Commissioner Ann Hildebrand was remiss when she failed to remind the new commissioners of the previous commitment. The project follows a similarly successful improvement to the nearby Carver Heights area that even commissioners acknowledge was a worthwhile effort. So is this one. When starting, the county found 78 percent of the 1,309 people living in Tommytown are low and moderate income and 44 percent of the houses are substandard. Pot-hole filled dirt paths serve as residential streets that are lined with shotgun shacks.
Crime is problematic.
So is substance abuse. Since targeting the area, the county used federal and state money to demolish 11 vacant and dilapidated homes and provide financing for 33 new single-family homes that are finished or under construction. Repairs were done to six other houses and 15 applications for new or rehabilitated houses are pending. All the activity comes after community residents, builders, bankers and others had been led to believe the area was worth the investment because of the promise of the pending infrastructure improvements. It was a reasonable expectation.