Cynthia Stanley-Cash, president of the North Brainerd Neighborhood Association, examines a condemned sign in front of a house at 736 Moore St. that has been vacant for years, according to neighbor Clarence Fleming.VACANT PROPERTIES SURVEYThe Department of Neighborhood Services and Community Development asks residents to complete an anonymous, five-question survey to report vacant properties in your neighborhood. The survey will be used to determine the number of abandoned and foreclosed properties in the city. Neighborhood Services will collect the information until Dec. 10.* ONLINE: The Vacant Properties Survey is available online at www.chattanooga.gov.* EMAIL: Residents may also send an email to report vacant properties to Lauren Lowery at lowery_l@chattanooga.gov.* MAIL: Send the letter to Lauren A. Lowery, Attn: Vacant Properties, Department of Neighborhood Services & Community Development, 101 E. 11th St., Suite 200, Chattanooga, TN 37402.* FOR MORE INFORMATION: Call 425-3718BY THE NUMBERSUsing more than $3 million in federal money, the city managed to address neighborhood blight, accomplishing the following results through its Neighborhood Stabilization Program:* 21 newly constructed homes* 13 single-family homes stabilized through renovation* 54 blighted structures demolished* 48 newly constructed rental units at Maple Hills* 14 homebuyers to receive financial assistance* 2 families living in homes customized to meet their physical challengesSource: City of Chattanooga
At the city’s request in 2008, Cynthia Stanley-Cash and others concerned about stabilizing neighborhoods hard hit by foreclosure reported several blighted or abandoned houses in her North Brainerd neighborhood.
In all, that city inventory identified more than 1,000 foreclosed homes across Chattanooga, many of them abandoned. Chattanooga later received more than $3 million in federal funds to rid areas of blight and used it to raze, renovate or rebuild dozens of homes that had been foreclosed or left empty.
Yet the North Brainerd houses reported by Stanley-Cash and others sit untouched, still abandoned, still an eyesore and still a potential safety hazard, she said.
“The same houses we pointed out in 2008 are still standing today,” said Stanley-Cash, standing near the corner of Wilcox Boulevard and Pin Oak Drive in front of a boarded-up house with a large tree lying across the yard.