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"Leaders" like the quoted Octavia Rainey are ok with lots sitting empty for seven years because they don't live next to them. She doesn't care about the nasty matresses and couches the homeless use there and the effect that has on the surrounding neighborhood. Or the empty beer containers, urine and feces in the backyards of other boarded up houses nearby. Or the drug dealers, gangs, and other activity all hours of the day and night. Someone so self-serving to imposing her will to make sure "Raleigh develops it correctly" is not a leader.

I totally agree webguy. The ppl at the meetings I have been to that make the most noise do not even live in the most affected parts of the neighborhood. These folks are planning on attending the Strategic Planning Committee meeting on Tues and introduce further delay and obfuscation. They even want to put the reigns on Gordon Smiths proposed apt complex. This is getting ridiculous.

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I totally agree webguy. The ppl at the meetings I have been to that make the most noise do not even live in the most affected parts of the neighborhood. These folks are planning on attending the Strategic Planning Committee meeting on Tues and introduce further delay and obfuscation. They even want to put the reigns on Gordon Smiths proposed apt complex. This is getting ridiculous.

Honestly can you blame them? No one in that area trusts the land grabbers that are just coming to displace the working class citizens in that area. It disgusts me hearing people who can not even remotely relate to being poor and only being ONE generation removed from Jim Crow Laws, physical rascism,poor education..... Do you expect that part of town to be a Utopia? The problem facing Southeast Raleigh is much more complicated envolving enslavement, constant manipulative litigation, mentally staggered social entrapment, illegal narcotics, false religion.... The Problem facing that area is the same problem people of that demographic are facing all over the US, and abroad. White upperclass america cannot just expect this problem to go away. I say you made your bed now lay in it. This country in all honesty was founded upon sociopathic ideals. The road to recovery for places like southeast Raleigh is complete and utter truth to be delivered to the citizens, because the pain, and ignorance that runs through the arteries of those streets are without words.

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Honestly can you blame them? No one in that area trusts the land grabbers that are just coming to displace the working class citizens in that area. It disgusts me hearing people who can not even remotely relate to being poor and only being ONE generation removed from Jim Crow Laws, physical rascism,poor education..... Do you expect that part of town to be a Utopia? The problem facing Southeast Raleigh is much more complicated envolving enslavement, constant manipulative litigation, mentally staggered social entrapment, illegal narcotics, false religion.... The Problem facing that area is the same problem people of that demographic are facing all over the US, and abroad. White upperclass america cannot just expect this problem to go away. I say you made your bed now lay in it. This country in all honesty was founded upon sociopathic ideals. The road to recovery for places like southeast Raleigh is complete and utter truth to be delivered to the citizens, because the pain, and ignorance that runs through the arteries of those streets are without words.

Hmmm..... where do I begin to respond to this one.....

As someone who has been a resident there off and on, I can firstly assure you that the "working class citizens" of the Martin-Haywood area want the exact same things as residents in any other area, namely a safe, clean and yes.. affordable place to live. The problem I have with the so called "community activists" (who, by the way, do not for the most part, live in Martin Haywood) is that their actions have the effect of creating an environment that remains stagnant, unsafe and a mess. Maybe we can credit them with keeping the area affordable by keeping the environment safe for the hookers and drug dealers.

Seriously, I am appalled that someone could be so insensitive as to say that they would rather let a boarded-up house sit for seven years than to let the City proceed with plans that have been discussed and presented ad-nauseum. I have fond memories of times sitting on my front porch with a few neighbors watching the RPD Swat team in action cleaning up the mess in front of our house. I can assure you we were not discussing Jim Crow laws ,"constant manipulative litigation," "false religion" or oppression at that time. The discussion was always more along the lines of "When is the City going to do something with those old boarded up houses that provide cover for the hookers and junk dealers."

While we cannot solve all of the big picture issues that you present, we can sure work hard to see to it that our diverse, historic and energetic neighborhood gets the attention and $money$ the City has already set aside for it. Ironically, the further we delay the Cities plans, the more we will allow private enterprise and the free market system (like it or not, it will take over) to set the agenda.

