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'64 '65 Progress Report
Redevelopment Commission of the City of Asheville

      
[Cover] '64-'65 Progress Report Redevelopment Commission of the City of Asheville
Special Collections, D.H. Ramsey Library, UNCA

Housing Authority of the City of Asheville

This publication reports the progress of urban renewal through 1965. It includes a number of images of the areas undergoing renewal, both before renewal began and in the midst of the renewal process. Stories and descriptions of the elderly and ill living in dilapidated housing are included to garner support for the demolition of old housing and the relocation of their occupants. Information is given about the rehabilitation of some houses, and on efforts at community participation in the renewal process. The progress report also includes a brief budget statement about the assets and liabilities of the two renewal projects featured in the report: Civic Redevelopment Project R-13 and East Riverside Project R-48. The report ends on an optimistic note:  “Realistic solutions have been proposed for very real problems. We can be proud to say that Asheville’s future indeed looks brighter because of Urban Renewal.”

'64 '65 Progress Report Redevelopment Commission of the City of Asheville -- FULL TEXT

REDEVELOPMENT COMMISSION
OF THE
CITY OF ASHEVILLE

October 6, 1965

604 CITY BUILDING
TELEPHONE 253-3611
252-1114

P.O. Box 7148
ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA

The Honorable Earl Eller
Mayor
City of Asheville
City Hall
Asheville, North Carolina

Dear Mayor Eller:

     It is with great pleasure that I transmit to you the Annual Report for the Redevelopment Commission of the City of Asheville covering the tow years ending September 30, 1965.

    During the past two years, the Redevelopment Commission has made great strides in furthering Asheville's program of community improvement. In May of 1964, the Civic Redevelopment Project was approved by the Urban Renewal Administration and shortly thereafter land purchases were begun. As of September 30,1965, the Commission has purchased 46% of the property in the Redevelopment area at a total cost of $1,076,151.00, and has completed demolition of 23% of the 128 structures in the Area. During this time, the Commission has relocated 48 families from the Civic Redevelopment Project as well as numerous individuals and businesses.

     During 1965, the East Riverside Urban Renewal Area was ushered into the planning stage in a major attempt to renew a blighted community in the southwestern section of our city. The East Riverside area houses approximately 5,000 people and 1,300 structures. Of the total number of structures in the area, approximately 85% are substandard to some degree, requiring either demolition or rehabilitation activities. Planners, engineers, attorneys, and real estate appraisers have been employed to assist the Commission's planning efforts in this area and it is anticipated that planning in the area will be completed by the end of 1965.

    We hope this report will point out that urban renewal is people, and that a great deal of this Commission's efforts is going not only to renew areas of blight, but also to give people living in these area hope for a new and better future.

Sincerely,
J. Alfred Miller
Chairman

ASHEVILLE IS ON THE MOVE...PROGRESS THROUGH COMMUNITY EFFORT

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
J. Alfred Miller
Chairman
D. Bieman McKenzie
Vice Chairman
Eugene C. Ochsenreiter, Jr.
Secretary - Treasurer
Dr. David K. Hall, Jr.
Member
Joseph Sternberg
Member

STAFF
James W. Greer
Executive Director
Burnitt Bealle, Jr.
Assistant Director
Kent Washburn
Administrative Assistant
Oren L. Whitehead
Accountant
Roberta S. Elingburg
Secretary - Receptionist
Edward B. Henry
Relocation Supervisor
Gloria Lance
Cashier - Receptionist
Vito F. LePore
Community Renewal Advisor
William T. Roland
Rehabilitation Advisor
Leilani Littlejohn
Clerk - Typist
Norma M. Grayson
Social Worker

On about 420 acres of land which lies east of the French Broad River are buildings, mostly blighted or deteriorating, into which are crowded some 1200 families. About 60% of these buildings must be razed; 40% can be rehabilitated. Better homes for a number of people will be provided along with the attendant benefits of beautification, better street plans, and new park and playground facilities. A number of beneficial uses are foreseen for the land that will be left vacant as a result of demolition.

This panorama has been somewhat improved in the past two years. Dilapidated buildings have been acquired and demolished. Good property is beginning to look better as bad property is cleared. Workers in the Parkway Offices, teachers in David Millard, and others who occupy buildings that are slated to remain are now looking out on open spaces where substandard housing once stood. Soon they will be looking out on new construction as Asheville begins to build for the future.

Pictured here is a shack on the famous - or infamous - Death Alley (the inhabitants prefer to call it "Elk's Alley"). Seven families share the same toilet in the bathroom on the back porch. Some units are only eight by ten cubicles with an old bed, a vintage electric or coal stove, and an antique refrigerator. Needless to say, the stove is dangerously close to the bed. Furthermore, to greatly increase the fire hazard, the refrigerator is quite apt to be plugged into a frayed drop cord. This house is built directly over "Nasty Branch", in which one finds broken bottles, old tires, even the frame of an old sofa. The water in this stream is always cloudy. The house will be removed and the creek cleaned up.

But there are other cases in which the outcome is still uncertain - of people living in filth and disease, both mental and physical, who are overlooked, who need help and understanding and a clean place to live. Our goal is to see the end of this squalor, to help those who can to help themselves; and for those who are helpless, to give that all-important lift into a better way of life.

RELOCATION

Few people enjoy moving. It is an unwelcome chore - moving furniture, appliances, arranging them in another house. And then there is the adjustment. It takes time and effort. But maybe it is worth it after all. From a shack with a leaking roof and no screens, a place with no indoor toilet or shower, a house with sagging floors and cracks in the walls, with only a coal stove for heat, with no hot water; to a house with indoor plumbing, with hot water and a bath, a house with a tight roof and a firm foundation, a house with adequate heat in winter, a house where the windows let the summer breeze in without the flies.

