State Representative Alan Silvia got a first hand look inside of the fire ravaged King Phillips Mill Complex on Kilburn Street in the city’s south end today, Februrary 12th. Silvia, who also serves as the South End Neighborhood Association President, toured the building with flashlights and accompanied by fire officials.
The complex was engulfed in flames in 2013, and has been a safety hazard to neighboring residents ever since. Silvia tell Frcmedianews.org that “Walking inside the mill is like going back 100 years to when the mill was operating in its glory that coming back to the present to witness its slow death over the century, adding, “It’s sad. There is debris – old furniture, clothes, boxes – and other junk lying everywhere.”
A feasibility study is in the works to determine if the complex should be demolition. Silvia is hoping that decision comes to fruition.
“Anything that can make our city safer is what I want to see happen, and in my opinion demolishing the mill complex will make the south end neighborhood fall into that category,” Silva adds.
One thing that must come of this is that the city make sure that we don’t let companies get so far behind that it’s a benefit to them to let the city keep it.
We need to go after them righ away. Maybe had we done that in the first place, we may have taken the mill before it got on fire and before it became so bad that we can’t even give it away.
Fall River has a real bad way of dealing with companies when they fall behind on taxes.Almost al our problem with vacant homes and structures as well as yards and lots over run with trash and brush is do to a lack of enforcement .
I was reading some time back that a city in Mss put on a few contracted people to ride the city and do a digital catalog of all the placed like this. they used a small about of money from a bond to pay the men and they did not pay any Insurence, Retiirement or medical to the contracted employees.
It said that after around 3 to 6 months enough money came in from fines to begin putting the men on the payroll and after one year, all were on the books and the city was making money, but was also getting the city cleaned up and selling FR the stock that was not so bad they had to keep it.
Might be something to look into to.