13 INVESTIGATES: Dozens of emergency demolition targets still standing

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --

On the heels of a dozen vacant home arsons last spring, Birmingham Mayor William Bell pitched a plan to bulldoze hundreds of Birmingham's dilapidated buildings.

I can almost assure you that the houses we're looking at are the worst of the worst, Bell pointed out.

The Mayor asked for $1.5 million from the city's savings account.

However the city could only use that money, if the demolition was declared an extraordinary circumstance and if five City Councilors approved.

While some Councilors felt the move violated their policy of only spending five percent of city savings in a given year; most backed the plan.

I will be the first one to go out there Mr. Mayor with a hard hat and a sledgehammer and knock the first brick some of these dilapidated structures because they need to be torn down, Councilor Johnathan Austin argued.

I am certainly in agreement that if these places are beyond saving we do need to get them down because they bring the neighborhood down, stated Councilor Valerie Abbott.

We can violate our own policy when there is an emergency and we are in an emergency status, then-Councilor Carole Smitherman said.

It was an emergency plan to demolish the more than 220 properties.

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13 INVESTIGATES: Dozens of emergency demolition targets still standing