76 A Miracle on Third Avenue?

A Miracle on Third Avenue in Sharon, PA on 12/20/19. A grant combined with tax incentivized private funds will fund demolition of abandoned and blighted houses. The resulting vacant lots will be managed through a program that will be called “Lots to Love.” The vacant lots may be bought or adopted. If adopted, the lot will be cut and maintained by the person committing to the adoption. The local Community Action Partnership of Mercer County PA will administer the  “Lots to Love” program. Local middle school students have developed an app to be used in association with house demolition to keep track of the grass height of vacant lots and be a basis to manage City Beautification Commission assets.

Assemblyman Mark Longietti and Pennsylvania Commonwealth Secretary Department Community and Economic Development, Dennis Daven on Third Avenue. Announce revitalization efforts for Sharon, PA 12/20/19.

Sharon community spark plug and catalyst, Karen Winner-Sed on Third Avenue with Assemblyman Longietti.

On Third Avenue at 224, an abandoned and blighted house will be demolished in 2020 using scarce grant funding from the DCED Department Of Commnunity and Economic Development and private funding that has tax incentives.

Typical of Sharon, the deteriorated properties are like a random checkerboard pattern. On Third Avenue to the right of 224 is 218. It has a new roof and It looks as if it has maintained and shrubbery trimmed and grooms grass. The owner says he has been there for 55 years and he looks forward for 224 to be a vacant lot.

Here is the long time Sharon resident of the house at 218. His well maintained house, is  a Third Avenue story of responsibility.

School Teacher D. Tomko with some of the students who have helped create an app to manage the condition and status of properties and lots for management of grass, weeds and scrub growth. The students have built upon the 2018 mapping by some 80 volunteers who on a September Saturday using smartphones surveyed 5700 houses in Sharon. The resulting GIS map data is the foundation information for planning revitalization.

The students pose in on Third Avenue in front of 217. It is abandoned and blighted. Its owner has 152 other structures in Sharon. Sadly some 40 or more by this owner were identified by volunteer map surveyors in 2018 as being either abandoned or in poor condition. Pennsylvania trespass law provides for a defense to trespass that the trespass happened in an abandoned structure. 271 could easily be the site for squatters or persons bent upon criminal activity. The TRESPASS LAW contributes to community decline as it is written.

The City of Sharon's Community Development guru is Melissa Phillips seen here being interviewed on Third Avenue. She along the the members of City Council, the City Manager, Code Enforcement staff are going to correct the abandoned and blighted property problem in Sharon in the coming years. Some 690 houses are candidates for demolition. It is a big job that will get done in the forthcoming couple of years.