In April 2009 a major fire extensively damaged a house at 1850Knox street in the Knox Hill neighborhood. 11 MONTHS AND 5 DAYS LATER, the city finally took it down! 
April 2009 fire photo courtesy Mark Elstun
This structure presented a clear and eminent public safely hazard the day of the fire, and certainly was candidate for Emergency demolition. in fact in a phone conversation of 7/10/2009 the owner spoke with city officials and advised them she was unemployed , and had no funds letter sent to the city according to the public record file.
The property was reported open and vacant on several occasions by the neighborhood, in fact the property was barricaded AGAIN on 11/13/2009.
Demolition photo courtesy Mark Elstun
It should be noted that the city had NO PROBLEM with demolition of several properties in the Fairmount area and elsewhere in the city that had NO STRUCTURAL issues and presented no real hazard to the health and public safety of the community.
In fact the ONLY reason the property was finally demoed may have been the announcement that the Knox Hill Neighborhood Association planned on hold a news conference with local media to ask WHY the city was dragging its feet while it demoed perfectly good houses using taxpayer money when clearly this house represented an Emergency situation and should have been demoed immediately after the fire.
Dangerous structure finally removed after months of inaction by city government
Reviewed by citra
Published :
Rating : 4.5
Published :
Rating : 4.5
