It’s easy for people to bemoan the decline of Jamestown neighborhoods while doing nothing to stop it.

Give credit to a group of Forest Avenue residents for doing more than just talking about the decline of their neighborhood. Patricia Franco and her husband Tom have teamed with one of their neighbors, Collin Hayes, to purchase a vacant home at 98 Forest Ave. as the home for a neighborhood coffee shop. Hayes and the Francos were concerned about what would happen if the home was purchased by someone from outside the neighborhood. The neighbors shared the same concerns over the city’s drug problem and a desire to prevent a home from being divided into apartments. They preferred to see the 98 Forest Ave. property stay in the hands of people who live in the neighborhood.

The trio put their money where their mouth is – buying the property and asking the city Zoning Board of Appeals for permission to open a coffee house in an area zoned residential. Board members – on the strength of three neighbors speaking in favor of the coffee house during a recent meeting and a petition in favor of the restaurant signed by 25 of the property’s Forest Avenue neighbors – approved the request. Done correctly, Joe’z “The Classic” Coffee House could be a wonderful addition to the neighborhood.

Kudos to Zoning Board of Appeals members for making the right decision and to members of the Forest Heights neighborhood who are putting in the work to protect the area in which they live.