The title doesn't suggest a connection to religion and politics but keep reading.

I'm glad to see it happening and am tired of hearing preservationists whine about needing to save these abandoned houses (while not doing a damned thing to purchase and preserve these houses themselves). However, I can see potential problems with a city government entering into partnership with a church.

Demolition and rebuilding blitz begins on East Side : City & Region : The Buffalo News

From the article:

When the demolitions are finished, work will begin on four “West Coast suburban-style” homes that are being built by the development arm of True Bethel Baptist Church. The project represents the type of coordinated development that is being linked to demolition blitzes in many other parts of the city, Brown said.

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A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air.

"Why?" asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes toward the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.

"I'm a panda," he says at the door. "Look it up."

The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation.

"Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."

Bravo to efforts at getting rid of blight. If something's worthy of preservation, it would have been preserved rather than abandoned. Just because a house is old, doesn't make it "historical".

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There is no sig. There never was a sig. The sig is a lie.