoned house, every property owner will experience a significant loss of value of their property,” Kildee said. “Even speculators are now walking away from properties because there’s very little likelihood of a return on their investment.” Read more: www.businessinsider.com/b...2012-2?op=1#ixzz1nJLG5aQ7
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#1. To: Ada (#0)
In Baltimore the wrecks stretch for blocks in every direction. Shattered windows, buckling walls, sometimes just a façade, propped up by the houses on either side. There's something missing from this story, a hidden aspect that I can't quite put my finger on, something politically-incorrect to mention out loud,.......hmmmmm...... 
-Alex Kurtagic
#2. To: X-15 (#1)
Read the comments at the article link. : )
" If you cannot govern yourself, you will be governed by assholes. " Randge, Poet de Forum, 1/11/11
"Life's tough, and even tougher if you're stupid." --John Wayne
#3. To: X-15, abraxas (#1)
In Detroit, large areas are returning to wilderness, and wild animnals are returning. I, too, cannot quite put my finger on the problem... Incidentally, I was once in Branson, Missouri with my girlfriend, and there were people walking everyone. I saw one black couple and actually did a double- take.
"You shall have fun, no matter what you do." -- Turtle
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