By Sheree Sims
Northeast News
Editorial Assistant

Friday morning, demolition workers from Kansas City, Missouri’s Neighborhood and Housing Services department turned their attention to a dilapidated house at 1215 Fremont.

John Baccala, the Community Liaison for the Neighborhoods and Housing Services of Kansas City, stood nearby as a dilapidated house went under demolition.

“This house is just one of 857 in the Kansas City region that is due to be torn down as part of the city’s two-year, $10 million demolition program,” Baccala said.

According to Baccala, the full number of houses due to be torn down fluctuates due to new emergencies and accidents that transform homes into dangerous structures. Of the 857, there are eight that haven’t been addressed yet, and at least another 240 that are awaiting permission to be torn down.

A resident in the vicinity of the demolition stood by as the city prepared to tear down the building.

“I think it’s cool and it gets rid of dilapidated housing, but they’re not planning to do anything with it,” said Steve Bailey, who lives around the corner from where demolition was done. “People want to be able to plant row plants such as corn and community gardens, but the city does not allow it.”

Robert Eidson lives across the street from the house being torn down.

“I think it’s a good thing,” Eidson said. “It’s an eyesore. It’s been burned two or three times; it’s about time we got rid of it.”

This morning’s demolition of the fire-damaged house on Fremont was a continuation of the Neighborhood Revitalization Plan, which began in 2016 in an effort to eradicate the structures on the city’s dangerous buildings list. The Manchester School on Truman Road was one of the first buildings to undergo demolition under the Revitalization Plan.