Dayton city leaders expressed their desire to hear from residents, which is why the mayor plans to take to the streets.
This Thursday, they will visit the Edgemont Neighborhood at the Edgemont Solar Garden. The event begins at 6 p.m.
Last month, Mayor Jeffrey Mims held the first neighborhood conversation in the Five Oaks neighborhood.
Joe Craig, president of the Five Oaks Neighborhood Association, stated that his neighbors share concerns similar to those echoed across the city.
“Vacancies, blighted homes — those are a couple of big concerns. As well as illegal dumping and the negative impact on home values — a sense of neighborhood pride,” Craig said. “It’s hard to feel invested in the neighborhood when you’re walking by homes that haven’t been lived in for 15 years and are in serious disrepair and blighted.”
Craig further indicated absentee landlords and speculative real estate investors pose another issue.
“People who have never seen the property they own, and have little care about Five Oaks and the neighborhood and the folks who live here and the folks sending them money every month," he said.
According to Craig, another concern is motorists who speed through the neighborhood.
Mayor Mims will hold additonal neighborhood meetings thorugh out the city until September.
This Thursday Mayor Jeffrey Mims is launching a series of neighborhood visits.
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