Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 10, 1993 TAG: 9306100066
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BEDFORD LENGTH: Long
It could be worse, she says.
But not much worse.
The wooden boards that once provided a sturdy front stoop have been rotting away for years, leaving gaping holes down into the dirt.
Inside, the plaster walls are crumbling in places. The roof leaks.
A cooking pot has been stuffed into the kitchen wall to plug an opening left when the old cook stove and its flue were removed.
Davis says smoke still seeps around the pot, however, anytime she lights the wood stove on the other side of the wall in the living room.
The wood stove is the only source of heat. She says it doesn't provide much warmth to the other rooms in the house.
The only running water is to the kitchen sink, and there is no hot water at all.
The toilet flushes, but Davis, 37, and her four children have to cart buckets of water to fill its tank with each use.
They heat water on the kitchen stove for baths.
Yet, despite the home's condition, Davis looks on the bright side.
"Sometimes you have to thank the Lord for the little bit you have, and somehow he'll make it so you can get something better."
Her outlook is a trait inherited from her grandmother, like the house on Bondurant Alley in Bedford's King Street community that her grandmother willed to her when she died in 1988.
Davis says her grandmother, Lizzie Quarles, remained proud of her home until the day she died. She accepted its condition and was never ashamed.
Quarles was a generous woman who always kept her door open to family and friends anytime they needed a place to stay.
When Davis talks about her grandmother, her face beams with pride.
Her grandmother had always wished, though, that she had something better to offer the people she took in.
Soon, Davis at least will.
"It would be like a tribute to my grandmother."
Davis is one of many residents in this low-income neighborhood of mostly wood-frame homes three blocks from Bedford's downtown who stands to benefit from a revitalization program the city started in the community three years ago. At the center of the program is nearly $1 million in federal housing money that the city is hoping will come its way.
Bedford has applied for a $981,000 community development block grant targeted for revitalizing the King Street community. If received, the city would match the grant with $50,000 in additional revitalization money.
However, it is uncertain whether the city will receive the money. Similar requests have been denied in the past, and Bedford's application is one of 41 vying for about a dozen grants.
Jennie Martin, the city's assistant grants coordinator, said she expects a decision on the King Street project this month. The grant is administered through the state Department of Housing and Community Development.
Still, people in the neighborhood have hope.
Some residents, like Elaine Davis, will get new homes built for them if the grant comes through. Other houses would be rehabilitated. There also would be money to assist first-time homeowners to buy a house in the community.
In all, 36 of the 84 occupied homes in the neighborhood would get assistance, Martin said.
Penny Bryant is trying not to get her hopes up, but she says it is difficult not to.
Her home on Franklin Street is one that needs to be rebuilt. It is typical of some of the substandard housing in the neighborhood.
For Bryant, her worst problems are with the wood stove and the water heater.
The boards under her water heater are rotting, and the tank is in danger of falling through the floor.
The flue for the wood stove is improperly connected to the outside chimney. She won't light a fire at night for fear that it could burn down the house.
On some winter nights it gets too cold without a fire, so Bryant says she stays up all night to keep one going.
"This is how I have to live."
But like many residents, Bryant, 47, can't afford to fix the problems herself. A series of medical ailments prevents her from working more than part-time.
She gets almost giddy at the prospect of getting a new home built. "I'd feel like a queen. I seriously would."
Not all the homes in the King Street community are in disrepair.
Some have been maintained through the years, and remain as inviting as they were when the neighborhood was in its prime a half-century ago.
Nan Johnson runs the only store, Nan's Grocery, that survives from that time. She remembers as a girl when the store doubled as a restaurant and people would gather there to talk and to dance around the jukebox.
She hopes that sort of vitality returns to the community.
Already, there has been some progress.
A handful of younger people have moved in and built new houses.
Also, the city last year received a $400,000 state grant that is being used to replace 12 homes for people who were living in dilapidated houses. Four of those homes are complete or nearly complete. The other eight will go for construction bids this summer.
Buford Wright, 68, lives in one of the new houses on King Street, on the same lot where he has lived since 1954. The house cost about $38,000 and still smells of new carpeting.
He says that when he moved in, he treated himself to a long, hot bath. "Yeah, I laid in there and they thought they wouldn't get me out."
Likewise, Elaine Davis says she will rejoice.
"I told everybody I was going to have a housewarming party and I don't want no gifts. I just would have a little celebration."
by CNB