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Jamestown officials are moving fairly expeditiously through housing demolitions so far this year.
And that's a good thing, but as we noted a couple of weeks ago something has to change in the way housing demolitions are funded as the sources of money fueling this binge of demolitions is dwindling. It's worth noting, though, that even if money were no object, the state does the city no favors with voluminous regulations that unnecessarily drag the demolition process out and drive up the cost of demolitions.
It’s amazing what can happen when the power of government gets behind something. Compare the quick cleanup of the former Crawford furniture site after its 2023 fire with the cleanup – finally – of the 2023 fire involving a house at the corner of Winsor and Allen streets. A plan was announced quickly for the Crawford site once it became apparent that the federal government needed to be involved to help pay for the cleanup and demolition. But, for nearly three years neighbors and the hundreds of cars that drive through the intersection of Winsor and Allen streets looked at an eyesore while city officials worked through the lengthy process to demolish a home that isn’t an EPA priority. Obviously, the city can't call Sen. Charles Schumer to call in the EPA to speed up the demolition for every house fire or dilapidated house – with the EPA footing the bill, to boot. But it shouldn't take a literal act of Congress to speed up housing demolitions cities like Jamestown, either.
The state and federal governments can make removal of substandard housing as big a priority as building new housing. Earlier this year Gov. Kathy Hochul discussed her “Let Them Build” initiative that was part of the state budget. The governor was pushing for exemptions from duplicative environmental reviews that she said add unnecessary costs and years of needless delays. We agree with Hochul – it should be easier to build new housing. But in cities like Jamestown it also needs to be easier and less expensive to remove substandard housing.
Florida, California, New Jersey, Texas and New York account for 49.6% of all housing demolition permits nationally – but New York accounts for only 4.1% of that amount. That indicates to us that New York can do more at the state level to bring the number of housing demolitions in New York closer to the rates in Florida, California and Texas.