[Durham INC] instead of plywood on windows...

Fri Mar 4 16:27:30 EST 2011

Fletch,

I love your name.

I have worked with scores of buyers looking to become owner-occupants in lots of disadvantaged areas in Durham. Boards on windows is, in my opinion, a bad idea. Celebrating this emptiness with art in the windows, where real people should be living, is a bad idea.&nbsp;

Please, for one minute, consider it through the eyes of a prospective buyer. Sure, there will be folks who will take the plunge, but you are limiting the size of your prospective buyer pool. 

I am happy to give you a walking tour of the area I work in anytime. Bring a flashlight and I will take you into a home I am contracted to buy. It has boarded up windows. Squatters sleep there every night. Their bedding smells of urine. The tubs and toilet are filled with feces. There are the tell-tale signs of drug addition all over the home. The address is 701 Holloway. 

I will wear my work clothes to the closing. After signing the papers, I will go straight to one job site, pick up some of my guys and go to the house and the boards will come down that day. 

I can take you inside countless others. My&nbsp;cell is&nbsp;475-8866.
&nbsp;
Ken Gasch

-- Sent from my Palm Pre
On Mar 4, 2011 10:15 AM, Fletch &lt;fletch.groups at gmail.com&gt; wrote: 

Ken, not every boarded up house has a neighbor that can keep an eye on it. There are entire blocks of streets that are made up entirely of boarded up houses. Turning these buildings into art may increase traffic and visibility around them, helping decrease squatters and general crime in the neighborhoods they are in. Detroit has had some success with this.

On Thu, Mar 3, 2011 at 10:34 PM, Ken Gasch &lt;Ken at kengasch.com&gt; wrote:

Boarded up windows scream: "Hello squatter, please consider prying a board loose on my back side and coming on in. As you can see by my boarded up windows, I am empty and nobody will bother you for weeks at a time." &nbsp;Artwork will do the same thing.

Boarding up homes is a bad policy.

Homes should be lived in.&nbsp;

I have had to keep squatters out of houses scores of times. &nbsp;

For starters, go in a few times and throw all their belongings out. That usually keeps them from coming back.

Empower the neighbors to watch the house for you. I have one project where a neighbor ran off some would-be looters/squatters with a 12-gage, double barrel shotgun. &nbsp;

Get temporary power on and play music and keep a light on or two. Put lights on timers.

Sign a trespass agreement with the police and post "no trespassing" signs. My sign is not big and neon orange. My sign is very small. It does not scream: "empty house." &nbsp;It is in 12-point type and says: "No Trespassing. Durham Police Department,&nbsp;Pursuant to NC General Statute 14-153.13 (1), I&nbsp;hereby&nbsp;authorize any officer of the Durham Police Department to arrest and remove any intruder found upon these premises.&nbsp; I will testify in court as to my power to delegate this authority. &nbsp;Please do not hesitate to phone me at any time of day or night. &nbsp;Thank you, Ken Gasch 919.475.8866."

Do not board up houses!!!

Ken Gasch

REALTOR®/Broker

Seagroves Realty
www.KenGasch.com
C: 919.475.8866
F: 866.229.4267

On Thu, Mar 3, 2011 at 10:24 PM, Barry Ragin &lt;bragin at nc.rr.com&gt; wrote:

You know, for a city that's on everyone's list of the top ten places to live in the US, we sure seem to have a lot of vacant and abandoned houses in this town.

I can't for the life of me understand why that should be.

Barry Ragin

On 3/3/11 4:30 PM, Melissa's yahoo wrote:

Maybe Durham would consider hosting a contest where artists paint a board to be permanently displayed in windows that are broken/in disrepair. Durham could give a small cash prize and/or display the winning board at City Hall or something like that. It would be great publicity for the many artists in Durham and the Triangle. If this doesn't float, maybe we can make it a contest for schools or school aged children and give the winner a $200 savings bond - this is what they did for the Durham America Recycles Day contest this year. Or the winner's school could get a raingarden installation or something like that, which we want to see done anyway...

Melissa

Sent from my iPad

On Mar 2, 2011, at 7:13 PM, "RW Pickle"&lt;randy at 27beverly.com&gt; &nbsp;wrote:

Since this is a current topic of a new committee, those involved (as well

as anyone else interested) should view the recent window treatment

(instead of plywood or other materials) used by NIS on a house located on

Holloway Street. The house is located on the right in the first block

(going out Holloway from downtown past the Public Library) just past the

Dillard Street intersection. The house is white and I believe it's the 3rd

or 4th on the right as you head out Holloway that way. This is a window

treatment that offers security, yet looks like a window. The house also

has fresh straw in the yard from reseeding (just to help you locate it).

It has much better curb appeal than plywood and just casually looking, it

looks like windows are in place.

Randy Pickle

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