Ten Historic Springfield Demolitions

[iloveionia]

Mothballed:
423 Walnut Court
1320 Ionia
229 E. 2nd
1540 Clark
1946 Redell (Dancy Terrace)

I'm on my phone. Later can upload before and after pics of the above.

Billy's house though ugly on the exterior has some incredibly charming late 1800 details.
Many are against the house b/c they dislike Billy.
Be that as it may, he has saved houses.
One may not like the path he took many years back, but houses stand today because if him.

[sheclown]

Bedofe the dozer leaves lets hope the the burned green house at 3rd near Hubbard is taken down. I was told this supposed to be mothballed right? By the way what houses have been mothballed in springfield or other places because I cant find any that look like they are supposed to once it is finished.

Two separate engineering firms have surveyed the property and while both agree that there are some structural issues, neither stated that it was an "emergency" situation.  So, unless the city would like to buy Billy a new house, perhaps they ought to leave his alone.

[Debbie Thompson]

John P, what did you do?  Take a  mean pill this morning when you got up?

We've lost way too many houses already.  Some due to fire, some due to poor policies of the past.  We simply can't afford to lose any more.  Yes, I wish Billy would do something with that house.  We all do. 

But taking down ugly houses just because they are ugly is not only a very poor idea, it is against the law. 

We have so many ugly house before and after pictures.  A house my son and I purchased was painted battleship gray with dark gray trim, needed a roof, porch was failing, had four (four!!) sheds in the back yard (one with its roof falling in) a big corrugated tin awning on the back, and a huge satellite dish in the yard.  It was pretty ugly, but I saw the vision of what it could be. 

It's now a beautifully restored home, with 8 foot pocket doors in the living room, and all the original 1906 detail intact. Our mailman told me he had not seen it look so good in 40 years.  It is the only house like it that I have seen in Springfield.  What a shame if MCCD had come along and demolished it before we could restore it, just because it was ugly.  The city now receives thousand of dollars of taxes from us for it every year.

Maybe you should give our historic homes a break.  We need to save every remaining home until someone comes to make it beautiful again.

[John P]

Billy's house though ugly on the exterior has some incredibly charming late 1800 details.
Many are against the house b/c they dislike Billy.
Be that as it may, he has saved houses.
One may not like the path he took many years back, but houses stand today because if him.

Yes and hitler built good roads too. For some reaosn that gets overlooked in his bio. I am glad you defend slum lord drug dealers who helped destroy the neighbohood. Someone has to huh.

[Debbie Thompson]

Just like someone has to defend the self righteous jerks who didnt bother with the neighborhood until they smelt money.

+1.  You said it better, Stephen. 

[BigNugget]

I am officially back into lurker mode unless someone uses the wrong terminology for construction equipment (e.g. bulldozer vs excavator) the next time a shitbox is knocked down.

John P - I really like your attitude.

Billy's house though ugly on the exterior has some incredibly charming late 1800 details.
Many are against the house b/c they dislike Billy.
Be that as it may, he has saved houses.
One may not like the path he took many years back, but houses stand today because if him.

Yes and hitler built good roads too. For some reaosn that gets overlooked in his bio. I am glad you defend slum lord drug dealers who helped destroy the neighbohood. Someone has to huh.

[BigNugget]

John it's an excavator.

Bedofe the dozer leaves lets hope the the burned green house at 3rd near Hubbard is taken down. I was told this supposed to be mothballed right? By the way what houses have been mothballed in springfield or other places because I cant find any that look like they are supposed to once it is finished.

[Debbie Thompson]

Big Nugget and John P really should live in Mandarin where all the houses are new and all look alike.  Oh, wait!  I think neighborhoods where all the houses look alike are pretty ugly!  And I can call an excavator a bulldozer if I want to.   Who cares?  I couldn't care less what you call it if you are using it to destroy MY NEIGHBORHOOD. 

[John P]

Yes its good to tell people that contribute to revitalization more than most to leave because they dont agree with you.. Thats the inclusive and diverse spirit! I think Debbie Thompson should go live in Lackawanna or Durkeeville where people are too poor to fix up homes and make them presentable. Have fun!

[Bill Hoff]

I do think the emergency demolition standards need to be reviewed.

And it's an important issue in the community, deserving of conversation and debate.

I would like to keep this in perspective, as someone mentioned to me how they may consider moving to SPR, but they are worried about " the neighborhood is being demolished". I explained that the emphasis put on this issue may present an image that is not reflective of the current state.