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The problem is this. The citizens want the city to do something that will change the neighborhood for the positive. However the city itself doesn't want any middle ground so to speak. It's either crime and disenfranchisement, or regentrification. That's the reality poor areas of cities like Raleigh are facing across the board. People are complaining about the boarded up houses, not knowing the city has an ulterior motive. The city seeks to change the demographics in those areas completely. If you take a look at Halifax Court and Chavis heights, they basically kicked the residents out, and moved in the rich. Just that simple. I haven't seen any city financed informal public events to inform citizens about helping to clean up their community in years. The glimmer of hope in these areas is extremely thin, so all you're left with is apathy. The power of money has taken over the local gov't in this area, something the residents there don't have. Now money is reinforcing all of the old rascism and elitism that has violated the same group of people since this country's conception.

There were once mobile police units to sustain in order in these areas. However they did nothing while crime went on. Crack was sold right in front of the units while police did nothing. I guess it was just there to serve as a positive image for the city. Drugs in which promote crime are going to continue infecting those aeas until we get a lock down on the people who supply the poor in the first place. You know who.... This will continue to be a redundant situation until something is done on a massive scale to curb the drug war launched against black poor neighborhoods nationwide. If you're in fact from those neighborhoods then you will know that most of the people selling crack aren't evil drug overlords, bent on causing rif raff no matter what. It's because their poor, hope is lost, and crack is a fast, yet easy destructive solution. Most kids don't care about the consequences, they just see an easy solution to bandaging their economic situation. The backwards thug/pimp subculture that has seem to have infected blacks since the civil rights movement is not helping either. The only thing it promotes is ignorance and death. It's sad having to grow up in an environment that looks at anything associated with uplifting yourself and learning, is shunned as being a "white thang". So to not feel like an outcast you choose to blend with a culture that is sure to damage your well being and others around you. This problem is promoted and effecting communities worldwide.

Education is almost a non issue in poor areas. If someone graduates from highschool (which is very slim), it's like they just got their doctorate. That's how low the standards are, living in a negative poor environment will do this to you. Especially when it's all you've ever known. Some make it out and do better, but this is a long struggle towards hope. It will not simply be wiped away by so called urban renewal, aka regentrification, aka land grabs. It will only get pushed to another area of the city and county.

The solution is extreme awareness and mobility. I think that should be the topic about southeast Raleigh, not how many people we can kick out and how many buildings we can shut down, because that will not cure the ultimate problems facing ghettos as I see it. It will only provide a temporary bandage.

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Hmmm..... where do I begin to respond to this one.....

As someone who has been a resident there off and on, I can firstly assure you that the "working class citizens" of the Martin-Haywood area want the exact same things as residents in any other area, namely a safe, clean and yes.. affordable place to live. The problem I have with the so called "community activists" (who, by the way, do not for the most part, live in Martin Haywood) is that their actions have the effect of creating an environment that remains stagnant, unsafe and a mess. Maybe we can credit them with keeping the area affordable by keeping the environment safe for the hookers and drug dealers.

Seriously, I am appalled that someone could be so insensitive as to say that they would rather let a boarded-up house sit for seven years than to let the City proceed with plans that have been discussed and presented ad-nauseum. I have fond memories of times sitting on my front porch with a few neighbors watching the RPD Swat team in action cleaning up the mess in front of our house. I can assure you we were not discussing Jim Crow laws ,"constant manipulative litigation," "false religion" or oppression at that time. The discussion was always more along the lines of "When is the City going to do something with those old boarded up houses that provide cover for the hookers and junk dealers."

While we cannot solve all of the big picture issues that you present, we can sure work hard to see to it that our diverse, historic and energetic neighborhood gets the attention and $money$ the City has already set aside for it. Ironically, the further we delay the Cities plans, the more we will allow private enterprise and the free market system (like it or not, it will take over) to set the agenda.

I agree with Zande.

