Woman advocates efforts to preserve downtown neighborhoods in Sebring
SEBRING – When Charlotte Pressler accepted a job as a professor at South Florida State College, it was natural for her to buy a historic house in Sebring’s downtown area because she has lived in such neighborhoods much of her life, she recalled Friday.
When she first moved there, most of the 1920s-era homes were occupied on her block and it was a vibrant neighborhood.
Now, an increasing number of the homes are vacant – some for sale, some under foreclosure and others that appear to be virtually abandoned.
“My neighborhood is on the brink,” she said, of becoming a blighted area.
Pressler is advocating that Sebring’s Community Redevelopment Agency put more emphasis on preserving residential neighborhoods surrounding the downtown area.