I thought David's original post was fairly limited, in that it involved a moratorium
on demolition while we review how to recycle/reuse items in a building scheduled for
demo (or revisit whether to demo at all). Not a bad idea, though a review of policy
will often take a long long time, and buildings that should come down ought to come
down (though I guess that's the emergency exception).
Case study for discussion: The MCDA just purchased a sound but struggling duplex on
the 2400 block of Bloomington in Phillips for $115,000, with the intent to demolish to
make room for the Village in Phillips development. A moratorium would obviously
affect that development. Is that an intended effect of the moratorium--to delay some
developments pending such a review? I ask genuinely, not knowing more about the
Village in Phillips development.
Other issues: a few folks have suggested that the moratorium would affect currently
occupied "problem" properties in that it would not demolish those quickly enough. I
have trouble with that jump--that is, the oft-stated solution to a problem property
(that is occupied) is to demo it. There are other alternatives, plus a moratorium now
would not affect such occupied properties. In addition, we have to engage lenders in
some of these discussions. Lenders have absolutely no interest in a building's
occupancy once they foreclose--they would rather the building sit empty, shut off the
water, etc., until it is sold. We need incentives for lenders to maintain the
building as an occupied building after foreclosure and to work to get it sold quickly
rather then letting it sit empty and possibly decline further.
Gregory Luce
North Phillips (but writing from outside of Boston, where the average one bedroom is
about $1200)
David Piehl wrote:
> In light of this history, I challenge the new council (re-elected and
newly
> elected) as well as mayor-elect Rybak to call for an immediate
city-wide
> moratorium on non-emergency demolition of housing until recycling
policy
> options
> can be reviewed. A moratorium on demolition would make a strong
statement
> about
> how serious the new council is about the affordable housing problems.
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