Mount Holly, New Jersey: 2/3 of the homes in the Mount Holly Gardens neighborhood stand vacant, after having been acquired or condemned by the township. As for the remaining third, their owners wait, wondering if they will be next. It’s especially unfortunate since “[i]t is a quiet neighborhood these days, as the crime fled with the people. Absentee landlords, not longtime homeowners like Lopez, were behind a number of the problems there. Many of the 100 or so families holding out – a significant proportion homeowners – are too elderly, too sick, or too poor to leave.” Oak Park, Illinois: Oops…the Chicago suburb realizes it won’t be needing the property they acquired from a restaurant after all. They wanted it for a redevelopment, and they got it by threatening eminent domain.
Seaside, California: The Monterey County Herald reminds its readers that Reggie Jackson’s proposed hotel remains unaffected by the recently passed ballot measure.
Meanwhile, in Bay Point, Calif., a local resident keeps fighting for his home even though he’s been at it for over twenty years.
In New London, Conn., Rick Koster wonders, “How could this – nothing – have happened?”
Finally, back to California: Belmont officials want three parcels and they’re pretty clear on why: they’re underutilized. According to the city’s planning director: “The city is looking to higher and better uses for all of those parcels combined.” The properties currently are home to a lumber company, a Motel 6 and a restaurant. Apparently, local officials looked at a “Best Buy and all that ” in a neighboring town and felt envious.
