On Thursday, November 9, crews demolished blighted structure 600 in our ongoing Blight Fight. You can watch the full demolition of the blighted house at 689 Richmond Street here.

“We made a promise to actively remove blight from our neighborhoods, and in fewer than three years we have made tremendous progress,” said Mayor Lester Miller. “And we’re not done, yet. There are still more structures that need to be removed, and we are actively working to further strengthen our neighborhoods by building them back with new housing.”

While crews finished the clearing of the structure, students from Mount De Sales Academy were beautifying a house just down the street as part of Rebuilding Macon.

“This is a great thing for our students as they get to be in the community and give back to make this a better place,” said Dr. Gabriel German with Mount De Sales Academy.

The #BlightFight began in April 2021 as one of Mayor Miller’s earliest initiatives (based on community feedback). People wanted a more proactive and aggressive approach to removing blight from neighborhoods, especially since there were structures that had sat vacant and deteriorating for nearly a decade.

In addition to the removal of blighted structures, the Mayor, Commission, and Foundations have allocated millions of dollars to building new houses for people. That includes $1 million ($500,000 each from Macon-Bibb and the Peyton Anderson Foundation) for Habitat for Humanity to build 14 new affordable homes, $3.2 million ($1.6 million each from Macon-Bibb and the Knight Foundation) to NewTown Macon and the Historic Macon Foundation, and $7.5 million as a match for a revolving loan fund that will be used to build even more housing. Macon-Bibb County’s funds came from its American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) allocation.