Neighborhood Nuisance: Dilapidated home in East Toledo causing trouble for neighbors

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - Residents of Yondota Street in East Toledo say that the abandoned property on the block has been a consistent nuisance. “We’ve been trying to get them to remove it for at least 6 years. Young kids going in there. Someone is going to get hurt. There are no floors in there,” says Debbie Collins, who has lived in Yondota for 7 years.

Collins says squatters and neighborhood kids can often be found on the property. “It was a trouble maker who lived a few houses down, he’s the one who caught it on fire. It took out the siding from the house next door,” says Collins.

Toledo Fire has deemed the property unfit and placed an orange sticker around the outside to alert firefighters not to enter the home, but to control the blaze. I spoke to the woman who lives next door to the house and she says she’s uneasy knowing the fire risk.

In the front yard lies a tree that fell down years ago. “That tree came down, it took down the cable wires and the electrical wires from this house. It pulled it down from the house. Toledo Edison actually made the previous owner pay for it. They said it was his responsibility,” says Collins.

The City of Toledo says this property is another one on their demolition list. A representative from the city told 13abc that the owner’s wife died and he moved away, admitting he couldn’t bring the property up to code. As long as funds from the American Rescue Plan Act are approved the property is set to be demolished.

“We need to fence it in but we are not going to just yet, because if you look pieces of roof falling. The siding is falling,” says Kayla Stockman who shares a yard with the home. “There is a tree that has just been in the lot. It’s dangerous not only for my kids, but there are tons of kids in the neighborhood who ride their bikes through it and play in it.”

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