OR INSTEAD OF THE BEAUTIFUL GREENSPACE LIKE OLD FOURTH WARD, THE BLOCK IN PEOPLESTOWN AT TURNER FIELD WILL STAY LIKE THIS - TIMES 38 LOTS - IF SOME FOLKS HAVE THEIR WAY The proposed Southeast Greenway Initiative to resemble the beautiful Old Fourth Ward park may be KILLED by a handful of neighbors who are refusing to move despite what’s best for their community, or are simply holding out for more $$. Here are vacant lots / abandoned properties RIGHT NOW, TAKEN TODAY on the block. If a few neighbors have their way, a real solution will be delayed for 10 years, and the entire neighborhood will be stuck with vacant lots, which is the top breeding ground for crime. Every single one of us regrets the flooding that’s happened and our neighbors who have been displaced. But the City has come up with an extremely generous plan to solve the problem, spending $60MM on greenspace, infrastructure improvements (including permeable pavers on our streets) and home buyouts. With one exception, every single neighbor I’ve spoken with who’s accepted the City’s offer has said that they were treated fairly and given a generous offer for their home. Instead, a group of neighbors has been advised by an attorney to “hold out as long as you can for the best offer.” In the meantime: • A real and costly solution to prevent sewage overflow into people’s homes and cars, that is currently slated to be completed by the end of 2016, will be delayed inevitably, and for AT LEAST five to ten years. • Neighbors surrounding the affected block will live next to vacant lots and abandoned homes, and the crime that comes with them • The City will be forced to spend more money on lawsuits to benefit a handful of people, money that could be spent to help the greater community and the 300+ remaining families who live in Peoplestown – the vast majority of whom want the proposed solution to move forward. • Insurance companies will refuse to insure a home in a flood prone area, or it will become too expensive to insure for someone to stay in the home – cities absorb this flood risk by creating parks to solve the problem. Our remaining neighbors can move now – when the city is paying them fair compensation for their home, or they can move when their house is destroyed and the insurance wont pay. I personally hope that every single person who has to move gets what they deserve for their home – FAIR MARKET VALUE plus some I hope for their real hardship. One of our neighbors spent 10’s of 1,000s of dollars on their home in the affected block, including permitting fees to the city, all the while the city did not advise them that their home was in a condemned zone! This is inexcusable, and that couple deserves to be fairly compensated. And if there is a viable option for some people on the block who’s homes have not flooded, this should be explored. But delay for the sake of delay and personal enrichment, to the detriment of the good of everyone else, is also not acceptable. I hope that the quiet majority of folks who want to see the Southeast Greenfield Solution move forward so that our community can continue to grow and improve will become not so quiet – the folks who want to benefit through delay tactics are certainly not quiet. They are actively strategizing to kill this project quickly. The timeframe is imminent – if you care, and you do not want this block to remain a vacant blight for the next ten years, please message me or email me at jacksonfaw@gmail .
Posted on: Thu, 25 Sep 2014 21:44:10 +0000
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