Rehabilitate, not raze

In your March 9 article "Progress eats into history," you shone some light onto the seemingly impossible situation facing the City of Raleigh -- preserving older (even historic) established neighborhoods while attracting residential real estate developers and buyers to these very same areas in order to inject them with a shot of economic vitality.

Although most readers have been exposed through similar articles to the "one or the other" mentality of either shunning developers entirely or giving them carte blanche to raze single-story homes and replace them with 3,000-square-foot mini-mansions, an alternative is thriving.

This alternative is sustainable neighborhood revitalization through the rehabilitation of existing structures with energy-saving -- even drought-friendly -- green building techniques. Older homes in established, many times forgotten Raleigh neighborhoods are being reborn, attracting new homeowners -- young couples or young families attracted to living inside the Beltline and the opportunity to own an older home in an established neighborhood. Once one home is rehabilitated, other nearby homes follow suit, and over time you have a neighborhood rebirth, with older residents bonding with new neighbors eager to contribute to their community.

Community revitalization through home rehabilitation is truly an alternative that works for Raleigh.

Paul Murphy

Apex