FALL RIVER Thanks to the revitalized Building Blocks Program under Mayor Paul Coogan s administration there are two less extremely blighted properties in two Fall River neighborhoods and some pretty happy residents.
“This should have been done a long time ago,” said Lawton Street resident Antonio Quental. “There were rats and animals living in there, especially in winter. It feels like it s been like that for 10,000 years.”
Quental has lived across from 230 Lawton Street, a bungalow that was abandoned for years and determined by city inspectors that the structure could not be saved.
Funding for demolition or rehabilitation
The city, through the Community Development Agency, has again partnered with the Abandoned Housing Initiative Receivership program through the state Attorney General’s office. The program, which provides loans for property rehabilitation or demolition, was first introduced during former Mayor Will Flanagan’s tenure with nota