I am one who lives in the area, and I have also witnessed the problems. The boarded up houses are an advertisement for the prostitutes and drug dealers to "come on in" and do your business here. The drug dealers use the boarded up houses to cook crack. That is why boarded up houses catch fire - take for example the one on Freeman Street that caught fire a few weeks ago. School is starting soon, and the children who attend Hunter Elementary will have to walk past the hookers who are out early in the morning. My question is "Why are boarded up houses any better if they attract crime?"

Some of the houses in the neighborhood are in such bad shape that the only reason they are still standing is because the termites are holding hands. These are considered "affordable". I am not a developer, and I am not a realtor, and I am not an economist, so maybe I lack the knowledge to understand why it is important to delay the progress in the area. But IF the $150,000 homes like the ones on Cooke Street are not affordable, then what IS considered affordable? In the county of Wake, in the City of Raleigh, Inside The Beltline, is there a developer who will build a brand new house and sell it for less than that and NOT lose money? Maybe I just don't get it, but it looks like there are some people who are holding out for something that will never happen. I think we should take a look at what CAN be done with the help of the City before it's too late!

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The citizens want the city to do something that will change the neighborhood for the positive. However the city itself doesn't want any middle ground so to speak. It's either crime and disenfranchisement, or regentrification. That's the reality poor areas of cities like Raleigh are facing across the board.

Wrong. If the above statement was true, there would be no Capitol Park (formerly Halifax Court), Carlton Place, or Chavis Heights redevelopment. These projects are *not* "crime and disenfranchisement or regentrification". They are new construction for lower income citizens (not gentrification) to live in without worrying about crime. The city (specifically community development) knows that even if they gave houses away (a la Habitat for Humanity), people have to maintain a minimal income to keep the property maintained inside and out, etc. The city has partnered with St. Augustine's universtity to find people in the neighborhood to buy rennovated houses. For *working* people that fall below that, there are plenty of affordable housing options. No, they aren't single family detached homes with their name on the deed, but they have an *affordable, safe* roof over their head, which is a better option than the substandard housing stock slumlords have offered in the area for decades.

People are complaining about the boarded up houses, not knowing the city has an ulterior motive. The city seeks to change the demographics in those areas completely. If you take a look at Halifax Court and Chavis heights, they basically kicked the residents out, and moved in the rich. Just that simple.

Again, wrong. Most of the boarded up houses are *not* owned by the city, but landlords waiting to cash in, either by selling the property to the city, a "land grabber" or renting the property for a lot more than its current degraded condition would attract. How the city has an alterior motive for something it has no control over -- existing housing codes allow for boarded up properties as long as they can not be broken into. At Halifax, everyone was moved out, with vouchers, to other parts of the city. The residents who had jobs with lower incomes and no criminal background were moved back in to Capitol Park. The Pilot Mill project to the north was empty land that was redeveloped around the same time as Halifax/Capitol Park, a nearby but seperate project.

"The rich" hasn't been moved into Chavis Heights. No one has yet, but construction is coming along. There are some market rate units in Carlton Place, but they comprise only 40% of the units, and their paying market rate enables the other affordable units in the complex. And there were no residents "kicked out". For five years before Carlton Place was built, there was only a barber shop and an auto repair shop on the block and *no* residents.

"I haven't seen any city financed informal public events to inform citizens about helping to clean up their community in years. The glimmer of hope in these areas is extremely thin, so all you're left with is apathy. The power of money has taken over the local gov't in this area, something the residents there don't have. Now money is reinforcing all of the old rascism and elitism that has violated the same group of people since this country's conception."

The South Central CAC meets the fourth Monday of the month at 7 pm at Roberts Park Community Center on Martin Street a few blocks east of Tarboro Road. The Central CAC meets the first Monday of the month at Top Green community center at (I think) 7 pm. I don't know what you mean by "clean up their community" but I've led several trash collection efforts in the South Central CAC over the past couple of years. If you mean crime and drugs, the Raleigh Police Department has officers that take community concerns at every CAC meeting.

Money isn't doing anything in these areas. Community leaders have seen to it that money allocated hasn't been spent until they "get it right". Unfortunatly, "getting it right" changes from month to month, leading to nothing getting done. In the meantime, at least around the 700 block of Martin Street, the drug dealers, prostitutes, etc. have taken advantage of the "waiting" time to further entrench themselves in the area.

