[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by Northern Light

I suspect the City is over reliant on demolitions.

Its very rare for an area to shrink its way to success.

Even where it does work, its rarely a strategy than benefits most existing residents.

The choice to demolish is a reasonable one where a property is in an irredeemable state.

Its also reasonable where its removal is part of a consolidated, thoughtful plan of community improvement such as delivering a new park or school.

But where its the random dropping of houses that are serviceable as is or with a comparatively minor reno, on the basis that the home was un-salable because of neighbourhood issues, I'm rather more dubious about such a decision.

It would seem unlikely that a demolition will either improve the area or make the lot any more salable in the latter case.

In cases where this is pursued, I'd like to see some thought put into it, even if it involves some measure of land banking.

For instance if you bank a series of contiguous lots, rather than urban prairie, which can often simply look 'abandoned', better to restore 4 acres to forest, plant 500 small trees and shrubs in the center of the site and invest in a few large ones, including evergreens for the edges. Surround the lot with post-and-paddle fence (its cheap, goes up fast, but looks good,weathers well and gives the feeling of purpose and being maintained.

Stick a couple of signs around the edge 're-naturalization in progress' or some such thing with the City logo on them; and maybe trim-out just a small area where you can site a couple of picnic tables and a park bbq. Make it a feature of the area, something people would want to live across from, rather than something they fear or fret over.

Where single-lots are demo'd every effort needs to be made to re-fill the urban fabric even if it means giving the site away. Those are the holes in a community that are the most damaging. They'll never be a park, or a school or a store.....but they will be unmowed, uncared for, and potential safety hazzard.

Yeah but someone will need to check the forest for bodies every week.