Savannah mayor pledges to battle blight
“To some people “eminent domain” are two very dirty words, but to Savannah city leaders, it’s what they say they need to clean up and improve neighborhoods.
“I had classmates that were on this street. I had community leaders that lived on this street and it looks totally different from the way it was when I grew up,” said Marsha Buford while walking down Cumming Street in West Savannah.
Instead of the thriving few blocks she remembers, there are now at least nine abandoned homes.
“I guess that’s the disheartening part is to see property that people worked so hard for and struggled to keep now completely gone,” Buford said.
Ronald Williams is the president of the West Savannah Neighborhood Association. He says there’s a blighted home on nearly every block and more than 100 in the neighborhood.
“They’ve been here for decades, you know 10, 20 years,” Williams said.
“It’s just not right; it’s just not right,” said Mayor Eddie Deloach, about blighted properties. “We’re going to make a difference here. It’s going to be a big time.””
Senger, Ben. WSAV TV 10 April 2017.