photo by Bill Cleary
THE DEMOLITION of the 70 homes that were taken under eminent
domain to make way for a new Middle School in Gloucester City is almost
complete.
As of last week there were only four properties remaining. This
photo was taken on Fifth Street.
The area looks like a vast desert. How sad for those people who lived all their lives in this neighborhood and were forced out of their homes.
The City still doesn't know if the state is going to pay the $40 million to
build the school. Nor does anyone know what would happened to the ground if the
funding doesn't come through. Hopefully we won't end up with another parking lot which is the usual thing that happens when the City is involved in demolishing a property (s).
The city lost an estimated $100,000 a year or
more in tax ratables as a result of the 70 homes being demolished. Could that be one of the reasons our property taxes increased for the sixth year in a row? Or has it been 10 years our property taxes have gone up?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
