City to Begin Tackling Blight by Buying, Knocking Down Vacant Properties

Vacant and run-down properties are a blight that affects the quality of life for all Woonsocket residents.

It’s also an impediment for efforts to revitalize the city, increase property values and shrug off years of economic stagnation.

Knowing this, the Woonsocket City Council on Tuesday voted to transfer $475,000 into a restricted account to help the city start buying and knocking down blighted properties in the city.

There are about 250 houses that the city knows to be vacant and the money will help convert those properties into developable lots and opportunities to start anew.

According to a city press release, residents have faced many years of tax increases and the taxpayers are beginning to see improvement in their neighborhoods “due to the pro-active Baldelli-Hunt administration strategy and the Council working together to solve this issue.”

The Council also transferred an additional $75,000 for demolition services at a previous meeting.

“I would like to thank my fellow Council members, Christopher Beauchamp, Melissa Murray, and Robert Moreau for stepping up to plate to correct this issue. It is very easy to say ’no’ but it is times like this that show leadership to actually fix problems instead of kicking it down the road.” said Councilman Garrett Mancieri.

Blighted properties also drain city coffers by requiring inspections and prompting crime, fires and other societal ills.

Knocking down old and vacant apartments is preferable to filling them with families, Mancieri said, since “the school department cost would increase as well.

“I have seen the effects of blighted properties on our real estate market which has brought down property values dramatically and raised tax rates for many years,“ the councilman said. “There is no one cost savings solution for Woonsocket, we have to do multiple things to address our declining economy and eliminating eyesore properties is a critical part of our economic comeback.”