The Trenton Times published the following article on March 12, 2013. To read the full article, click here.

Abandoned Trenton buildings on Walnut Avenue to be torn down

By Alex Zdan/The Times 
on March 12, 2013 at 7:00 AM, updated March 12, 2013 at 7:12 AM

RENTON — The sound of crumbling mortar and toppling bricks can be heard on Walnut Avenue once again, but this time it’s intentional.

The blight-stricken street and the surrounding Wilbur section have on occasion seen structurally deficient buildings begin collapsing from years of neglect and disrepair. This week, however, the city is having ten buildings knocked down as part of a revitalization effort.

On Walnut Avenue between Monmouth Street and Hollywood Avenue yesterday, workers for Carroll Demolition had already taken down a large part of four buildings and had their eyes on six more. For longtime resident and community activist Dion Clark, it was a welcome sight.

“I just hope that it continues,” said Clark, who lives on Walnut. “This is part of a long-planned initiative to drive out the blight and crime and undesirables in that area in the Wilbur section.”

Abandoned buildings, some left vacant for decades, can be used by criminal to store drugs or weapons or as hangouts for vagrants who may start fires to keep warm or smoke crack. They add to the sense of blight in the area, angering residents like Clark who try to keep up their houses and neighborhood.

Clark has long lobbied the city to tear down homes on Walnut Avenue, and in 2009, 16 buildings were demolished on the 200 and 300 blocks.

“It’s part of the ongoing battle to reclaim the Wilbur section, something I fought at City Council for years,” he said yesterday.

The source of the funding for the work was not available yesterday. Inspections director Cleveland Thompson referred questions to business administrator Sam Hutchinson, who could not be reached for comment.

One funding option is to borrow from a $7.4 million state revolving loan fund for building demolitions. State Sen. Shirley Turner (D-Lawrence) co-sponsored a bill approved last year that allocated the funds, with $2.7 million set aside for Trenton.

Turner is in Taiwan for a trade mission and was not available for comment yesterday, but her office said the city had submitted an application for funding to raze the 10 Walnut Avenue properties. The office said the application has not been finalized.

Other potential sources are federal Community Development Block Grant funding and city capital funds, which Trenton has used in the past to cover the costs of razing buildings in the neighborhood.

However they are paid for, the demolitions are a welcome development for residents like Clark, who said he was pleased that drug dealers and gang members are being robbed of places to hide out.

“Can’t stand in the porch out of the rain, can’t run in there from the police,” Clark said. “And when the boys down there don’t have anything to hang around in, they’re gone.”

Contact Alex Zdan at azdan@njtimes.com or (609) 989-5705.