Before the owner died, neighbors said, the house at 4522 Lavender in Kashmere Gardens was one of the prettiest on the street.

But that was at least seven years ago, they said, before the fire, before vagrants trashed it and before the lot became overgrown. A utility worker even was stung by bees that one squatter was raising in the backyard, neighbor Mary Hawthorne said.

With a sharp crunch that brought children into their front yards to watch, the house, and then the garage behind it, fell under the teeth of a backhoe Saturday, the centerpiece of Mayor Annise Parker's fourth annual Demolition Day.

"You were just afraid to pass by because you never knew, you couldn't see back there," said Hawthorne, who's lived a few doors down for three decades. "There were people staying in there at night. We're just so grateful to have it down."

Though members of the Houston Contractors Association have been donating their time, labor and materials to help bring down blighted properties since the 1980s, Parker has grouped many such demolitions into one day to raise awareness of the "cancer" eating away at some neighborhoods from within, as blighted properties enable prostitution and drug use.

Saturday saw eight crews raze 31 homes, four garages and four sheds. Another 97 structures have gone through complex legal proceedings - which include owners ignoring multiple demands to secure their properties - and are slated to be razed by the end of July, officials said.

"These are not fancy houses, but they are nice, comfortable, safe houses, and this is a neighborhood. It is a neighborhood that deserves better," Parker said, motioning to the surrounding homes as neighbors stood in the street, watched from their porches or stared through screen doors. "The people who own these houses around us care about their houses and they care about their neighborhood and they care about the safety of their kids. Today, we are here to cut this cancer out."

By far the most structures on the city demolition schedule - 65 of the 136 - are in Councilman Jerry Davis' District B, which covers Fifth Ward, Kashmere Gardens, Acres Homes and Greenspoint.

"There's an elementary school right down the street from here, so kids have to walk past this house every day," Davis said. "The last thing we want to hear is someone being hurt in this house."

Neighbor Rosalee Ellis, who has lived on the block more than 50 years, wondered when the debris at the site would be cleaned up and if the vegetation would be trimmed. Kenneth Ellis called the day "bittersweet."

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City targets 39 blighted buildings on Demolition Day

Silo demolition fails, structure stuck leaning
An Australian demolition team used 220-lbs of explosives to bring down a silo - but it didn #39;t work. Charlie Rose reports.

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Silo demolition fails, structure stuck leaning - Video

Demolition in Australia goes wrong
http://ezmoneyprinter.com/zarettiandson A building demolition in Australia doesn #39;t quite go according to plan.

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Let #39;s Play Demolition Company Gold [Deutsch] - |Part 1| Saufkopf
Blog-Post #9669; #9669; #9669; http://www.thgames.de/2013/05/weekly-roundup-1.html#more #9659; #9659; #9659;Blog-Post #9669; #9669; #9669; --------------INFO----------------------------------------- Wir spie...

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Let's Play Demolition Company Gold [Deutsch] - |Part 1| Saufkopf - Video

Plantworx 2013, Avant Demolition Robot - A Walk Around
Robot demolition, that will never work. They said. Welcome Avant. Again. http://diggersanddozers.com Where plant video is made.

By: diggersanddozers

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Plantworx 2013, Avant Demolition Robot - A Walk Around - Video

IHOP Demolition
A wrecking crew tears down the IHOP on Washington Road which recently closed.

By: AugustaChronicleTV

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MOAB by 4atty 8 | Dome | Team Tactical | Demolition | Call of Duty: MW3
#1060; #1091; #1075; #1072; #1089; #1086; #1090; 4atty #1087; #1086; #1076; #1084; #1091; #1079; #1099; #1082; #1091;, #1082; #1086; #1090; #1086; #1088; #1072; #1103; #1077; #1084; #1091; #1085; #1088; #1072; #1074; #1080; #1090; #1100; #1089; #1103;.