On the same block as the recent demo at 2nd & Liberty, there's two renovations taking place and two new homes being built.

Yes, there is an occasional demo, which seem to be questionable of late. However, these are thankfully few & far between, with many, many, many more positive projects in comparison.

Hopefully both law and policy can be reviewed so that these conversations won't be necessary in the future.

Have a great Fourth.

And fyi: www.sparcouncil.org/throwback

[sheclown]

I do think the emergency demolition standards need to be reviewed.

And it's an important issue in the community, deserving of conversation and debate.

I would like to keep this in perspective, as someone mentioned to me how they may consider moving to SPR, but they are worried about " the neighborhood is being demolished". I explained that the emphasis put on this issue may present an image that is not reflective of the current state.

On the same block as the recent demo at 2nd & Liberty, there's two renovations taking place and two new homes being built.

Yes, there is an occasional demo, which seem to be questionable of late. However, these are thankfully few & far between, with many, many, many more positive projects in comparison.

Hopefully both law and policy can be reviewed so that these conversations won't be necessary in the future.

Have a great Fourth.

And fyi: www.sparcouncil.org/throwback

Bill, we've lost 1/3 of the housing stock. 

[iloveionia]

I do think the emergency demolition standards need to be reviewed.

And it's an important issue in the community, deserving of conversation and debate.

I would like to keep this in perspective, as someone mentioned to me how they may consider moving to SPR, but they are worried about " the neighborhood is being demolished". I explained that the emphasis put on this issue may present an image that is not reflective of the current state.

On the same block as the recent demo at 2nd & Liberty, there's two renovations taking place and two new homes being built.

Yes, there is an occasional demo, which seem to be questionable of late. However, these are thankfully few & far between, with many, many, many more positive projects in comparison.

Hopefully both law and policy can be reviewed so that these conversations won't be necessary in the future.

Have a great Fourth.

And fyi: www.sparcouncil.org/throwback

SPAR: Springfield PRESERVATION and Revitalization. 
Preservation.
Preservation.
Preservation.

Keep this in perspective. 
Yes indeed.  Keep this in perspective.
We've lost entire blocks and upwards of 50% of the housing stock on some streets. 

Save the houses.

Find a way to help protect our historic homes and not brush it (demolitions) under the carpet, or shoo it back into the closet.

Deflect: "Cause (something) to change direction by interposing something; turn aside from a straight course."

Not a means of operation I support.   

[BigNugget]

Actually my first house in JAX was in Mandarin.  It's now a rental property. I miss the Mandarin Publix. We have nothing that compares in Springfield.  I also prefer the Mandarin crime rate but it's a small price to pay for living in Springfield.

Here is the thing; it's possible to both appreciate an urban neighborhood, cultural diversity, historic architecture, adaptive re-use of historic structures and also think those shacks at the end of E. 10th look like shit and wish that the residents of the house on E. 10th that seem to have 24/7 to sit on the porch would take some of that excess time to repair one of the many broken windows and pull some of the bed sheets hanging out of the window into the house.

But to someone with an extremest point of view I guess there can't be middle ground.  It's all or nothing.   

Big Nugget and John P really should live in Mandarin where all the houses are new and all look alike.  Oh, wait!  I think neighborhoods where all the houses look alike are pretty ugly!  And I can call an excavator a bulldozer if I want to.   Who cares?  I couldn't care less what you call it if you are using it to destroy MY NEIGHBORHOOD.

[JaxUnicorn]

I just want to know why it seems acceptable for the city to disobey its own laws?  Our ORDINANCES REQUIRE protection and the least intrusive means of abatement.  Demolition is NOT they way to abate in a historic district.

[Debbie Thompson]

Thank goodness local preservationists started raising cain about the demolitions, or I fear "the occasional demo" would instead be "regularly occurring demos" like used to happen.  Yes, there haven't been as many LATELY, thanks in large part to loud, noisy, wonderfully pushy people like Ionia, She Clown and Jax Unicorn. And thank goodness SPAR has stepped up to the plate and said it needs to stop. And thank goodness for our City Council finally starting to "get it" thanks in large part to m74reeves, who set up that wonderful petition for us to be able to contact them.

The thing is...there should be any.  Or at least VERY few, and it should take a LOT to get one demolished.  Not just MCCD doing a drive by and saying the house looks bad. 

The last two were egregious.   So while I agree we need to be careful about presenting the neighborhood as "in danger of being demolished" the fact is, until we get MCCD's policies changed, the neighborhood is "in danger of being demolished."