Falling Bricks, Failing Buildings

When a couple of bricks fell off an 1886 building on North Avenue, it was promptly demolished.

Walking downtown on Tuesday, I took a look at the building on East Second Street that was once slated for conversion to "luxury condos."

Not much has been going on there lately, although the developer has received approval to renovate the first floor for retail space and upper floors for 12 apartments.

The west wall of the building is crumbling in several places (click to enlarge) and there is now a marker indicating to firefighters it is not safe to enter.

It makes one wonder whether this building has a future or not.

Meanwhile, over on East Sixth Street, a formerly boarded-up building appears to be under renovation, even though it, too, bears the warning marker.

It has new windows, so maybe the repairs have been authorized by the city.

Next door is a fire-damaged building that could use more than a little TLC from a contractor, but it also is still marked as too hazardous to enter.

These are the kinds of individual situations that raise questions in the citizens' mind. There are other buildings nearby, like the blue-tiled one on the southwest corner of Park & Seventh, that are falling apart and being vandalized by squatters.

These conditions point to the need for someone in City Hall to hold the owners accountable and let them know they can't allow such deterioration. Add it to the wish list for 2014.

--Bernice