Gesturing to an Orchard Street property surrounded by 4-foot-high weeds and a porch adorned with a rotting sofa and mattress leaning against the front window, neighboring resident Amy Martens wanted city officials who visited her South Toledo neighborhood to see the blight she faces every day.
“There are rats in there, holes in the floors, and it has been vacant for two and a half years,” she said of the house at 1016 Orchard St.
Mrs. Martens said she and her husband tried to maintain the empty home in hopes of purchasing and refurbishing it, but gave up when she learned the house had an owner on record, meaning they likely wouldn’t be able to acquire it easily. County auditor records show the property belongs to Avery Rusty Lee.
Since the Martens family stopped mowing the lawn, the lot deteriorated into its unsightly state. Mayor Paula Hicks-Hudson chose the house as one of three locations to show city officials in an effort to bring attention to blight in Toledo.
Calling Wednesday’s excursion a neighborhood tour, the mayor, accompanied by city staffers, traveled by van to overgrown lots at 1121 Liberty St. and 1014 Orchard St., and a demolished home at 1300 Tecumseh St. because each was in a neighborhood from which the city had received many blight complaints.
She said though the city’s T-Town Initiative and the Toledo Blight Authority are tasked with reversing urban decay, city administrators must show a greater sense of urgency in addressing the problem.
“The whole purpose of this tour is to get administrators to see firsthand what needs to be done in the communities. They have to understand the gravity of the situation,” she said.
At each stop, administrators circled the property as the mayor pointed out decaying aspects of each house. While Mayor Hicks-Hudson talked about the unacceptable state of the lawn at 1121 Liberty St., murmurs of “Don’t step of the glass!” and “Watch out!” could be heard by the city officials, illustrating that some houses are not only decrepit, but also dangerous.
The neighbors of the 1121 Liberty St. property, John and Barbara Verone, emerged from their home to talk to the mayor. As they walked across their front yard to reach her, the difference between their property and that of 1121 Liberty was obvious. The Verones’ manicured lawn contrasted with the wilderness of the adjacent lot — one side, closely cut, the other side, hardly cut.
Mr. Verone told the mayor to look at his fence, the one that separated his property from the weeds and glass. “Look how close that house is to us. Imagine if there were ever a fire.”
Mayor Hicks-Hudson reassured them that “this [referring to the abandoned property] is not acceptable. You should not have to live next to this. I can’t promise you miracles, but I can promise I will do something.”
The mayor said city officials will contact the blighted property owners and work with them to clean up their homes. If they’re unresponsive, government organizations such as Toledo’s Beautification Action Team will cut the high grass and weeds from vacant properties and charge the owners or the service.
The mayor does not, however, see blight alleviation as a relationship solely between the property owners of decaying homes and city government. She hopes to enlist the help of neighbors and neighborhood groups to clean blighted lots, regardless of who owns the property.
“We cannot let this continue. We have to ask communities to do their part,” she said.
Contact Anthony Kayruz at: akayruz@theblade.com or 419-724-6050.
First Published June 18, 2015, 4:00 a.m.
