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A large eye followed by the word "sore," painted on the boarded-up windows of 34 Walnut St. in the Natrona section of Harrison, says it all for the dilapidated structure.

Neighbors said the residential building has continued to deteriorate during the past several years. Boarded-up windows along with a yard where weeds grow wild show that nobody has paid attention to the property for years.

"What can you do?" neighbor Chris Milauskas asked while shaking his head. "You just throw your hands up."

Milauskas said he tried to clean up the yard at the abandoned home, but it became a losing battle. His new goal is to keep the weeds from overtaking his wooden fence and infiltrating his yard, which sits a few feet away from the house.

"It's an every weekend job to try to keep the fence line clear," Milauskas said.

Milauskas and Glenn Smith, who lives two doors down, said the house creates safety concerns and lowers property values.

"Tear it down. Rip it down," Smith said.

His wish should come true. The house is one of three abandoned residential structures in Natrona scheduled to be razed by year's end.

The others sit at 14 Walnut St. and 12 Wood St.

The money is coming from federal Community Development Block Grant funds.

The three homes are among a large number across the Valley which, for one reason or another, sit abandoned and beyond repair.

Many times, the homeowner die,s and nobody wants the property. Other times, the homeowner walks away. It's an epidemic that leaders in aging river towns across the Valley are aware of and are attempting to address.

For some municipalities such as New Kensington, city leaders have an abundance of dilapidated structures that they are attempting to clear out to try to help spur economic development and bring the city back to prominence.

For other municipalities such as Springdale, there are a handful of abandoned homes that sit in otherwise attractive neighborhoods.

But finding the money and resources, and prioritizing what structures need to be torn down often are stumbling blocks.

Revitalizing New Kensington, Arnold

Leaders in New Kensington and Arnold have begun aggressive demolition plans to try to help bring new business and people into the cities.

In the past two years, at least 52 structures have been razed throughout New Kensington. The city acquired 30 of the structures, which sat on 56 properties behind the city's post office and tore them down last year.

New Kensington officials want to make the corridor into a light industrial district to attract businesses and new jobs.

This year, 22 structures throughout the city were torn down. Three were commercial structures, and the others residential.

City Councilman Mike Langer said city officials want to:

= Get rid of structures that present health and safety issues.

= Tear down structures that sit in strategic development areas.

"Oftentimes, one house can change the whole outlook of a neighborhood," Langer said.

He said after identifying problem homes, city officials try to reach the owners to inform them of the violations and give them a reasonable time frame to make repairs.

"I don't want to give the impression that the city has the ability or intent to go through and start taking people's properties," Langer said.

But homeowners sometimes can't be found or don't want anything to do with the property.

Finding money for demolition projects is hard, Langer said, but city officials are using a portion of the federal Community Development Block Grant money.

He said the city usually gets about $500,000 per year, and it's been using about $175,000 of that for demolition. Arnold officials are doing the same thing. Tom Dunn, the city's community development officer, said the city gets about $400,000 annually. Of that, he said about $70,000 to $80,000 goes to demolition.

Dunn said city officials won't use the money for demolition unless the city can acquire the properties.

He said the city buys some of the properties at free and clear sales. These sales are conducted after county officials fail to sell them at sheriff's sale, and they are then sold free of taxes.

Dunn said officials recently tore down 12 structures. He said the city has been razing about a dozen buildings every 1 1/2 to 2 years.

They are targeting the area in the 1300 block of Third Avenue between the New Kensington line and 14th Street for development.

"Council has made it a priority," Dunn said. "For the last number of years, there's been money budgeted."

Because Arnold has little room for expanding its development area, city officials must concentrate on redevelopment.

New Kensington's Langer is looking for that same impetus for growth and economic development. The councilman said a proposed riverfront development project could contribute to that.

Christopher Wagner, president of Monroeville-based Infinite Possibilities, is proposing a $60 million conversion of about 24 acres from the Ninth Street Bridge to about Seventh Street.

Wagner's plans call for constructing 40 condominiums, 40 town houses and 30 patio homes. A restaurant, hotel and two 40,000 square-foot office buildings with 16,000 square feet of retail space also are in the plans.

