Local officials and some residents are split over the use of Federal stimulus funds for demolition as a way to flight neighborhood blight, even as Albany is proceeding to use $275,000 for that purpose, according to the Albany Times Union in a page one Sunday piece.
The report quotes University at Albany Professor Ray Bromley as saying "the majority of vacant and abandoned buildings in the most distressed neighborhoods probably need to be demolished," while critics of the idea suggest the city is taking the easy way out.
Susan Holland, Executive Director of Historic Albany Foundation, says the funds would be better spent by applying them to moderately distresses properties with owners who are committed to saving them, according to the paper.
Read the entire Times Union article at: http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=871451
