8th Avenue

Huntington's 8th Avenue from 20th Street up to about 29th Street is a neighborhood of many uses. You find active retail businesses, at least one house of worship, industrial-type businesses, residences and storage and moving companies.

I was up there this afternoon looking around in preparation of writing an editorial for Sunday's paper. (These plans can always change). Here are a few things I noted:



1. Some people in the neighborhood don't want this closed bowling alley demolished and replaced with storage units. But the block has several uses already.




2. You can tell how long the bowling alley has been closed because it still has a C-band satellite dish on the roof. Does anyone still use these things anymore?



3. Here is why we need to restore the brick streets in Huntington . . .




. . . to give pigeons a place to eat.

4. This house burned recently. The house had been condemned before it caught fire on Sept. 18. It is one of many such structures in Huntington. This one happens to be along one of the busiest streets in the city.



5. People are interested in the future of the bowling alley property because they live nearby.



Their problem is how to preserve the best of their neighborhood while replacing properties and buildings that have no future in their present states. They have to ask if having a vacant building with a large parking lot is better than seeing the property rezoned and possibly in the future having a neighbor such as a night club that they don't want.