East Side Businesses Want To Clean Up Blight

First published: Thursday, March 14, 2002

This is a $4.8 million project to revitalize an area of well documented blight on the North side of State Street in the 600 and 700 block. This money is being raised through private investors, block revitalization grants and other loans by investors.

The Emerson row house is earmarked for placement on the National Historic Register with one million dollars of the total project going toward restoring that building to its original state.

Other facets of the project include making homes available to first-time homeowners, apartments suitable for low income families and small three to four apartment unit buildings for purchase by first time property owners who would have to live in the building to meet the criteria for ownership. With ownership, comes pride. The families that currently live in this area as well as surrounding neighbors, deserve decent and suitable living conditions.

What is presently occurring in the Emerson Place area is landlords pocketing rent money with minimal or no reinvestment in their properties.

The pattern is to bleed these rental units until there is no value left, transfer them to a dummy corporation with no assets and dump them on the city and its taxpayers to clean them up or tear them down. This is exactly the scenario that NESNID (Near East Side Neighborhood Improvement District) and Neighbors of Watertown are trying to avoid. We feel to profit from blight and take advantage of those in a lower income bracket is unethical.

The project is currently stalled in negotiations with Dr. Larry Silverstein who owns four of the apartment dwellings in this area.  Dr. Silverstein was made aware of this project several months ago by myself as well as other interested neighbors in this area.

He said to us he was interested in being a part of this project and we welcomed his involvement. An appraisal was done by a professional appraiser and presented to Dr. Silverstein by Neighbors of Watertown. The offer was rejected by Dr. Silverstein.

He contends that he is making money and will not be compensated for the loss of income if he sells at the appraised price. N.O.W. contends that by not reinvesting into the properties, the value of his properties have declined as illustrated in the appraisal.

The bottom line is the project hinges on Dr. Silverstein's decision. If he agrees, it will be a positive step for the east side of Watertown, its residents and the city as a whole. If he decides not to sell, the project will die on the vine.

Either way, we as a group of East side business owners and residents will push for stepped-up code enforcement of all rental properties as well as rental property registration by landlords to prevent the trend of blight and decay in our city.

We are a small city landlocked, with limited areas to expand. This project is a positive direction for the city and a launching pad for elimination of neighborhood blight.

C. William Stoodley, Watertown

Co-Chairman, NESNID