DEMOLITION

About thirty old houses have been demolished in this way. They have been neglected and allowed to deteriorate for too long to be restored. The material which supported them was not sound enough to remain..

REHABILITATION

But not all houses are beyond repair. Some are basically sound and need only time and care to become, once more, adequate places to live in. Sometimes, indeed, it is better to start over; but often it is better to restore what already exists. This is true of many houses in the East Riverside Urban Renewal Area. These houses need screens, paint, repair to the stairs, or the roof, or the floor. Sometimes they need rewiring, or a water heater, or a new furnace; but in general, it is more feasible to repair than demolish. This can save neighborhoods intact and eliminate the need to uproot families. In most cases, it is easier and more practical. And pride of ownership and living conditions still can be renewed. If blight is a cancerous disease, cannot its cure be equally contageous [sic]? With professional counsel and financial assistance in the form of long-term, low-interest government loans, homeowners can be inspired to repair and renew.

URBAN RENEWAL CITIZEN PARTICIPATION

The Redevelopment Commission realizes that it is not working just with buildings that can be measured and evaluated and depended upon to react in a predictable way to the hammer and saw of the carpenter, but also with people, the complexities of whom are not measurable, the values of whom are beyond price, and who are notoriously unpredictable. Therefore, when we approach a house for rehabilitation, we must also approach an occupant. We hope not only to restore property, but more important, to help rehabilitate human dignity. It is on this basis that we have approached the problem in the East Riverside Urban Renewal Area. The area has been divided into thirteen neighborhoods. Each of the neighborhoods has selected its own chairman whose responsibility is to serve as liaison between the Rehabilitation Site Office and the people in his area. He disseminates information, sparks initiative, and in general, leads his people toward rehabilitation. In these beginning stages, we are striving to kindle interest, to reawaken seeds of community pride, and to thus lay the groundwork for a comprehensive program of rehabilitation, both structural and human.

PROSPECTUS

The proposed Regional Public Health Center will provide an appropriate facility for offices and personnel that are now located in four separate buildings with inadequate parking and inadequate office space. Besides consolidating the separate offices into one building, specially equipped for the purposes to which they will be put, the new Center will allow necessary expansion of personnel. Space in the new facility will be provided for service in the fields of nursing, health, education, vital statistics, public health administration, epidemiological control, dental and school health, milk and food health inspection; a Regional Public Health Laboratory; Western North Carolina State Department of Public Health consulation [sic] office, Department of Water Resources, Division of Stream Sanitation; and possibly a training center

Less dramatic but perhaps more basic to the welfare of our citizens are plans for Public Housing in the East Riverside Urban Renewal Area. There are to be 500 units of housing in one-, two-, and three-unit buildings designed to blend unobstrusively with neighboring structures. One hundred units of the 500 are to be designated for the elderly, who have unique housing problems. This well-designed housing will do much to eliminate the stigma on Public Housing of Institutionalized living.

As a result of Urban Renewal, much prime land will be made available to individual and business and public interest to develop and build standard structures on. Livingston Street Elementary School will be enabled to acquire land for necessary expansion and a new YMCA can be built on land that will be cleared. New parks will break the monotony of city living and provide an expanse of green for beauty and recreation. New street patterns are designed to relieve traffic congestion, and, through residential areas, to slow its movement for safety's sake.

Much planning and coordinating has taken place within the past two years. Realistic solutions have been proposed for very real problems. We can be proud to say that Asheville's future indeed looks brighter because of Urban Renewal.

REDEVELOPMENT COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF ASHEVILLE
CIVIC REDEVELOPMENT PROJECT NO. N. C. R-13
BALANCE SHEET - SEPTEMBER 30, 1965

ASSETS

Project Costs:
     Project Cost Control ........................................................................................................... 1,337,032.53

Relocation Payments ..................................................................................................................... 29,005.61

Total Assets                                                                                                                         $ 3,238,153.18

LIABILITIES AND CAPITAL

Current Liabilities:
     Accounts Payable - Other .......................................................................................................... $ 450.00
                                    Real Estate Taxes .......................................................................................... 227.85
                                    Joint Activities ............................................................................................. 2,402.80
                                    Withheld Income and FICA Taxes ................................................................. 207.39
     Other Loans and Notes Payable .......................................................................................... 2,375,000.00
     Accrued Interest (Other Notes) .................................................................................................. 5,966.53
    
Capital:
     Cash Local Grants-in-Aid ...................................................................................................... 422,393.00
     Project Capital Grant ............................................................................................................. 402,500.00
     Relocation Grants Due from Government .................................................................................. 29,005.61

Total Liabilities and Capital                                                                                                $ 3,238,153.18

REDEVELOPMENT COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF ASHEVILLE
EAST RIVERSIDE PROJECT NO. N.C. R-48
BALANCE SHEET - SEPTEMBER 30, 1965

ASSETS

Current Assets:
     Cash in Bank ......................................................................................................................... $66,369.66
     Accounts Receivable -- Revolving Fund ..................................................................................... 2,000.00

Project Costs:
     Project Cost Control ................................................................................................................ 92,100.41

Total Assets                                                                                                                             $160,470.07

LIABILITIES

Current Liabilities:
     Accounts Payable (Contract Retention Withheld by LPA) ......................................................... $2,291.00
     Accounts Payable (Joint Activities) ............................................................................................. 1,301.03
     Withheld Income and FICA Taxes ................................................................................................. 496.08

     Advances Payable -- HHFA .................................................................................................. 154,750.00
     Accrued Interest on Advances Payable ...................................................................................... 1,631.96

Total Liabilities                                                                                                                        $160,470.07