SPOOKY

Has anyone noticed all the boarded up property on 4400 Vista?
 
I used to know so many people on that street.  Did anyone know Ron and Barb Sherrill?  He was the17th Wards Republican Committee Man, we went to school together at O'Fallon.  I lived around the corner.  Last time I talked with him, several years ago, he had lost his sight and they had moved out of the neighborhood. I hope they are well.

So much has changed on the street.  So many people have vanished.  So much property standing to waste down enough to be torn down.  What is the plan?  Has the future arrived?  Who knows the secrets?  What is not being talked about loud enough for me or you to hear.  Somebody in Wash U Land knows what is on the horizon, but it's only on a need to know basis.

Who owns all those boarded up properties?  Why are they not undergoing renovation instead of abandoned and left to the elements.  There is a 'plan' afoot.   Does anyone care to share? I suppose this is where others might want to share a guess and see how many people guess right.

4400 Vista was a full and busy street with a little candy store/stuff in the middle of the block, it's still over there if you would like to take a historical tour, yellow I think.  At the store front on the southwest corner was a grocer.

Now a lot of homes have gone missing,  (wasted down and  torn down) there are many, many board ups, some homes still occupied.  They too will be boarded up one day.  Just a matter of time. 

Something is coming.  Does anyone know?  It's in the preparation phase of the development.  Some of us have been watching for more than 20 years, the demise of this street, but for what??

 I'll venture to guess, individual town homes connected by a common wall.  Condos.  Row Houses.

It would be an improvement to what is there and has been there for 20+years.  I don't understand why it takes so long to improve the Residential District.  WUMCDC knows to the season and year when something will be started and completed.  They can twitch and get anything they want.  Why has property on Vista  been boarded up??   This is evidence of something to come and this dirt needs to be readied for a tear out just like McCree Town.  They are moving ahead with their 'Revitalization Plan' and we the neighbors are kept in the dark.,

If the street is not being readied for improvement then why are the homes there  just sitting and not being offered to the public for revitalization.  It is a waste of property, architecture, a home and potential revenue.  They are small and very versatile could be great additions.  NO TAX ABATEMENT, you own property and pay taxes just like others do. Tax Abatement needs to come to an end.

I asked at a Gibson Heights Neighborhood Association meeting,  one night,  when the Alderman was there and Dan Krasnoff from Park Central answered my question.  The question was when does tax abatement come to an end?.  The answer:  as long as there is one blighted property in the neighborhood, then you qualify for tax abatement.  It's free for 10 years for all who qualify.  That's just so wrong.

Does anyone know whether any of these little houses is available for purchase??  Who owns the red board ups?  Why are they boarded up? The value of the neighborhood and nearby properties would increase with residents and restorations.