Private Partnership Has St. Louis Blight Removal In Its Sights [View all]

There are 7,000 vacant buildings and more than 10,000 vacant lots in St. Louis. Many of the structures are beyond repair, so the demolition of 30 vacant structures will only put a small dent in the blight problem.

The St. Louis Blight Authority is the organization behind a project to clear a four-block area in the Wells-Goodfellow neighborhood. The organizers believe the initiative could be just the beginning of a more far-reaching program.

St. Louis native Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter and Square, and Bill Pulte, a Detroit real estate heir, joined Alderman Jeffrey Boyd, D-Ward 22, and local residents in front of a vacant house on Burd Avenue in the Wells-Goodfellow neighborhood on Friday afternoon to launch the effort.

Dorsey and Pulte described the plan to demolish the vacant structures and clean up 130 vacant properties over the next 20 days on four blocks that are bounded by Clara, Maffitt, Belt and Cote Brilliante Avenues.

https://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/private-partnership-has-st-louis-blight-removal-its-sights