I'm growing more and more concerned for my hometown. Today I drove down Wabash heading north. I guess I haven't been down that way in a while or didn't notice but the Maryland Manner Apartments have used vinyl siding on one side of one building to replace the brick.
I do recall one of their buildings being hit by a storm a year ago. So, the owners pocket the insurance money and put up a cheaper product making the building look like Section 8 housing. At one time, Maryland Manner was a nice complex. My brother and his wife had a very nice three level townhouse in the building next to this repaired one years ago. It now looks like crap.
Then I drove down Edgewood, the 3200 block. These used to be nice middle income homes. Most all had brick facades on the front if not all around the house. In the middle of the block sits a brand new home all of vinyl siding. Goodbye property values for homes on either side. It seems the home was built on a vacant lot that came about when another home burned or was demolished.
I realize the city can't restrict vinyl siding over brick but I sure would like to see something put into effect whereby you had to build or renovate to match the structures in the neighborhood.
These are but two examples of what is killing the housing industry here. Add that to people making apartments out of old confectionaries or garages, people putting on half ass carports made of aluminum, etc....
I would love to keep fighting to save my beloved Granite City but I believe, as my many friends who have moved up the hill tell me, GC is dying and people like me can no longer do CPR.
on January 3, 2018, 3:59 pm