SCRANTON, Pa. — Elliott Cooke has lived along North Bromley Avenue in Scranton for three years.
The house next door to his has looked dilapidated a lot longer than that. This is one of the properties Scranton has targeted for a proposed city-wide demolition project.
"I would be happy because it's an eyesore in the neighborhood, and I think other investors aren't apt to buy it. With it looking like that, it hurts my property value," Cooke said.
Cooke says he looked into purchasing the house himself, but the cost of tearing it down was too high. If the city does the demo, he might consider buying the lot.
That's what city officials are banking on. Plans are to spend about $300,000 in taxpayer and grant funds to take down blighted properties, mostly condemned homes, all over the city.
There are about two dozen properties scheduled for demolition now, but the mayor says the city's already working on a second list of properties.
City council still needs to approve the project. Councilmembers are working on a blight task force that would go a step further than just picking out properties to demolish.
"All too often in the city, we tear down a house, and based on current ordinances, another house can't go up, so that's one of the issues that we have to work through, and we're working through that now," said Councilmember Kyle Donahue.
"We want to ultimately be able to help homeowners or property owners to take care of their properties and be good neighbors," said Councilmember Jessica Rothchild.
It's still unclear what would happen to the empty lots as the demolition project moves forward, but city officials say the ultimate goal is getting the land back on the tax rolls.