Thursday, May 22, 2008

Tear It Down

When I bought my house in 1996, the neighborhood was called "transitional" by those with hope. Home to crack dealers, vagrants, and thugs, it was not even close to perfect. But it was in my budget and my 1919-built house felt like home the first time I walked in the door.

In fact, the houses of the neighborhood were the reminder of what used to be and what could be again. Not so grand as those to the North and to the East one block away, these houses still had good lines albeit obscured by peeling paint and sagging gutters. They had character.

Slowly, house by house, one new neighbor at a time, improvements began to outweigh neglect. In fact, my street is now charming. Cars slow down to eye the real estate for sale -- the same cars that would have driven quickly down the street with doors locked a decade ago. It feels good when a house sells for three times what I paid.

This week it feels even better. The one remaining eyesore is gone. No more boarded up, rodent infested, rotting building in our midst. The city finally followed through and tore the wreck down. My neighbors and I watched the building come apart without a fight, not quite believing it was really happening.

I kind of hope they leave the steps.


Tell all your single friends, my neighborhood is now officially awesome.


XO, JamieSmitten

5 comments:

Rebecca Hickman said...

I'm so happy for you. It's a nice feeling to see urban renewal work.

Anonymous said...

Holy junk; they finally tore down the giant box (with bonus tree!).

Wow. When you bought Casa Jamie, I was still in college.

March2theSea said...

whoa..that looks like it is going to be NNNNNNICE!

Scott from Oregon said...

My sister bought the last eyesore on her block and then called her brother (me) to tear it partially down and rebuild it.

She was considered (as was her brother) a hero in the neighborhood for quite sometime...

JamieSmitten said...

Rebecca: The street is so much sunnier already!

Manda: Yup! I bought my first house just out of high school.....

March2C: I never thought a dirt field could be so attractive. Sadly, they took the stairs to nowhere.

Scotty: I thought you were more of a "tear it UP" guy. But feel free to come knock over crap in my neighborhood too.