"The solution is extreme awareness and mobility. I think that should be the topic about southeast Raleigh, not how many people we can kick out and how many buildings we can shut down, because that will not cure the ultimate problems facing ghettos as I see it. It will only provide a temporary bandage."

So we *shouldn't* shut down "vice" (drugs, prostitutes, and licquor) houses? We *shouldn't* kick criminals out? Everyone is *aware* there is a problem. Residents are not "moblie" because they a) don't trust the police b) fear retaliation despite the option to give information anonymously or c) are too old and have done nothing to attract later generation to stay in the neighborhood.

Attracting people who own the home they live in and take ownership of the community *won't* cure problems? Tell that to the people in Mordecai, Oakwood, Five Points, or Boylan Heights. Those areas were all "bad" but are not now because people put in the sweat equity to make their neighborhoods better. Sitting on a front porch complaining about things accomplishes nothing.

The most moblie groups in the area are the drug dealers (who don't live in the neighborhood but run their business from the street and a few houses scattered around the neighborhood) and the church congregations. The latter mobilize in, do their thing on Sunday (and sometimes Wednesdays), and mobilize out. They have not shown they care about the community past their front doors.

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I've been through Southeast here and there, but I'm looking at a property on the 900 block of Hargett not as investment but as a residence. I know the neighborhood isn't pretty, but is there any real "danger" to the area? Worth putting some money into an historic home?

This board is not a real estate forum, but I know the house you are looking at. A neighbor looked at it and said the back yard has been covered in concrete, as it used to be run as a beauty salon. It is also close to the DMV's offices at the corner of New Bern and Tarboro, which creates a fair amout of traffic. The ATM machine at the State Employees' Credit Union on New Bern and State Street used to be a magnet for prostitutes where johns would withdraw money there and then pick up a "date". I don't know if that activity is still going on there though.

It is a large house, but as a collection of additons. I don't know the condition of the wiring, plumbing, etc. The amount of monye to put into it will depend on how nice you want it. But 100 year old homes in any condition are rare, so if that is something you want, that has to be taken into consideration.

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This board is not a real estate forum, but I know the house you are looking at. A neighbor looked at it and said the back yard has been covered in concrete, as it used to be run as a beauty salon. It is also close to the DMV's offices at the corner of New Bern and Tarboro, which creates a fair amout of traffic. The ATM machine at the State Employees' Credit Union on New Bern and State Street used to be a magnet for prostitutes where johns would withdraw money there and then pick up a "date". I don't know if that activity is still going on there though.

It is a large house, but as a collection of additons. I don't know the condition of the wiring, plumbing, etc. The amount of monye to put into it will depend on how nice you want it. But 100 year old homes in any condition are rare, so if that is something you want, that has to be taken into consideration.

Thank you for the information. I'm as much interested in the condition of the property as in the condition of neighborhood. It's easy for me to go into the house and assess the physical condition, etc., but it's trickier to assess the "vibe" of the block. I went by and tried to talk to a few neighbors but was unsuccessful. I too noticed the traffic by the DMV, but that was about it... it was like a ghost town. Is it always that way? Are people investing in the area or would I be the only homeowner/resident on the block?

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Thank you for the information. I'm as much interested in the condition of the property as in the condition of neighborhood. It's easy for me to go into the house and assess the physical condition, etc., but it's trickier to assess the "vibe" of the block. I went by and tried to talk to a few neighbors but was unsuccessful. I too noticed the traffic by the DMV, but that was about it... it was like a ghost town. Is it always that way? Are people investing in the area or would I be the only homeowner/resident on the block?

If I could send this via private message, I would...

There are owner occupants on Hargett, but the "edge" is approx. the Haywood intersection (start of the 700 block). There are a handfull of owner occupied houses on nearby Cotton Place around the corner, and a few scattered along Hargett between Haywood and State street.

