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NEIGHBORHOOD IMPROVEMENT STRATEGIES
The Mack Avenue Strong Neighborhoods Plan identifies five focus areas for neighborhood improvements. They are: Housing & Amenities, Open Space & Vacant Land, Sylvester-Seyburn Park, Pingree Park, and East Grand Boulevard.
Within the overall project area, there are two different neighborhoods with very different characteristics. The neighborhood east of Maxwell Street is anchored by Pingree Park. It is characterized by denser housing with most blocks retaining most of their historic structures in tact. There are multiple schools and churches in the neighborhood, some occupied, some vacant, that provide visual, physical, and social anchors for the community.
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The neighborhood west of Maxwell has lower housing density with larger quantities of open space between structures. Seyburn Park and the adjacent former-Sylvester School site provide a large green public space at the center of the neighborhood.
At the western edge of the project site is East Grand Boulevard. With its beautiful historic homes, many now converted to senior care and social service providers, and wide grassy median at the center of the street, East Grand Boulevard still retains much of its former grandeur, but is pock-marked by vacancy and neglect.
At the southern edge of the project site is Mack Avenue. It is the former commercial corridor that supported neighborhood retail, but now has a significant amount of vacant land and vacant buildings. Several churches make their home on Mack Avenue that have provided stability as other parts of the avenue have declined. Recent projects like The Commons are bringing neighborhood retail back to the avenue.
In the following pages, a range of neighborhood improvement strategies were proposed at community meetings and in resident surveys. The most popular strategies are indicated and should be considered highest priorities as MACC Development begins implementation of the plan.
Five focus areas:
1. Housing & Amenities
2. Open Space & Vacant Land
3. Sylvester-Seyburn Park
4. Pingree Park
5. East Grand Boulevard
SylvesterSeyburn Park