Battling Blight

Mayorโ€™s initiative strives to boost city neighborhoods

Mayor Stephanie Terry says the removal of vacant, dilapidated properties is a key part of her administrationโ€™s approach to improving Evansville neighborhoods, and sheโ€™s asking for help in identifying what structures need razed the most.

Terryโ€™s โ€œFight Blightโ€ initiative has the goal of tearing down 150 dilapidated properties in 2025, nearly three times more than last year. The cityโ€™s budget has devoted $550,000 in American Rescue Plan Act interest dollars to the effort, in addition to the regular budget appropriation for demolition.

Evansville residents can assist by emailing the city with the address and photographs of buildings that should go. Candidates for removal, according to the city, are properties that are vacant, abandoned, boarded up, or otherwise in such bad shape that they threaten public health and safety.

Emails will go into a database, and city officials will decide if it meets the definition of a blighted property. Terry says that since she announced the Flight Blight program in mid-November, about 30 properties have been submitted by Evansville residents for consideration.

City government has battled the problem of run-down properties since the Evansville Land Bank was formed in 2016. That entity takes ownership of lots where vacant structures are razed, and it seeks entities interested in creating new housing opportunities.

Terry says those partners can include nonprofit housing groups or other developers.

โ€œWe still see the need for housing in our city,โ€ Terry says, and the removal of more eyesore properties โ€œallows us to position ourselves for future growth.โ€

Know of a neighborhood property that needs removing? Email the address to blight@evansville.in.gov.

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