The apartments on Hargett and Camden streets are owned by the Raleigh Housing Authority, which puts a "hole" in owner- occupied property. A house is undergoing rennovations on the 700 block of Hargett with the probable intent of selling it to someone who will live there. And there are a few people who have bought properties on/near Hargett east of Tarboro. The area is starting to turn around, but the 900 block is the "fringe" of owner-occupied property at the moment.

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If I could send this via private message, I would...

There are owner occupants on Hargett, but the "edge" is approx. the Haywood intersection (start of the 700 block). There are a handfull of owner occupied houses on nearby Cotton Place around the corner, and a few scattered along Hargett between Haywood and State street.

The apartments on Hargett and Camden streets are owned by the Raleigh Housing Authority, which puts a "hole" in owner- occupied property. A house is undergoing rennovations on the 700 block of Hargett with the probable intent of selling it to someone who will live there. And there are a few people who have bought properties on/near Hargett east of Tarboro. The area is starting to turn around, but the 900 block is the "fringe" of owner-occupied property at the moment.

There are several owner-occupied homes in the 800 block of Davie. The difference is evident even to the casual observer.

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There are several owner-occupied homes in the 800 block of Davie. The difference is evident even to the casual observer.

Yes! I know the south side of Davie in the 600 block (no driveways, common alley parallel to Davie) has a few owner-occupied houses, and then more as you get closer to Hunter Elementary. I helped with a neighborhood cleanup over there last year and it feels like a neighborhood over there moreso than other areas.

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The county's real estate/tax website does not list a new owner for 909 east hargett yet, but it is not listed on realtor.com either.

In other updates, the city is tearing down the three houses it owns on the west end of the 700 block of East Martin.

The former barber shop is already torn down, and it looks like they were deconstructing the other two houses between Haywood and the collection of stores.

The "empty" block owned by Gordon Smith still has one house standing on it, but nothing has been proposed there yet .

I doubt that a piece of land that large that close to downtown will sit dormant for long.

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According to the listing agent, 909 is "temporarily off the market" b/c the owner has reached an oral agreement w/ a prospective buyer.

The county's real estate/tax website does not list a new owner for 909 east hargett yet, but it is not listed on realtor.com either.

In other updates, the city is tearing down the three houses it owns on the west end of the 700 block of East Martin.

The former barber shop is already torn down, and it looks like they were deconstructing the other two houses between Haywood and the collection of stores.

The "empty" block owned by Gordon Smith still has one house standing on it, but nothing has been proposed there yet .

I doubt that a piece of land that large that close to downtown will sit dormant for long.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The Planning Commission approved the SE Raleigh Small Area Plan/East Vision Process yesterday. I assume this now goes to council to be approved.

The area is bounded by East St, New Bern Ave, Tarboro/Rock Quarry, and MLK Blvd. The study area includes Hope VI Chavis Heights redevelopment, a city cemetary, Hunter & Ligon schools, NCDMV, and Chavis Park & Greenway. The west end near downtown is recommended as a transitional zone that will include some lowrise (2-4 story) mixed-use buidings with retail. Also, the big vacant parcel on the southeast corner of New Bern Ave and Swain St (also known as the Raleigh Rescue Mission Site) is recommended for mixed-use (retail, office, and medium density residential). I always drove by that site wondering why it has been vacant for so long. It's got to be ~8-10 acres of land. Maybe one day (if we built a streetcar along New Bern?) it will be redeveloped.

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I really don't like the small area plan text, because it takes the history of the South Park area and extrapolates it for the whole area, which is misleading to say the least. Lines like "some African-Americans left the neighborhood for more prosperous parts of the region" is one of these half truths. The *prosperous* African-Americans left, replaced by lower class African-Americans. Most of the houses not empty/boarded up are occupied by either a) older residents who are not as active in the community, b) gangs who benefit from the destruction of the area, c) renters with no vested interest in the community, or d) people too afraid to walk down the street day or night.

Residents have complained that they haven't had the same investment downtown has seen, yet resist the development pressures that come with the investment. Then turn around and want something for nothing to "improve" the area.

The small area plan was "approved" in November but was held up for months by "community leaders" who held it hostage in the name of "getting it right". The small area plan map is a jigsaw puzzle that reduces the "transition area" from downtown to four skinny blocks. There are already rumbles against development on the Wood Pile block even though it is closer to downtown than the transition area.

