Sheriff Tom Dart, detainees and village of Dolton celebrate demolition of abandoned homes

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Raccoons sticking out their heads, falling bricks and a “weird smell” are Lala Miranda’s strongest memories of the abandoned house that used to sit next to her home in Dolton.

“It was horrible,” she said Tuesday morning at her doorstep, gazing at the smooth brown dirt that now occupies the space where the derelict property once sat. “A brick from that house once fell and hit my brother on the head.”

Earlier that morning, a few blocks away at the Dolton Village Hall, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, Dolton Mayor Riley Rodgers, Dolton firefighters, two county detainees, a spokesman from the nonprofit Chicago Community Trust, and two town residents gathered for bagels and conversation to celebrate the program through which the detainees helped demolish the vacant house next to Miranda’s, at 257 E. 140th Place…Please click here for Tara Kadioglu’s story in the Tribune/Daily Southtown.