Public Works crews started the week strong by moving into round two of our #BlightFight by removing the blighted house at 4290 Worsham Avenue from the Lynmore Estates neighborhood. They then made their way to 1070 Crescent Avenue on Tuesday and 90 Green Street on Wednesday to remove those dilapidated and dangerous structures.

In April this year, the County began the #BlightFight, a targeted approach to eliminating blight quickly in our neighborhoods. Mayor Lester Miller announced a goal of tearing down 30 houses in 30 days, and that goal was met nine days early. In that first round, a total of 44 blighted houses were torn down, and there are 40 included in this second round. Another three were torn down as part of the neighborhood improvements centered on the revitalization of the Booker T. Washington Community Center.

“We started this attack on neighborhood blight with a very aggressive goal, and I’m proud to say we reached that goal ahead of schedule,” says Mayor Lester Miller. “And even though we’re just starting the demolitions in round two, we’re not resting. Letters are already being prepared to notify the owners of the houses that could be included in round three.”

This round of demolitions was selected by the Code Enforcement Department as properties that were either burned or are classified as Vacant/Abandoned/Dilapidated. All but two of them have Code violations going back more than seven years, and all of them represent a public safety and public health issue for the neighborhoods. Once all of the houses are demolished in the first and second round, we will have removed almost 90 blighted houses from our neighborhoods since the start of our initiative.

“Even though we are just starting to tear down the houses in the second round, we are already moving forward with the third round in this blight fight,” adds Mayor Miller. “Blighted houses have already been identified, and we are preparing to send the owners letters letting them know of the pending demolition and cost to them if they don’t fix them up.”