The "Raleigh Rescue Mission" area is owned by the Raleigh Rescue Mission. The only land on the even side of New Bern in the 600 or 700 block was owned by Jyles Coggins and donated the 7.61 acres to the church as a tax write off on Feb 1 2005. The land has recently been used by the city as a staging area/dumping ground for the gas pipe replacement project going on downtown. The church wanted to build a "campus" of a worship hall, shelters, clinics, etc., but was fought by Oakwood in the mid-late 90s. They have sat on the land for five years and show no plans of doing anything with it in the short term. There is a plot of land used to grow crops, but it hasn't done well with the drought this year.

The sidwalk has been poured from Hargett to Martin along Haywood, and three houses on the 700 block of Martin were leveled a week or so ago.

We drove by the shopping center last night and noticed a bail bonds place has 2 or 3 of the store fronts. The loitering traffic is still consistent over there, as well as people sitting on the front stoops/porches of the adjacent boarded up houses.

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There was an article in today's N&O about vacant houses - sort of an overview of the problem, and what the city's policies are for dealing with abandoned properties.

Evidently, from the date the city issues a notice of a code violation on an abandoned house, they must wait 1 year before taking further action (demolition, condemnation, I think). Durham apparently recently got permission from the legislature to shorten that time period to 6 months.

The article doesn't really get into demolition, but as Gary from Endangered Durham points out time and time again, while vacant houses aren't attractive, keeping the house there is usually a better alternative to demolition. Unfortunately, demolition is often the only option that the city has in their toolbox to punish slumlords and absentee property owners who let these houses decay.

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The 30 days plus one year to act is enough, if not too much, for people to deal with housing code violations.

Extensions benefit the property owner at the expense of the surrounding neighborhood. While the owner has months to get financing, the neighborhood gets an eyesore that attracts criminals and lowers the feel of the area. If "the old boards only got a year older" was the exception and not the rule, I'd be ok with it. But that isn't the case. The boards get pried off and the insides are destroyed by various criminals, making restoration cost prohibative.

But this quote scares me the most:

Boarded-up housing should fall into three categories and get three kinds of treatment, said Octavia Rainey, head of the North Central CAC. If it's burned or scattered among heirs, the city should give both leeway and financial help.

Why should the city provide fire insurance for free? If the city started handing out money for burn damage, Raleigh's fire departments wouldn't be able to handle the ensuing fires. The potential for an uncontrolled fire is a reason why houses shouldn't be allowed to be boarded up for a year. During the colder months, a homeless person trying to stay warm while squatting could set the property ablaze and put neighboring structures at risk as well. To reward heirs for letting their property to fall into ruin at the expense of other afffordable housing is crazy.

The house pictured in the article (610 East Martin) is an example of a loophole that has since been closed in the city's inspection department. Not mentioned in the article, when a property changed hands, the "one year fix it" clock would reset. The property owner sold it to his brother for $10,000 in December. So instead of the "fix it year" ending in May, the burned out husk still (barely) stands.

As far as the "no zoning zone", I don't know where to begin. Southeast Raleigh residents are not lab rats, though it appears the Republican party wants to treat them as such. Leadership built a maze with no cheese and no way out years ago. Without zoning, Cargil-like polluters could set up shop and make a bad place to live even worse.

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I was wondering if there has ever been any attempt by residents to bring civil action against the individual property owners of dilapidated/burned-out/abandoned properties based on nuisance. It would be fairly easy to prove and it seems it would be a more direct solution than waiting for the City to get around to enforcing code violations. It might also provide the incentive that is apparently lacking to either rehab the properties or sell them to someone who will.

The 30 days plus one year to act is enough, if not too much, for people to deal with housing code violations.

Extensions benefit the property owner at the expense of the surrounding neighborhood. While the owner has months to get financing, the neighborhood gets an eyesore that attracts criminals and lowers the feel of the area. If "the old boards only got a year older" was the exception and not the rule, I'd be ok with it. But that isn't the case. The boards get pried off and the insides are destroyed by various criminals, making restoration cost prohibative.

