Derelict

"I'm the wind, baby."

"Ooooo... you are so cool!"



"Look! Look! It's Chris Pratt!"

"Ugh."




"I am. A TREE."


So, this duplex down the street was empty before we moved in. Owner fixed it just enough to have renters, who (predictably) cooked meth there and made the whole neighborhood unsafe. When the apartment building around the corner under construction burned down (started by a guy on drugs) this place got mopped up as well. (Coincidence?) I can only assume there was a little help for the local police from the FBI team who were here anyway.

Various problems continue, people squatting, despite the health department notices closing one side to occupancy, the other to entry.

This week, this sign went up. The owner apparently wants $175k for this poisoned, decrepit property. And can't even spend $20 on a proper sign, or indicate that it is for a house, that house specifically, assuming anyone would stop their car and try to read the number written in a dried up red marker.




Now, house prices around here are about that, for a place in decent repair. Anyone buying this place would have to spend a boatload on cleaning it, just to start. And then, pretty much gutting it, if not downright demolishing it. Cheaper to buy an empty lot to begin with. This is where eminent domain would be a great thing, owner has to come up with 200k in back taxes and mandatory clean-up, or abandon the property to the city.

My secret desire to toss in a Molotov cocktail is too impractical. Too many nice folks in old houses that would be at risk. Not to mention putting all that crap in the air to breathe. And I really don't want to be arrested for arson.