Blight Is Neither Inevitable Nor Irreversible
Since our family started this North Main project, I have read book after book about revitalizing neighborhoods. Most of the research say the same things, whether they are talking about Omaha, Nebraska or Opelika, Alabama. I know I am not the only person who remembers the tv show the Six Million Dollar Man? “We can rebuild him, we have the technology. Better, stronger, faster.” Just like that tv show, we have the technology to fix these neighborhoods.
The recipe is relatively simple even if it does require a lot of work. There are three basic steps. First, you focus on code compliance. Nobody wants to live, work, or play next to a building that looks terrible, is unsafe, and attracts problematic individuals. We could drive down Main Street itself right now and see no less than half a dozen blighted buildings, and that is a choice, both a political and a civic one. Laws are on the books, right now, preventing owners from allowing their properties to fall into disrepair. And most of these properties are owned by our friends and neighbors - when is the last time you asked a buddy when he is finally going to fix up his mess downtown?
Next, you need to make neighborhoods walkable. Neighbors who walk past each other a few times a week get to know each other, and neighbors who know each other form a community, which makes us happier, healthier, and safer. For a place to be walkable, it needs sidewalks that are protected from traffic and feel comfortable. Anybody spent much time walking down Main Street here in Hattiesburg? Nobody wants to walk next to a street with cars going that fast especially with nothing solid between you and the car. We can do better. Again, how we design our streets is a political and a civic choice.
And the third step is filling in the gaps. Empty lots, even well-maintained ones, are disorienting when you see them in a mature neighborhood. But for the past forty years, Hattiesburg has focused more on annexing adjacent areas rather than building homes and businesses on empty lots in our city’s core. That is partially a political choice – it is too difficult to build in the city of Hattiesburg. Full Stop. But it is more importantly a civic choice. D.R. Horton didn’t build out Parkhaven, Innswood, the Avenues or any of the other successful neighborhoods in our city. Hattiesburgers did.
So these three steps are what I would urge you go forth and become proponents for. Now I know a few of you are cold hard capitalists, just like I am. And you are thinking to yourself, all of what Chad is saying sounds nice, but surely it isn’t that simple. It will not work for _____ reason, and your mind is filling in whatever that ____ is for you. And to those kindred spirits all I can tell you is let me take you on a tour. On the 100 block of W 5th Street, my good friend and I bought 2 of 14 houses 18 months ago. We just finished renovating the second house in June, a cute 3/2, which rented for $1,600/month about a week after we put it on the market. Since we started, just 18 months ago, four other houses owned by four other people have started renovations on this block alone. That is how fast it can happen. Somebody pulls me aside all the time these days with some version of “I love what you are doing with that house on 4th Street you are renovating right now”. And I get to smile and say it isn’t me!
Blight is neither inevitable nor irreversible. In EVERY case, blight is a choice we make as a City. What is your choice?