What can be done to the abandonment on the south side (Chicago: big house, neighborhood)

[iluvchi]

I just want everybody know this is not a bash on the south side many of people live in hyde park and bridgeport but areas like grand boulevard, woodlawn, englewood,and washington park are seeing many vacant houses and some are pretty nice but no one lives there. What can be done?

[emathias]

Originally Posted by iluvchi

I just want everybody know this is not a bash on the south side many of people live in hyde park and bridgeport but areas like grand boulevard, woodlawn, englewood,and washington park are seeing many vacant houses and some are pretty nice but no one lives there. What can be done?

I'd say homesteading, but if that worked Oklahoma would be the most populous state in the union ... :-)

[Aleking]

bulldoze it, give it back to nature

[SJaye]

Originally Posted by Aleking

bulldoze it, give it back to nature

Well, why should land that is 6 miles from our downtown central business district be bulldozed and given back to nature when we have tons of people commuting upwards of 25 miles each way for work? Seems like a fairly inefficient use of land.

[Chi-town Native]

Originally Posted by SJaye

Well, why should land that is 6 miles from our downtown central business district be bulldozed and given back to nature when we have tons of people commuting upwards of 25 miles each way for work? Seems like a fairly inefficient use of land.

Ask the people making that commute why they don't live closer... we all know where this conversation is going.

There's an old document which describes how the Britons judged the health of their society by whether a woman could walk alone, unmolested, from one end of England to the other.

I don't think almost a single Chicago neighborhood meets that (clearly overly-optimistic) goal, but more importantly, that goal is the bar that communities need to judge themselves by.

Because if my wife can't walk down the damn street in your neighborhood, the chances I'm losing a lot of sleep worrying about your community's problems are minimal at best.

[green-builder]

Just thinking as I go along here...
There are over 4,000 abandoned homes in Englewood. There are lot's of good people looking for places to live. If all 4,000 homes were remodeled and made energy efficient, they could be sold to investors or qualified buyers. The impact on the neighborhood? Maybe there's enough positive economic impact to turn it around. Dozing the homes adds to the blight. Businesses don't work in the area because the people have little to no money. The "dozing" thing has been done many times and is only successful for the whites who then build big houses there. The fallout is only really felt by the then homeless or close to it. I've seen it happen many times in my life. It's called racism.
BTW, I'm a 67 YO white guy.

[Irishtom29]

Originally Posted by green-builder

If all 4,000 homes were remodeled and made energy efficient, they could be sold to investors or qualified buyers.

Those are a couple of real big "ifs" you have there.

[Huckleberry3911948]

strange i am from there--a chicago native. but so many posters are in denial about the situation.
when its a problem for the people there, then something will change for the better. until then those who can will simply move away.

[Chi-town Native]

Originally Posted by green-builder

Dozing the homes adds to the blight. Businesses don't work in the area because the people have little to no money. The "dozing" thing has been done many times and is only successful for the whites who then build big houses there. The fallout is only really felt by the then homeless or close to it. I've seen it happen many times in my life. It's called racism.
BTW, I'm a 67 YO white guy.

If dilapidated buildings get cleared, that's not necessarily racism - in Detroit the residents were burning down such buildings left and right as they often housed criminals/gangs and weapons and drugs.

Maybe urban agriculture will make a come back in these areas, that's not a bad thing - it's a labor-intensive industry, so jobs would come out of it.

[ERS-One]

Originally Posted by Huckleberry3911948

strange i am from there--a chicago native. but so many posters are in denial about the situation.
when its a problem for the people there, then something will change for the better. until then those who can will simply move away.

Who's in denial about what?