Everyone's Opinion Newsletter

Thomas,

I agree with you that parts of Sixth and Seventh Avenues are known for their blighted appearance, and have been for years. This has certainly not escaped the notice of the City Council, which is part of the reason for the Gateway Project being focused on that area the past two years. The Gateway Project has involved code sweeps along with community volunteer efforts to help property owners in that area improve the exteriors of their properties. The Gateway Project has included the direction of Community Development Block Grant funds to do a multi-phase sidewalk replacement which makes a major visual improvement.

In addition, the City has been able to be more aggressive in its demolition of properties by use of a statute that allows for emergency demolition. The City has continued year after year to level dozens of blighted and condemned properties throughout the City.

Regarding eminent domain, there are several concerns: legal, moral, and financial. The Pennsylvania Constitution highly regards private property and the law leans in favor of property owners in many situations. I believe this is the right approach because I believe a free society highly regards property ownership. So while it is unlikely that we would have the legal, moral, or financial standing to demolish such large swaths of the City, we do have a number of tools at our disposal to specifically target problem properties, and we are putting some of those to use.

One of the most effective ways to transform an area is to see the economics shift. When economic demand for property goes up, you often see overall improvement. I think that in providing an open door for business development, property investment, and seeing continued investment in our City core --- combined with enforcement and continued community efforts --- we can see improvement on these key corridors through the City of Altoona.

Matt Garber

City Council

City of Altoona

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