Demolitions near the War Streets (Pittsburgh: sale, home, buyer)

[PreservationPioneer]

Okay, I called and found out the deal.

These properties have delinquent owners and are abandoned / owners cannot be found or contacted.

The city's bureau of building inspection condemned them, which is why they are slated to be demolished.

So the question now is, if the owner cannot be contacted and the city does not own these properties, how can they be preserved? How do we preserve properties in the hands of delinquent (or dead) owners?

[Caladium]

Originally Posted by ferrarisnowday

Be sure to update is if you do call.

Yes!!!!

[ferraris]

Originally Posted by alleghenyangel

Okay, I called and found out the deal.

These properties have delinquent owners and are abandoned / owners cannot be found or contacted.

The city's bureau of building inspection condemned them, which is why they are slated to be demolished.

So the question now is, if the owner cannot be contacted and the city does not own these properties, how can they be preserved? How do we preserve properties in the hands of delinquent (or dead) owners?

My question is how can the city demolish property that it does not own?

Isn't that effectively the same as confiscating it? At least then they could try to sell it.

[MeinGlanzendMotorrad]

If a building is in such a bad shape that it's uninhabitable, who cares if it just happens to be of a certain age? Tear it down.

[ferraris]

Originally Posted by MeinGlanzendMotorrad

If a building is in such a bad shape that it's uninhabitable, who cares if it just happens to be of a certain age? Tear it down.

Some of those buildings looked like at least the shell could be saved.

[MeinGlanzendMotorrad]

But at what cost? And to who?

There's not exactly a glut of buyers/investors swooping in to save every ramshackle hut.

[PreservationPioneer]

Originally Posted by MeinGlanzendMotorrad

If a building is in such a bad shape that it's uninhabitable, who cares if it just happens to be of a certain age? Tear it down.

It seems like you miss the point of historic home rehabs. Which is going strong in the North Side as we speak, and on Boyle Street right across from these houses.

Most historic homes will need rehab at some point. But if nobody ever fixed up houses, we would all be living in vinyl village in Cranberry.

[MeinGlanzendMotorrad]

Sometimes old things need to simply be replaced. I know you're on this high-horse crusade, but maybe sometime you need to realize that not everything is worth saving.

[PreservationPioneer]

Originally Posted by MeinGlanzendMotorrad

Sometimes old things need to simply be replaced. I know you're on this high-horse crusade, but maybe sometime you need to realize that not everything is worth saving.

It is this mentality that I will always go against.

This is the "newer is better," everything is disposable mentality that I just can't stand. It's why everything we buy today is junk, made out of plastic, including our houses. I called my cell phone carrier the other day to have my phone repaired. They said, "It can't be repaired, but it can be replaced." It seems this dialog echoes throughout every part of our society. Everything needs to be replaced. Repaired? Nobody builds things that can be repaired anymore. And nobody knows how to repair the old things that were designed to last. Oh well. I know I'm not going to win. Welcome to the disposable age. Plastic windows, plastic cars, paper plates.

[MeinGlanzendMotorrad]

Feel free to keep bouncing off that steel wall, I guess.