SCRANTON -- A blighted vacant property in Scranton overgrown with weeds, trees, and litter is taking its first steps to becoming an asset for the community.
The Hill Neighborhood Association bought the empty lot in its first ever blighted property purchase.
This vacant lot at the corner of Clay Avenue and Poplar Street looks more like a decaying forest than a place for a potential home.
Neighbors see this eyesore everyday in Scranton's Hill section.
“We were just talking about that because they have all that garbage over there. These leaves make a mess,” said Ruth Cerminaro. “And the sidewalks, you can't even walk down that sidewalk in the summer time. There's weeds and debris everywhere. It's disgusting."
That's why the Hill Neighborhood Association was proud to say it was able to buy the lot, making it the first blighted property purchase the grassroots organization has made.
Ozzie Quinn says they paid just $997 for the property because no one else wanted it.
“So they've been laying around for years and years and years and finally we're eliminating the blight that goes with them, the weeds, the trees, the unshoveled snow.”
Since the lot sits where Dunmore meets Scranton, the association wants to put a community park there, with the “Hill signature” on it.
“The vision is to recreate a gateway to the Hill neighborhood,” said Maureen Gray, a chair of the vacant lot committee with HNA. “We have that beautiful design by the university that says ‘Historic Hill Section’ on that side. We want to do something like that on the opposite end of the neighborhood.”
And some city history will be on display in the park; pieces of Audubon Elementary School, donated to the association by Geisinger CMC.
The hospital tore down the more than 100-year-old school in May. It was closed permanently by the Scranton School District in 2012.
“Stone work from Audubon Elementary, some beautiful gargoyle type things and we're going to incorporate that into our design,” said Gray.
The association says this is just the first of many blighted properties they want to take over.
Money to fund this effort comes from grants, including some from the county and assistance from the University of Scranton.