But this quote scares me the most:

Why should the city provide fire insurance for free? If the city started handing out money for burn damage, Raleigh's fire departments wouldn't be able to handle the ensuing fires. The potential for an uncontrolled fire is a reason why houses shouldn't be allowed to be boarded up for a year. During the colder months, a homeless person trying to stay warm while squatting could set the property ablaze and put neighboring structures at risk as well. To reward heirs for letting their property to fall into ruin at the expense of other afffordable housing is crazy.

The house pictured in the article (610 East Martin) is an example of a loophole that has since been closed in the city's inspection department. Not mentioned in the article, when a property changed hands, the "one year fix it" clock would reset. The property owner sold it to his brother for $10,000 in December. So instead of the "fix it year" ending in May, the burned out husk still (barely) stands.

As far as the "no zoning zone", I don't know where to begin. Southeast Raleigh residents are not lab rats, though it appears the Republican party wants to treat them as such. Leadership built a maze with no cheese and no way out years ago. Without zoning, Cargil-like polluters could set up shop and make a bad place to live even worse.

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A lot of people in the area don't know they have the right to file a civil suit. Or they fear retaliation from their landlord if anyone tries to improve the area. There are also gentrification issues/concerns as well. So far, the potential threat of gentrification seems to be worse than the real threat of substandard structures. I live a block away from 610 Martin, so it is hard to demonstrate how it is a direct nusiance to me personally.

There is not enough organization, motiviation, etc. to do much of anything.

Going through the city lends the credibility of professional inspectors who examine property as their job vs. somone on the street who just thinks it looks bad to have scattered trash, high weeds, furniture in the backyard, and structural holes from a fire over a year ago.

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  • 1 month later...

The housing that replaced Chavis Heights have signs announcing units are available for rent. I don't know if they are move-in ready, or if they want to start the paperwork first.

In the Independent's story on Placemaking in Raleigh, there was a sidebar about the New Bern corridor. Once again, only one voice gets to speak for the entire east side -- Octavia Rainey. She may say things like "It's important that everyone have a voice and the city reach out to get them to the table." But through her actions, the East Vison process was hijacked by her and other selected "community leaders", removing a group of residents willing to meet once a month and replaced them with whoever responded to a mailing that went to 100 random residents.

Quotes like "My concern is when I hear people say we need to be inclusive, but what they mean is 100 units of housing, and only 25 are affordable, while everything else is upscale" are irresponsible. Getting 25 affordable, safe units of housing for "free" is a bad thing due to the other upscale units attached? This philosophy is why nothing gets done in Southeast Raleigh. Making it so that only low income residents can live in an area is not "inclusive" either.

The New Bern Avenue corridor swept away what was left of the African-American community years ago. When people think that the time of segregation was *better* than how things are now, the area has serious issues. The corridor now consists of four fast food outlets -- Bojangles, Cookout, KFC, and Church's Chicken -- gas stations and mini-marts. There are a few stores between Poole and Raleigh Blvd., but they are far from bustling. For banking, there is a former First Citizens branch that keeps its ATM active. The one grocery store in the corridor from the Capitol to the beltline, Winn-Dixie, closed *before* the chain ceased operations in North Carolina. Years have passed and nothing has moved in to take the abandoned space. The closest grocery stores are the Food Lion on Raleigh Blvd. and the Kroger on MLK. There is only one other grocery store -- way down Poole Road -- inside the beltline and east of the Capitol.

Her vision for the corridor: apartments, townhouses and "cute little bungalows for $60,000 to $70,000 that are perfect for the people making $8 an hour-they need a place to live too."

Yes, but they don't need to live in low density housing on the corridor itself. There will never be enough traffic to support a streetcar (or businesses) if low density housing is the only thing available. The story glosses over the fact that the overwhelming majority of the traffic on the 15 bus are patients transferring at Moore Square and going to Wake Med, not ridership along the route. Other traffic comes from Enloe magnet students. It is ironic that the picture shows the benches at one of several stops on the 15 route, a luxury in other parts of town.

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