CITY SPEEDS DEMOLITION OF DESERTED OLD HOUSES

FORT WORTH - Bessie Borden's voice sang out yesterday as a bulldozer
plowed into the side of an abandoned house that attracted prostitutes,
drug addicts and thieves to her quiet block for three years.

"Bring it down," she cried. "Just like the walls of
Jericho!"

Such demolitions could total 350 by October, an approximately 35
percent increase over last fiscal year, city officials said. The
faster demolitions have more than halved a backlog of substandard
houses that stood at about 1,000 two years ago.

Officials hope to tear down the remaining structures by April 2000,
said Paul Bounds, superintendent of Fort Worth's Code Compliance division.

Many dilapidated, abandoned homes draw crime to neighborhoods, police
said, and police and code compliance officers are working together to
hasten their demolition.

The city no longer puts individual demolitions out for bid, choosing
instead to sign annual contracts with companies to tear down
dilapidated houses, Bounds said. When neighborhood police officers
pass along residents' complaints about a substandard house, the
demolition process can proceed more quickly than in the past,
officials said.

The destruction of the 2-story, wood-frame house at 1060 Bransford St.
yesterday ended years of calls from Borden, 71, to officer Allen
Speed, who is permanently assigned to Borden's neighborhood.

Many nights, said Borden, who has lived on the block since 1963, she
watched suspicious characters coming and going from the house. A
devout Christian, she said she was irritated by the frequent smell of
marijuana smoke wafting into her living room. And last month someone
stole three cast-iron chairs from her front porch, she said.

In turn, Speed forwarded information to code compliance officers about
complaints, citations and arrests for drug use and prostitution at the
house.

"The people that pay their tax dollars over here have a right to live
in a safe environment," said Speed, whose beat includes a chunk of
near southeast Fort Worth stretching from Interstate 35W to Riverside
Drive.

Complaints about criminal violations at the house began about three
years ago after a fire, neighbors said. Soon after, the rooms were
filled with old mattresses, food containers and detritus.

Officers have written citations and arrested people on suspicion of
drug use, prostitution and inhabiting a substandard residence, Speed
said.

Michael Weissenstein,
(817) 390-7386
weissenm@star-telegram.com