CLEVELAND — What do you do if you have an abandoned property next door that’s full of trash, people getting in and out, and committing crimes there? One fed-up neighbor called News 5 Investigators for help.
“So, when I come out in the morning, this is what I see,” said John Tyree on the stairs leading to his apartment. He showed us the mess next door.
“When you look at this every day?” we asked.
“It’s disgusting,” he told us.
He said the years-long abandoned property on West 36th Street in Cleveland has, just within the last eight months, collected a ton of garbage, broken-out windows where people who don’t live there come and go and even has drug needle paraphernalia.
“People are standing there going uhhhh,” said Tyree while hunched over, mimicking what a person on drugs might look like. “It’s 4 o’clock in the morning. Really?”
NEWS 5 CAPTURED MAN HUNCHED OVER
As we were there, in the middle of the day, we saw a man ride up on his bike, stand there with bent knees for a while, hunched over.
“Sir, are you okay? What’s going on? Do you live here?” we asked. He told us to leave. “Do you need an ambulance? Do you need medical help?” we asked, and he did not reply.
We went through the city’s database about how many times neighbors have called police about this property. In the last year, it’s been close to a dozen, but this year alone, nine, including shots fired.
CLEVELAND COUNCILWOMAN VOWS TO HELP
“I would like them to board this formally,” said Cleveland City Councilwoman Rebecca Maurer. We asked her to meet up with us at the property.
She told us she knows all about the property where the owners of the homes have been absent and not cooperative. “They have identified a local agent in charge but not somebody who we have been meaningfully able to get a hold of,” said Maurer.
We called and went to addresses in northeast Ohio associated with the owners, but no luck either.
We tried to talk to those who were in the home at the back of the property.
“We’ve had some complaints by the neighbors,” we said and were greeted with an obscene gesture. “Do you want to address that other than with a middle finger?”
The guy said he pays rent, but he wouldn’t show us the receipts.
We were there when the water was turned off again. Tyree said the homeless just go back into the manhole and turn it on again and again.
The councilwoman told us there had been a hang-up between housing court and the building and housing department, but she wants police to come back out.
“Now my next step is to go to building and housing and say we need that vacate order,” said Maurer.
Not a moment too soon said Tyree.
“Close it down. Board it up. Kick it out,” he said as his message to the city. “Shut it down. Tear it down.”
Councilwoman Maurer said if you see a property like this, call 216-621-1234 and give a specific address so they can start the process right away.
