Half A Year After House Burns, Eviction Paperwork...

Photo and blog post by John Hoff

In July of last year, the house at 2610 Newton Ave. N. went up in flames. At the time the house burned, it was a neglected ruin periodically occupied by individuals who seemed to be squatters.

Soon after the fire, 2610 was boarded up and ever since it has sat, an empty scorched shell.

So when I saw paperwork hit the side of the house a couple days ago, I figured it was a raze order. Finally.

No such luck. The paperwork is an EVICTION ORDER.

Holy water would have had more effect, and not been so hard on the trees. But, oh well, i's must be dotted, and t's must be crossed. Hopefully, the eviction order moves the fate of this property closer to some kind of resolution, which I strongly suspect will involve a backhoe and then a long period of time where green grass grows, and seldom gets mowed, and neighbors think, "Gee, wouldn't it be nice if we could find a way to put a community garden on that vacant lot?"

And they will ask themselves, "I wonder who owns the lot?"

And they will answer themselves, "Probably some bank which really doesn't give a rip about our neighborhood and this piece of property. Sigh."

And so it goes.

But, generally, it goes in the direction of revitalization progress.

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