Vine City faces foreclosures, abandoned homes…and $2 million lot
May 27, 2009 at 9:30 am by Thomas Wheatley in News
BROKEN WINDOWS Some residents of Vine City feel that their neighborhood is crumbling before their eyes.
Ask lifelong Vine City resident and community organizer Byron Amos to recall his childhood in the historic neighborhood, and he paints a simple portrait: houses, children, residents mingling in narrow, friendly streets.
“A real neighborhood,” he says.
Ask him to describe Vine City today, and he’ll tell you this: “It’s a shell of its former self.”
Literally. Thanks to disasters both natural and man-made, the long-overlooked community so rich with heritage has devolved into the very definition of blight.
On Sept. 21, 2002, an unprecedented downpour, exacerbated by the city’s antiquated sewer system, flooded Vine City 6 feet deep. Some stranded residents were forced to swim through raw sewage to reach safety.
Continue reading “Down and out in Vine City”
(Photo by Joeff Davis)
May 27th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
Who made off with the $2mm for 4.5 acres? Nice work when land is worth only $12,000 per lot – say $225,000 for 4.5 acres?
Not exactly in the Wayne Mason Beltline heist class, but amazing what you can do when you have access to taxpayers’ money.