He has said the development would bring about 400 jobs to the city.

"We think it's a very viable project that might be the engine," Langer said.

Langer and Dunn agree that the future of the two cities is tied to demolishing a part of the past.

"The foundation to all of this plan is a better visible plan for Arnold and New Kensington, and that's what New Kensington is doing," Langer said. "I believe we have been the most aggressive, but we are certainly no the only ones working on the problem."

Searching for funds

Tarentum Code Enforcement Officer Tim Kuhns has a list of 20 abandoned residential properties borough officials would tear down today if they had the money. But they say there's only enough money this year to do four.

The problem was exacerbated by the Sept. 17 flooding, which left at least eight homes in serious disrepair.

Officials received $19,600 in Community Development Block Grants for the demolition. The money will be used to raze four of the eight homes on Kuhns' wish list that sit in the flood area. The other 12 residential structures are scattered around the borough.

Two of the homes, 208 W. Eighth Ave., and 212 Ross St., have been abandoned for at least 10 years.

The money for the demolition projects in Tarentum and Harrison is CDBG money administered by the Allegheny Valley North Council of Governments. It's coming from the council of government's poo of cash, according to COG Executive Director Tom Benecki. Benecki said Allegheny County used to have a separate fund set aside for demolition projects, the safe neighborhoods demolition program. That fund was lost after a federal lawsuit successfully challenged a related program.

Now the only way that the Valley's COG communities in Allegheny County receive demolition money is to use what's called COG area-wide funds. Benecki said each council of government in the county gets about $175,000 per year to spilt between communities. The Allegheny Valley North Council of Governments is comprised of 13 communities.

That comes to less than $13,500 for each town annually.

He said it usually costs between $6,500 and $7,500 to tear down a typical home.

Benecki said the area-wide money can be used for any project, but some communities can't afford to use it for demolition projects.

Harrison, Springdale and Tarentum are the only three using the money for demolition this year.

"We find now communities are reluctant because there's not a separate demolition fund," Benecki said. "You have to weigh it."

Similar story in Vandergrift

Vandergrift Code Enforcement Officer Missy Holmes also is fishing for money to tear down two homes. She has applied for a grant through the Westmoreland County Redevelopment Authority.

The homes are at 902 Wallace St. and 179 Franklin Ave. Nobody has lived in the Franklin Avenue home since it was heavily damaged in a fire in March 2004 and its owners walked away, she said.

Holmes said borough officials received about $2,000 after the fire for the Franklin Street home; it will take about $2,500 more to get it torn down.

Holmes said she expects to hear by late summer whether the borough will get the money.

She said at least 10 other houses across the borough need to be addressed.

Holmes hopes the borough will get money to tear down two or three more next year.

Living near an eyesore

When Terry Findon steps out of his well-kept, ranch-style home on Butler Street in Springdale, it's hard for him to ignore the once proud but now decrepit home that sits across the street at 350 Butler St.

"The whole front porch is falling off," Findon said.

He said nobody has lived in the home, which used to belong to a dentist, for at least six years. He said he heard the dentist at one time also had his offices there.

Findon said he worries about rodents and cats, and he said it's also dropped his property value.

"It would be nice to see that torn down," he said.

The borough received a grant for $11,000, and officials hope to have the house torn down sometime this year.

Borough Secretary April Winklmann said a demolition date hasn't been set but it should be before the end of summer.

She said although the Butler Street home is a major structural eyesore, aging homes are starting to become a bigger problem in the borough.

She said officials are trying to work with the owner of two homes in the 700 block of Garfield Street that have begun to fall into disrepair. Nobody is living in either home, she said.

"We're trying to give them the benefit of the doubt," Winklmann said.

Freeport Council President Jim Seagriff said the community has been able to remain relatively free of dilapidated homes, and officials haven't had to worry too much about demolition.

He said there is one abandoned house on Franklin Street that is falling into disrepair but officials haven't taken action.

"For the most part, we're pretty fortunate," Seagriff said. "But we certainly have some properties that could be fixed up."

Jason Walker can be reached at jawalker@tribweb.com.

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