Hopefully this will come out. I think if you double click on the image, it will come out larger and hopefull legible.
Anyway, one of the most unsettling parts of the meeting on Thursday night was seeing a map that was layed out in 1998 for the redevelopment of this section of the Troost Corrirdor.
The distrubing part of this is that so many of the plans for what people wanted in 1998 for this section of the Troost corridor were many of the things that were discussed only a week ago. Two sites on the map marked as "anchor tennents" have buildings that remain empty. There are notes about "strong pedestrian linkings" from the neighborhoods to this area -- that still don't exist.
It's sad that so little has come of this map -- that in 1998, a group of people assembled a map of what would be an ideal landscape for this stretch of the Troost corridor -- and yet, so many of the buildings remain empty.
However, one thing is promising. There are several areas that are marked "opportunity for single family infill". If you cruise through these areas you will see that much of this infill has indeed happened (interestingly, much of it has been done by Habitat for Humanity). Other areas close by -- in Beacon Hill, and Longfellow, also infilling. There are several of the buildings and homes along the corridor that just 5 years ago were empty, but now have residents. Almost all of it has been done without much in the way of city involvement -- and solely by private individuals who have moved to the area.
It's sad though that so many people in the neighborhoods surrounding the area don't try to get involved in helping make things better. Many have lived here for over a decade and had these same conversations before. I don't really blame them for their frustration....but I hope this go around is different.
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