The great Worcester one-dollar homestead
A good friend of mine, Gabe Rollins, recently relocated from Worcester to Baltimore. He claims it was for purposes of employment, but most of us believe it was for the hookers. Either way he was kind enough to bring to my attention the one-dollar homesteading program Baltimore put in place back in the mid to late 70’s. This concept has me fascinated right now as something my home, Worcester, MA could take advantage of. The city essentially took control of an entire neighborhood of run down properties, held massive open houses and a lottery which led to an amazing amount of urban renewal taking place in a relatively short period of time.
If you drive around the big Woo, you’ll start to notice the many buildings that have what looks like a big scuba diving sign on the side of them. These placards were put up by the fire department a few years back after a large warehouse fire that took the lives of six firefighters was determined, after the fact, to have been too unsafe to enter. Once you notice the signs, you start to notice just how many there are. Why not take those building from their owners who are doing nothing with them, in essence causing harm just by letting them exist, and give them away to people who can put in writing an intent to rehab and a means for financing. It would seem the long term benefits of both an increase in the tax base and more people living here, who want to live here, far out way having nothing more than a large eyesore collection.
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6 Responses to “The great Worcester one-dollar homestead”
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Hookers? In Bawlmer? Yo mama dude… I started with a dollar house, those were the days, before crack.
Uh, thanks for the insight. I think?
The properties you’re talking about are known as Brownfields, mostly former industrial sites. I know Mayor Murray is working on this issue, but that’s a pretty interesting idea…
Yes anonymous reader person, I’ve seen plenty from the administration in regards to reclaiming brown fields; but I wonder what kind of resistance would be met if the city went eminent domain on those who are back on taxes, sitting on propertys in true gentrification fashion or just letting them rot. Personally I would be first in line to rehab something like this in Worcester with the intent to live in it.
http://realtor.com/Prop/1050125502
I sorry I’m sensitive about my city. To be a bit more specific, that would be crack users invading the neighborhood forced many to flee the city. It’s now rebounding as the eppidemic subsides. A good model for Worcester could be the ideas of Richard Florida. Make the environment an inviting place for creative types to live and play-good things follow, jobs, new uses for old buildings etc. http://www.creativeclass.org/
That is what we’re doing in the city Mark. I don’t think anyone has a good explanation as to why it’s taken so long, I would make the argument that unlike Baltimore not enough people fled Worcester for greener pastures during our decline throughout the 80’s-90’s to successfully shake off our industrial past. I was a guest on a local radio show this past week and one of the callers, clearly an older gentleman, STILL expressed concern for our lack of labor gigs. Clearly we still have a substantial segment of the population who haven’t caught on to the fact that cities like Worcester and Baltimore which thrived during our industrial period by way of shipping and manufacturing can’t cling to those long gone days. The idea that as a country we’ve sold that past to developing nations, and more importantly that it’s not coming back, is still a difficult concept for many to grasp.
We’re definitely a decade or so behind most large to medium sized cities in terms of redefining ourselves. But the idea that solid development, promotion and marketing on the part of the city to draw a large cultural base is a tough sell for a population raised on working X amount of hours for X amount of dollars, week after week. Thankfully we’ve managed to draw in outside investors and developers who do understand that an urban area can thrive off cultural endeavors. The goal now has to be in keeping the progress organic while not allowing ourselves to get lazy or loosing sight of the long term goals. Although I’m confidant we’re headed in the right direction, I still haven’t put my pitchfork away.
If you’re interested here’s a primer on what we’re doing in the big Woo, feel free to come back and visit sometime!
http://www.worcestermass.org/development/center.html
http://www.worcestermass.org/development/blackstone.html
http://www.worcestermass.org/development/common.html
http://www.worcestermag.com/archives/2005/06-02-05/current/cover.shtml