Seeing this house just makes me so mad. I know there are like 100 other ones just like this, but this is seriously such a shame that houses fall is to such disrepair like this one. Look at the molding that is missing on the left. It has the obvious bones and potential to be a million dollar home on the upper east side somewhere. Someone just has to have a good size wallet or good backing to fix this place. With the restoration trend being so hot in other parts of the country, it’s just frustrating to see that Newburgh hasn’t fully caught on yet….slowly but surely though it WILL get there though! 

Recently I’ve been following a blog about gentrification in DC in the Shaw area. The same woman who runs it also takes great pictures of how her neighborhood is changing on flickr. I see so many similarities to Newburgh (architecturally wise and abandoned/neglected building wise). It’s an area where things are still changing. There are still abandoned boarded up buildings next to beautifully restored homes. It’s great to see how the restoration of those homes is underway, and how it’s really starting to become a trend in certain areas of DC. And to think these were areas that were depressed for decades- with the same problems other poverty stricken cities face. Change is not impossible. It’s refreshing to see that people (regardless of race/class/origin) are deciding to fix up these historic gems. The houses have this cute style where the homeowners paint each of their buildings a different color. Look at a couple of pics, some of the blocks look exactly like some blocks in Newburgh. This would look awesome.

I can see similarities in Newburgh and other cities that have been restored. One of the biggest is to see organizations like Habitat for Humanity taking derelict buildings and making them into homes. When the community starts to help itself, that’s when others take notice and change starts to happen. I recently have started a page on myspace to draw further attention to this blog. When I type in “Newburgh” and “artist” I am really astonished to see how many people apparently seem to be legit artists or studying art! So it’s obvious the only thing missing here is a not-for-profit art organization in Newburgh…..soon to be in the works (if I have anything to do with it). That is going to be a lot of work.