‘Problem properties’ plague Alberta Avenue, residents fed up – Edmonton | 24CA News
People who dwell close to Alberta Avenue are calling on town to assist with run-down homes and vacant heaps that they are saying are stalling revitalization efforts.
Valda Roberts has lived close to Alberta Avenue for nearly 30 years and in that point, she has seen the neighbourhood change drastically. She is without doubt one of the residents combating to make it as vibrant as potential.
“We are a resilient community and we are working to change that narrative,” she mentioned.
Roberts lives subsequent to one of many properties and says there have been a number of arson makes an attempt.
“The last arson attempt was a successful arson — it burned half the building,” she mentioned, including a 30-foot wall fell into her yard in the course of the night time because of this.
“I still have a bent fence. I still have a property that’s half burnt beside me, which does nothing for real estate values, which does nothing for the morale of the neighbourhood.”
The “problem properties”, as they’re recognized, have been a problem for years. The derelict homes can appeal to squatters and pose a safety and hearth danger, in accordance with the Alberta Avenue Business Association.
“They have lasted here many years and the city hasn’t really done much until very recently to address the most challenging properties,” mentioned Erick Estrada, the affiliation’s govt director.
The business affiliation believes there are extra drawback properties on this neighbourhood than in different elements of town due to the nieighbourhood. The affiliation speculates the homes are owned by landlords trying to make the most of rising lot costs within the space.
Coun. Ashley Salvador says eliminating the issue properties is a serious aim for the world. She says town has created a devoted drawback property staff and a group property security staff, which permits hearth crews to proactively entre the issue properties.
“Going in, and at the owner’s expense, boarding it up, putting a fence up, escalating all the way to requiring 24-hour security on site, which as you can imagine is very costly,” mentioned Salvador.
“So, property owners are no longer just sitting on these derelict sites, they are either redeveloping or selling to someone who will do something with it.”
In 2022, 103 properties have been secured by the staff and 205 have been secured in 2023. Salvador says it’s enormously diminished the variety of fires and is prompting dozens of demolitions.
While the hassle is appreciated by these locally, it’s main to a different problem: vacant heaps the place the issue properties as soon as stood.
“It’s just empty. Its potential to have new families moving in, its potential to have other things happening and whenever we have just an empty space, it’s not being utilized and it’s not helping anybody,” Estrada mentioned.
— with information from Mason DePatie, Global News
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
