TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — We all want to see our neighborhoods grow and improve, but one City of Tallahassee project trying to do just that is uprooting neighbors.
The project is tearing down huge oak trees and demolishing buildings in the Boynton Still neighborhood and those who live there want the bulldozing to stop.
There's a sign on a tree around the corner from a recent demolition. The sign reads "if these trees could talk, they'd be saying let me live."
Neighbors said they want city leaders to reconsider a project on the Southside of town that tears down old oak trees and buildings that have been there for decades to pave the way for a multi-use road and trail.
The project will connect the Bond neighborhood and Cascades Park to the St. Marks trails and extend toward the airport. It also calls for a needed stormwater pond in the area.
But those who live here feel like these buildings could have been restored into affordable housing or a community center to preserve the Boynton Still neighborhood, which some families have lived in for generations.
"I usually don't have feelings but this is pretty bad. I just know that you want to move people out not just where we're living, where we grew up at, you know, everything," said Loren Hubbard, who grew up in the Boynton Still neighborhood. "Where I grew up, where I was raised, where I learned to be a good person."
City commissioners say the demolished buildings were run-down and unlivable. They say this project aims to revitalize this neighborhood and help move the city forward one community at a time.
People who live here love the Boynton Still neighborhood and don't want to see parts of it torn down.
On the other hand, the city says although these houses are old, they don't meet the criteria to be on the historical registry.
