Opinion: Pick your hazard

by Elissa Yount

By now we know that federal stimulus money is not going to rain down on Henderson.

However, when stimulus money begins to trickle down, our city government should have a planned priority list for using these trickles.

The highest priority should be given to removing hazards in our city. There are plenty of hazards from which to choose, and you may have your own hazards to add to this list. Our city cannot wait until there is a dire calamity and then react after the fact. This may be the only opportunity for a poor city to form a strategy for removing hazards so that we may be given the stimulus money to mitigate the problem. We must have a plan. Here are three dreadful hazards in our city that should top the list for removal.

The vacant Beacon Light Apartments are deplorable. They defy description. This blight is a magnet for unimaginable problems and it is, frankly, shameful that Henderson tolerates having this in our city. Allowing Beacon Light to exist in its present condition sends the message to all the people in the surrounding neighborhoods that Henderson does not care about them, their safety, or their well-being.

Beacon Light has many such units in the complex.

The burned unit is one of many of the hazards at Beacon Light complex.

Another hazard in Henderson is the old Wilkerson Coal Yard between Garnett Street and William Street, near the Spring Street crossing. It is frankly unbelievable that a property that poses such dangers lies right in our downtown while around this area business people Harriet Butler, Curtis White, and Irv Gupton keep exceptionally well-maintained properties. The overgrowth now hides many of the dangers at this time of year, but I challenge you to ride down the path beside this and wonder why this area has not been declared a brownfield.

This shows only a little of the approximately 100 feet of hazard at the old Wilkerson Coal Yard. The old rail bed is high, and there is a steep drop off to the bottom of the shed. The tin roof is the top of the shed.

A third hazard can be seen on Pettigrew Street, in the form of a vacant garage complex is attached to an old vacant hotel or motel. This property is equally disgraceful. The congregations of the Spring Street Baptist Church and Saint Andrews United Church of Christ have to tolerate this sight every Sunday. I predict that if this hazard were in front of the First Baptist Church it would have long since been removed.

The shell of this old garage presents a hazard to the neighborhood on Pettigrew Street.

A neighbor on the street came up and asked us to sign a petition to ask that the city take this building down. He said children play in and around it all the time.

Removing the environmental hazards and the bio-hazards that may be present at these sites is essential if we are ever to have a healthy city. The cost of cleaning up these areas is not going to be cheap. Unfortunately, when the owner does not take care of property, then the city must in order to protect all the citizens. What better use of stimulus money could there be? Removing hazards should come before maintaining services or providing non-essential services. It is time for our city government not to just take a position, but to do something about these hazards.