New public housing for the old Delaware Terrace looks like a suburb.
Posted by: Noël Jones
In his Express-Times article this week, Ed Sieger reports that 56 new homes have been completed on the old Delaware Terrace site at 508 Charles Street on the South Side, in what will now be called Neston Heights. Families will start moving in as early as January, and this means that many families who were relocated to the West Ward, as well as the Boys and Girls Club Teen Center, which has been located at 11th & Northampton for the last six years, will soon be returning to the South Side.
Thoughts?
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6 comments:
good, now the drug dealers can get off my block and go back where they came from.
projects will always be projects; you give somebody something for nothing and they will not appreciate it.
I sincerely hope that the homes they are looking to actually sell will be kept up by responsible homeowners, but you put section 8 in there and it'll look like butler st projects in a few years.
Ah, Dennis, at first I was going to fault you for living in the past. After reading again, I find that you have accurately detailed exactly today's condition.
So, what can we do about it now?
Would you lead the charge as a city councilman? Please?
I think the article said that all applicants are being screened for a criminal record, so the people moving back in will be low-income families, not drug dealers.
The design is certainly less ominous than the barracks-style buildings that were there before, and there is something to be said for being inspired to take care of something that is nice to begin with.
I have to admit though, there is something strange about the poorest families in the neighborhood moving into nicer housing than the houses that struggling middle-class families own in the West Ward.
Hopefully the new design will foster neighborhood pride and they will take really good care of it.
Let's give Neston Heights a chance. As Noel stated, the applicants are being screened. I've seen neighborhoods in Easton -- College Hill, South Side, downtown, West Ward, Palmer, Forks, etc. -- where homeowners take pride to maintain their homes, but I've also seen a few homes in these same neighborhoods that could use a little TLC. You probably will find the same dynamic. Most will take pride in their homes, but maybe a few won't.
And why should poorer families not move into nicer homes than the homes of the struggling middle-class in the West Ward. What would be achieved by moving them into "less nice" homes? I don't quite see why that should be a problem. I find nothing strange about that. And why assume that poorer families are not struggling.
Section 8 is not necessarily synonymous with irresponsible. Are the working poor who receive food stamps or Medicaid irresponsible?
Let's not prejudge. Neston Heights just might prove you wrong.
Anon 10:47--no one is saying that low-income families should not move into nice homes--I am happy for them.
but a lot of residents get frustrated when there seems to be no help for the struggling middle class that is getting squeezed via taxes more and more each year. it is hard to watch low-income families get the benefits of a free weatherization program to reduce utility bills, when many middle-class households who are fighting not to fall below the poverty line, cannot afford to renovate their homes and pay the highest bills of all. it almost seems as if we live within a system that WANTS the middle-class to fall below the poverty line, so that we are left with only a very few wealthy people, while the rest are in poverty and need to live on government assistance, that's all.
they are lovely houses and i wish them all the best--and I agree--being poor does not translate directly to being irresponsible, and we should assume the best and that these pretty homes will inspire neighborhood pride, be treasured and well-cared for.
The way the homes look does not necessarily translate into the quality of the structures. It could be that in a few years, we'll hear about shoddy construction, bad roofing, etc. It's been so quiet on South Side the past two years. We'll see...
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