North Braddock residents want leaders to address borough's blighted properties
North Braddock prides itself on being the birthplace of steel. When the steel mill shut down, people moved out and took their money with them, but that's just the start of a growing problem.
At 527 Hawkins Avenue in North Braddock, the safety concern can be seen easily. The entire side of the home is leaning over the road, and it's a safety issue; neighbors said it needs to be addressed.
"They don't tear them down. They are just falling down," resident Harold Rutter said.
He said the property used to be nice.
"Somebody bought it and then sold it to somebody else, and it just fell apart," said Rutter.
He doesn't know who owns this specific home now.
When asked why he thinks owners have let the property deteriorate, Rutter pointed to the town's general decline.
"Hey, nobody wants to live in this town, like I said," Rutter replied.
It's a recurring story in the neighborhood where he's grown up. Along Hawkins Avenue, other homes sit abandoned, with broken glass or in disarray, with trash.
"It's really frustrating to see all of this crap around here; this stuff is terrible. It used to be a nice, clean town a long time ago," Rutter said.
This street is covered with an orange fence and cones when the side of the home eventually falls, and it's not slowing down traffic on a busy road with bus traffic.
North Braddock Mayor Cletus Lee said he wants to see this home have an emergency demolition, even if there's no funding.
"As not only being the mayor of North Braddock, but also being a demolition contractor, steps need to be taken in place immediately," Lee said. "The most important thing is public safety."
The mayor said there's even an email chain with the North Braddock borough council about it.
North Braddock Council President Lisa Franklin-Robinson said they've been working hard to fix the blight in North Braddock, and when the council republished a blight study, it found 1,040 blighted parcels.
The leaning house on Hawkins Avenue, Franklin-Robinson said, has been on the list for demolition for at least a year. She said that after the storms and rain we've seen, that's made it lean even worse.
Then, it got to the point that the council president said they closed half of the street on Monday.
Franklin-Robinson said the council is taking steps to fix the issue in the borough. As a council, they've completed a financial health assessment with the help of Local Government Academy.
In addition, they've established an open dialogue with every level of government, up to the federal level, and asked for funding.
Franklin-Robinson said that last year, the county proposed appropriations through Summer Lee's office, her administration approved $1.2 million, but the Trump administration didn't release the funds.
The money was meant for a workforce development program to help teach deconstruction and property demolition while remediating blight.
Rutter said he'd like to see positive changes in North Braddock, starting with Hawkins Avenue.
"I'd like to see these people tear these houses down and clean this town up a little bit."
