SLUM AREA PROPOSAL Huntington Mayor Proposes Neighborhood Be Designated "Slum"
Reported by: Dave Benton
Videographer: Kenney Barnette
Web Producer: Dave Benton
Reported: Feb. 25, 2013 9:10 PM EST
Updated: Feb. 26, 2013 9:33 AM EST
EYEWITNESS ONLINE WEBCAST VIDEO C L I C K T O P L A Y
Huntington
, Cabell County
, West Virginia
Some big changes are in the works for a Huntington neighborhood. Mayor Steve Williams is proposing the area between 9th and Charleston Avenues, as well as, Hal Greer Boulevard to 20th Street be designated slum and blight.
Williams said, "It's what I call the ugly duckling but it does turn into a beautiful swan. What it enables us to do is get grants and low interest loans and other sorts of government action to come in to help us renew and restore the area."
Williams says the city's plan is to tear down Northcott Court housing project and build new housing for the families who currently live there.
Thomas Kincaid has lived in the Fairfield West area for almost 60 years. He says designating the area slum is a negative connotation with a positive outcome. "I think by eliminating Northcott Court, it will help our neighborhood. When I first moved here, it wasn't slum. Friends ask why I don't move, but this areas is my home. This is where I plan to stay. But, a lot of older people live there and it's just going to make it better for them."
City Council will still have to vote on naming that area slum and blight. If all goes as planned, Northcott Court come come down by fall and then construction on new housing would begin next year.
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Dave Benton
