<<Home Niagara Falls Reporter Archive>>

Councilmen Say Action Plan Needed on Demolitions to Revive City

By Robert Anderson, Jr.
and Sam Fruscione
Members of the Niagara Falls City Council

It has been estimated that Detroit has 33,500 vacant houses.

We don’t know how many empty houses we have in Niagara Falls. And while we’re sure the Niagara Falls number pales in comparison to Detroit, it’s a lot more vacant houses than we want or need. Hopefully, we’ll soon have accurate numbers along with good solutions for those empty houses here in town. To that end this article contains several recommendations to address the problem.  

There’s been a good deal of discussion lately about what we should do to grow the city’s population and spur development.  One suggestion receiving media attention is the notion that we pay college grads to live here as renters. We have to disagree with such “incentive plans” by insisting that we work to make our city more livable and therefore more residentially and commercially viable.  We should build a city where people pay to live here not get paid to live here. Pay to live here through home ownership and business investment.

At a May City Council meeting, we raised questions as to what the city’s plans are for doing building demolitions in the near future, and the answers we received were disappointing. While dollars are admittedly tight, Niagara Falls seems to have no current workable plan, and certainly no long-range plan, to take down the dilapidated structures in the city. As the old saying goes, failing to plan is planning to fail. For years, we’ve lurched from one demolition season to another, never getting ahead of the demolition curve. We’re losing the city: to blight, to a shrinking tax base, to economic decline, to crime, and to population loss.

Demolitions aren’t the one-shot cure for a sick local economy. Demolitions are the treatment of one symptom resulting from a sick local economy. Even with vacant buildings removed, we still have to deal with unemployment, population loss, and crime.  But with our vacant and abandoned buildings pulled from the playing field we eliminate dangerous, unattractive nuisances that devalue our neighborhoods, deter investment and promote the further decay of our city.

In last year’s council race it was recommended (by Councilman Anderson) that we conduct a Demolition Summit in order to develop a detailed plan to tackle the demolition crisis. It’s time to hold that summit in order to address the challenge of securing demolition funding while laying out immediate and long-range plans to remove our dilapidated buildings.
That summit should generate a Demolition Initiative containing four elements:

History/photo record of structures requiring demolition.

City map with structures requiring demolition color coded by priority.

Property demolition schedule with funding source and projected demolition date identified.
Publicly accessible and transparent record of all the above.

 Let’s hold this summit yesterday because we’re losing time, we’re losing home owners, we’re losing business and we’re ultimately losing money.

Having said that, it’s not enough to simply “knock things down” because Urban Renewal taught us that just because you raze old buildings it doesn’t mean you’ll raise new buildings.
So, we’re recommending the implementation of a Homestead Program that will target those city buildings worth saving by linking potential new homeowners with viable houses. Houses that – with a conscientious owner and sweat equity – can be put back on the tax rolls to the benefit of the city and the homeowner. A Homestead Program is a win-win proposition long overdue in Niagara Falls.

Okay, so we’ve called for a Demolition Summit, we’ve presented the Demolition Initiative and we’ve recommended the immediate creation of a Homestead Program.

There’s no need for consultants, pay raises, stipends or written reports that won’t be read. We need to roll up our sleeves and get down to the work of removing the blight and bringing Niagara Falls back from the brink.

It has been estimated that Detroit has 33,500 vacant houses.

We don’t know how many empty houses we have in Niagara Falls. And while we’re sure the Niagara Falls number pales in comparison to Detroit, it’s a lot more vacant houses than we want or need. Hopefully, we’ll soon have accurate numbers along with good solutions for those empty houses here in town. To that end this article contains several recommendations to address the problem.  

There’s been a good deal of discussion lately about what we should do to grow the city’s population and spur development.  One suggestion receiving media attention is the notion that we pay college grads to live here as renters. We have to disagree with such “incentive plans” by insisting that we work to make our city more livable and therefore more residentially and commercially viable.  We should build a city where people pay to live here not get paid to live here. Pay to live here through home ownership and business investment.

At a May City Council meeting, we raised questions as to what the city’s plans are for doing building demolitions in the near future, and the answers we received were disappointing. While dollars are admittedly tight, Niagara Falls seems to have no current workable plan, and certainly no long-range plan, to take down the dilapidated structures in the city. As the old saying goes, failing to plan is planning to fail. For years, we’ve lurched from one demolition season to another, never getting ahead of the demolition curve. We’re losing the city: to blight, to a shrinking tax base, to economic decline, to crime, and to population loss.

Demolitions aren’t the one-shot cure for a sick local economy. Demolitions are the treatment of one symptom resulting from a sick local economy. Even with vacant buildings removed, we still have to deal with unemployment, population loss, and crime.  But with our vacant and abandoned buildings pulled from the playing field we eliminate dangerous, unattractive nuisances that devalue our neighborhoods, deter investment and promote the further decay of our city.

In last year’s council race it was recommended (by Councilman Anderson) that we conduct a Demolition Summit in order to develop a detailed plan to tackle the demolition crisis. It’s time to hold that summit in order to address the challenge of securing demolition funding while laying out immediate and long-range plans to remove our dilapidated buildings.

That summit should generate a Demolition Initiative containing four elements:

History/photo record of structures requiring demolition.

City map with structures requiring demolition color coded by priority.

Property demolition schedule with funding source and projected demolition date identified.

Publicly accessible and transparent record of all the above.

 Let’s hold this summit yesterday because we’re losing time, we’re losing home owners, we’re losing business and we’re ultimately losing money.

Having said that, it’s not enough to simply “knock things down” because Urban Renewal taught us that just because you raze old buildings it doesn’t mean you’ll raise new buildings.

So, we’re recommending the implementation of a Homestead Program that will target those city buildings worth saving by linking potential new homeowners with viable houses. Houses that – with a conscientious owner and sweat equity – can be put back on the tax rolls to the benefit of the city and the homeowner. A Homestead Program is a win-win proposition long overdue in Niagara Falls.

Okay, so we’ve called for a Demolition Summit, we’ve presented the Demolition Initiative and we’ve recommended the immediate creation of a Homestead Program.

There’s no need for consultants, pay raises, stipends or written reports that won’t be read. We need to roll up our sleeves and get down to the work of removing the blight and bringing Niagara Falls back from the brink. 

 

 

Niagara Falls Reporter www.niagarafallsreporter.com Aug 21 , 2012