NSP - No Schedule Provided

As yet another construction season is passing, we wait again for a sign that the City’s chosen developer, Builders Development Corporation, has access to a calendar.  Three properties sit vacant, boarded-up, and deteriorating here in the Truman National Historic Landmark District shown above (417 W. Farmer, 423 N. Pleasant, and 419 N. Pleasant) with the promise from City Hall that they will be restored to preservation standards for owner-occupied single-family residential.  This activity was funded through a federal program, NSP – Neighborhood Stabilization Program, intended to put foreclosed and abandon houses back on the market.  417 W. Farmer currently sits with an active extension cord running over the front sidewalk.  It had been the source of 8 code complaints in the last 2½ years.  423 N. Pleasant sits with huge holes in the roof and was the source of 17 code complaint over the last 10 years.  419 N. Pleasant was acquired by the City 3 years ago with the plan for its eventual restoration.  It has been the source of 15 code complaints over the last 7 years.   Imagine living adjacent to all three of these properties while trying to apply for a refinance or rehabilitation loan on your property and convincing the bank that this neighborhood is worth investing in.  Our First District Councilperson doesn’t have to image being close to these properties since they are visible from her front porch.  And the Mayor lives about a block away.  As the City routinely goes into debt to fund projects in the Little Blue Valley, we are told to be patience while the irreplaceable rots and drags down the adjacent blocks representing a significant part of the heart of the historic district.  It was also the area of concern when the Missouri Alliance for Historic Preservation listed the Truman NHLD on their Top Ten List of most endangered landmarks.  That was over five years ago.  It’s ironic that a federally funded program intended to bring up the value of neighborhood blocks is, instead, making the situation worse in a federally designated historic district.  Is this what the city calls “Real Progress?”