The city of Pittsburgh plans to open bids today for the job of demolishing one in every 50 houses in Hazelwood. The aim is to dramatically improve some neighborhood blocks around the city -- and move toward abandonment of others.

The city's decision to have 59 houses in Hazelwood razed by the end of June reflects the city's new strategy of blitzing targeted neighborhoods in an effort to cut crime and fires associated with derelict structures and stabilize neighborhoods, rather than taking down houses here and there.

"For the psyche of the neighborhood, it's going to give residents the feeling that the city's taking notice of them," said Jim Richter, executive director of the Hazelwood Initiative, which helped pick the properties. "Whether or not it's going to bring long-term, substantive change, I can't tell you."

The Hazelwood blitz follows Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's decision to double the demolition budget this year to $4 million, enough to raze as many as 600 homes. The city will bid out some scattered demolition jobs to address fires and dangerous conditions, but will put much of its money into six to eight concentrated neighborhood take-downs.

Hazelwood is up first in part to prevent a repeat of the Path Way fire 13 months ago that started in an abandoned house and destroyed 12 row houses. Some of its condemned houses have been the scenes of multiple 911 calls for illicit activity, including one on Roma Way that saw 28 public safety calls in 2006.

"This is going to make a significant impact on that neighborhood," said Public Safety Director Mike Huss. The city also hopes to save money by hiring one contractor to do lots of work in one area. Demolition usually costs around $6,500 per house.

Next up may be the Allentown and Beltzhoover area, also scenes of abandoned house fires.

The Hazelwood Initiative plans to encourage neighbors to buy the resulting empty lots for side yards, and may later consider building new homes on some. The immediate result, though, may be sighs of relief from neighbors.

Ricshawn Robinson said she's glad to learn the crumbling house next to her Flowers Avenue home is going down.

"Kids play in it from time to time," she said. "It was on fire in 2004 from kids going in and playing with matches."

A block away, nature seems poised to take over. On the 400 block of Nansen Street, four homes are slated for demolition, another eight are boarded up or falling down, and just two appear occupied as weeds the size of trees encroach.

Mr. Ravenstahl's administration is honing a strategy that would merge some of the city's largely abandoned blocks into existing greenways. By the Urban Redevelopment Authority's count, 540 of the city's 1,254 condemned structures are within 300 feet of woods.

The city is working with the Penn State Cooperative Extension to identify attractive plants that would require little maintenance and could grow on abandoned lots. Also under consideration is creation of a "Green-Up Crew" within the Department of Public Works, similar to the Redd-Up Campaign but focused on improving neighborhood environments.

Some residents don't want to live in a forest.

"I think they ought to build up the city, not tear it down," said Naomi Milner, a Pittsburgh Public Schools employee and author. "We're like a ghost town now, no stores, no nothing."

The house next to hers on Chatsworth Street is among the 59 doomed structures. "That's a good, brick house," she said. She'd like to see it fixed.

A few of the houses "tugged at peoples' heart strings" said Rob Stephany, the Urban Redevelopment Authority's deputy executive director of planning and development. In the end, though, all were viewed as unsalvageable.

The 59 houses were picked from around 120 in Hazelwood that are condemned or should be condemned, said Mr. Richter. He and city Council President Doug Shields joined officials from several city departments to pick them from among more than 400 abandoned homes in the neighborhood, which census data says includes 2,746 housing units.

The condemned houses are privately owned, Mr. Huss said. The city has notified the owners of record of their impending demolition.

"Mom and pop died, kids don't want it," said Mr. Richter. "Almost all of them saw people come in and steal whatever it is they could."