SHENANDOAH -- Schuylkill County is working to rid some of the blight in its communities.
A home on West Coal Street in Shenandoah will soon be torn down. People Newswatch 16 spoke with say it's about time.
"I'm glad to see it because it's a part of Shenandoah that isn't Shenandoah -- shouldn't be Shenandoah," Catherine Pancerella of Shenandoah said.
Schuylkill County received a $1.4 million grant from the state to help combat the county's blight problem. Officials are working with all of the municipalities to identify which buildings need to be torn down. There are about 160 on the list, and 51 of them have been done already. Another 10 are set to be demolished soon.
Shenandoah residents want to see more properties in their community torn down.
"There were so many burned-out buildings, like down by Mrs. T's, there was like seven," MaryAnn Bialecki of Shenandoah said. "The first thing you see when you drive into town are all these horrible, horrible houses, half burned down."
The county tore down a building across from Francesco's in downtown Shenandoah last week.
"It didn't look great, but now it just looks great, open and hopefully something great can come from it," Francesco's owner Francesco Logozzo said.
Logozzo and others in Shenandoah hope the demolitions will be good for the economy.
"Hopefully, by getting our main street looking good, we're going to bring new businesses and some way or other, bring back Shenandoah," Pancerella said.
The property on West Coal Street will be torn down within the next three weeks.