Photos: Unwanted housing stock lies vacant and in decay
Vacant neighbors, vacant homes
Portraits of local African-American leaders created by artist Chris Green cover boarded LRA properties in the 4800 block of Page Boulevard on Tuesday, June 26, 2018. Better Family Life commissioned the artwork in an effort to beautify the Fountain Park neighborhood. Of these four vacant homes, one is privately owned. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
Ghost town: Vacant neighbors, vacant homes
Paige Wings, 3, pushes her brother Daylin Young, 4, past a vacant home as their grandmother Jennifer Walter keeps watch in the 5000 block of Alcott Avenue in Walnut Park East on Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018. Multiple vacant homes surround Walbridge Elementary School, but many are beginning to be torn down. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
Ghost town: Vacant neighbors, vacant homes
Looking out a window at 1701 Marcus Avenue in the Kingsway East neighborhood, an excavator demolishes 4715 Cote Brilliante Avenue on Saturday, July 28, 2018. Shortly after, the Marcus house built in 1889 was also taken down as part of a Clean Sweep event, a summer initiative of Better Family Life where contractors volunteer to tear down vacant houses and neighborhood volunteers clean the areas. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
Vacant home burns in Jeff-Vander-Lou
ºüÀêÊÓƵ firefighters work a vacant home fire in the 2400 block of Bacon Street in the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood on Friday, April 13, 2018. The remains of at least seven burned vacant homes sat in one block of Bacon near North Market before most were demolished in late May. Many were owned by Paul McKee's NorthSide Regeneration. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
Ghost town: Vacant neighbors, vacant homes
This two-story home at 2150 E College Avenue in the College Hill neighborhood is currently the longest-owned LRA property, acquired on Dec. 19, 1986. Built in 1884, it was recently photographed on Friday, July 13, 2018. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
Ghost town: Vacant neighbors, vacant homes
Elle Spence plays under her grandmother Jennifer Walter's watch outside her home in the 5000 block of Alcott Avenue in Walnut Park East on Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018. Elle's grandfather and Walter's husband Neil Woolfork was shot earlier this year by someone hiding behind the vacant LRA-owned house next door, but survived. The house just finished being demolished, as workers spread straw on the property. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
Ghost town: Vacant neighbors, vacant homes
A city code enforcement worker boards up a privately-owned vacant house in the 4800 block of Cote Brilliante Avenue on Saturday, July 28, 2018, during a Clean Sweep neighborhood cleanup and house demolition event. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
Vacant neighbors, vacant homes
A portrait of Tina Turner created by artist Chris Green covers boarded property along Page Boulevard in Fountain Park on Tuesday, July 18, 2018. Better Family Life commissioned the artwork to beautify the Fountain Park neighborhood. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
Clean Sweep demolishes vacant homes, brings hope
In searing summer heat, brick cleaners work in an industrial lot off Goodfellow and Natural Bridge on Friday, July 6, 2018. Through a job-creating initiative of Fred Weber Construction and Better Family Life, workers recover brick from homes demolished during summer Clean Sweep events, selling them for re-use. As homes were taken down, materials were hauled to this lot where brick cleaners sorted through construction debris, picking and cleaning the bricks where they were paid $50 per pallet of 520 bricks. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
Clean Sweep demolishes vacant homes, brings hope
Albert Toliver spends his 16th birthday stacking brick in an industrial lot off Goodfellow Boulevard and Natural Bridge Avenue on Wednesday, July 11, 2018. Through a job-creating initiative of Fred Weber Inc. and Better Family Life, workers recover brick from homes demolished during summer Clean Sweep events, selling them for reuse. As homes were taken down, materials were hauled to this lot where brick cleaners sorted through construction debris, picking and cleaning the bricks. They were paid $50 per pallet of 520 bricks. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
Ghost-fronted buildings
The remains of the Odds N' Ends Shop stand in one of the ghost-fronted buildings of the 22nd Ward at 5871 Dr. Martin Luther King Drive. The interiors of multiple store fronts on the block are readily seen from the back, as entire brick walls are gone. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
Reducing its inventory is going to take changes in state law, additional staff.Â
Demolition of abandoned, broken buildings is on the rise. The number of properties held by the city’s land bank is down. Contractors are, for the most part, following a new, safer demolition protocol.