By: MrFlightHR

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MOAB by 4atty 8 | Dome | Team Tactical | Demolition | Call of Duty: MW3 - Video

Black Ops 2 I Demolition en el barco mamon I WTF con Nintendo I Comentario 2.0
Que tal Razita como estan les comparto mi opinion de las nuevas de nintendo, que esten bien. Link de la Nota: http://pixelania.com/generalmenunews/22418-nuev...

By: Clanlec

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Black Ops 2 I Demolition en el barco mamon I WTF con Nintendo I Comentario 2.0 - Video

Boulder will allow the demolition of a historic but dilapidated house in the Goss-Grove neighborhood that was once home to former slaves and the city's early black settlers.

The house at 2118 Goss Circle is just 556 square feet. It's in poor condition and has lost many of its original characteristics, though it still demonstrates elements of the "hall and parlor" style of architecture many black migrants brought with them from the South.

Despite its poor condition, the home has cultural significance. The home lies in the neighborhood formerly known as the Little Rectangle, bounded by Canyon Boulevard, Goss Circle, 19th Street and 23rd Street. At the time it was settled, the land was less expensive because it was on the outskirts of town and prone to flooding, and it was the center of Boulder's early black community.

According to the city, the earliest recorded residents of the house were Frank and Lulu Hall. Frank Hall was a porter in a saloon, and Lulu Hall washed clothes. Frank Hall's parents, James and Martha Hall, were two of Boulder's earliest black residents, arriving in 1876. James Hall was a former slave and a Civil War veteran who joined the Union Army in Kansas.

Another former slave, Emily Ewing, born in Kentucky in 1818, lived in the home from 1901 until her death in 1911.

Two other homes in the Little Rectangle have received landmark status: the home of Ruth Cave Flowers, a Boulder lawyer and educator who was raised here by her grandmother and became the fourth black graduate of the University of Colorado; and the home of musician John Wesley McVey.

Earlier this year, the Landmarks Board put a stay on a request for a demolition permit, but on Wednesday, the board voted 3-2 to allow the demolition to go forward.

The applicant will have to first commission drawings and photographs of the home to document its historic features.

Board Chairman Mark Gerwing and members Nicholas Fiore and Kirsten Snobeck voted to allow the demolition. Members Elizabeth Payton and Kate Remley wanted the stay to continue in hope that a compromise could be worked out.

Gerwing said in an interview that the case was a hard one, as the home has great social and cultural significance. However, restoring it would have been extremely expensive, and the home had lost its historical integrity and context.

Continue reading here:
Divided Boulder Landmarks Board grants demolition permit

JILLIAN AUSTIN/BRANDON SUN Enlarge Image

Ken Fowles, owner of Fowles Barbershop on Ninth Street, says his business remains open despite facing building safety concerns triggered by the demolition of an adjacent wall at the former Brandon Inn. The 76-year-old took over the family business in 1966 and has no intention of giving it up any time soon.

The demolition of a wall adjacent to Fowles Barbershop has compromised the structure of the building, effectively putting Ken Fowles out of business, says engineer Phil Dorn.

Enlarge Image

Workers take down the final remaining wall from the old Brandon Inn on Thursday. The wall protected Ken Fowles barbershop from lateral winds. (GRANT HAMILTON/BRANDON SUN)

Dorn, who represents Fowles, met with the City of Brandon representatives on site of the demolition at Ninth Street and Princess Avenue on Tuesday, where he advised them against taking down the north wall of the former Brandon Inn.

"There is structural and environmental relationship between the north wall of the Brandon Inn and the south wall of the barbershop," said Dorn, of Samson Engineering. "Secondly I said to the city on site, if you take it down you will put Mr. Fowles, which is an older man, youll put him out of business They chose to disregard that."

The wall was taken down Thursday. Dorn not the city asked Fowles to vacate the building due to safety concerns.

"As an engineer I have to advise him because of his own personal safety and the clients that hes got to vacate his building," Dorn said.

While the two buildings were not physically attached, the walls were very close, and a portion of the former Brandon Inn wall protected the barbershop from lateral wind loads.

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Wall demolition a blow to barbershop