An initiative to rejuvenate a depressed neighborhood is at once exciting and scary.
When the Go Forward Pine Bluff plan, which is being funded to a great degree by Simmons Bank, was announced, it was with some fanfare. New homes and improved homes would be available to low-income homeowners. Certainly, for many people, owning a home is one of life’s greatest accomplishments, and that pride of ownership just makes a person stand a little taller. That new posture is also good for a neighborhood in general. All of that is the exciting part.
The scary part is the condition of some of the neighborhoods this project includes: 17th to 34th avenues and Hazel to Olive streets. That is a large area and, in many places, a rough area.
The photo that appeared last week with the story in The Commercial about the program was of an abandoned house somewhere around 18th and Mulberry. Windows were missing. The weeds that had taken over the yard were waist high in places. And as insult to injury, a tree had fallen on part of the house.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
The problem, and anyone who knows Pine Bluff knows this, is that that photo, more or less, could be taken in pretty much any block in that area. Down the street, maybe a block away, was a house that had burned. The next street over was another abandoned house, and another and another. You get the picture.
The houses in these areas, at one time long ago, were the beating heart of Pine Bluff. They were solidly built and provided people with comfortable places to live and raise their families.
Resurrecting such a neighborhood is fraught with peril. There’s the line from the movie, Field of Dreams, where the lead character hears something along the lines of: If you build it, they will come. But for this project, the question remains: Will they?
As the Urban Renewal Agency Director Chandra Griffin said, one of the keys to this program will be in getting rid of all-of-the-above dilapidated, burned out and beyond-repair houses. Yes, if there is any chance for rebuilding these neighborhoods, it will be to start fresh. Few people would stomach driving up to their new home if it sits amid the ruins — no matter the cost.
And, of course, all of this takes time. There are enough trashed out houses to keep the demolition crews busy for years. And while getting someone qualified might move quickly, getting something built is not a snap of the fingers and particularly not at the moment when housing materials are in short supply.
But it is a start, and therein lies the optimism of a brighter tomorrow. People still need solid homes in which to raise families. In a few years, perhaps these new homes will be on every block instead of the ones we see today.