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o�sou TH <br /> F dx <br /> :J b <br /> W eFacE � � <br /> y� a 1, a2 <br /> 1865 <br /> Office of the Mayor <br /> NEWS RELEASE <br /> August 23, 2007 <br /> 3:30 p.m. <br /> City begins first wave of abandoned house demolition <br /> Contact: Mikki Dobski, Director of Communications&Special Projects, 235-5855 or 876- <br /> 1564, Catherine Toppel, Director of Code Enforcement, 235-9486, or Jeff Gibney, Interim <br /> Director of Community and Economic Development, 235-9371 <br /> Mayor Stephen J. Luecke,joined by city officials and neighbors, watched as wrecking <br /> crews today began to clear a blighted and abandoned house, marking the first step toward <br /> revitalizing neighborhoods experiencing distress from derelict properties. <br /> Demolition crews mobilized on the city's west side at a vacant property at the corner of <br /> Jackson and Huron streets, where machinery tore into the boarded-up, one-story, <br /> asbestos-tiled structure. <br /> "Today's action means there is one fewer dangerous structure in the city with one more <br /> place of hope where new development will help revitalize our neighborhoods," Luecke <br /> said. "When this step is multiplied 400 times over the next three years, it will represent a <br /> dramatic turnaround for our city as a whole. Removing these blights will help stabilize <br /> good neighborhoods that experience distress because of a few negligent property <br /> owners." <br /> Luecke and city officials previously gathered May 29 to introduce the three-year, $6.825 <br /> million strategy to reduce South Bend's vacant houses by more than one-fifth, with most <br /> of the focus aimed at reducing abandoned houses by 72 percent. The comprehensive <br /> strategy includes the demolition of 400 derelict houses and the revitalization of 45 <br /> distinctive properties in targeted neighborhoods. <br /> After 12 weeks of legal and financial preparation, the demolition phase of the city's <br /> vacant and abandoned housing strategy experienced a knock-down beginning—the first <br /> of about 100 demolitions that will occur in 2007. The Department of Code Enforcement <br /> on July 19 awarded contracts totaling $81,701 for the demolition of abandoned houses on <br /> 16 properties, which also included the demolition of three garages, one shed and one <br />