Neighborhood Nuisance: People on Erie Street uncomfortable living near “scary” overgrown house

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - Neighbors living on Erie Street in Toledo say they are uncomfortable living near an extremely overgrown house.

The overgrowth is so bad they can’t even see the roof, let alone walk in the front yard. Jenifer Booth has lived across the street for four years, she said she doesn’t know what else to do.

“It’s nasty. I mean it’s just nasty looking. It’s horrible and like I said there are rats and it’s just drawing animals in critters and they’re getting on my porch in my yard and in my basement,” said Booth.

Being across the street, she worries about people passing by, because who knows what’s hiding in the bushes.

“It’s kind of scary looking, you can’t even walk down the sidewalk over there. People have to walk into the street and walk around it, and it’s just a mess,” said Booth.

And after years of reporting the property, she said the City of Toledo has let the place go.

“I called the city and like I said they’ve only been out once to clean it up and it’s been about four years. I mean last summer I could actually see the top of the house, and you can’t even see the top of the house anymore,” said Booth.

13abc reached out to the City of Toledo’s Code Compliance Department, a representative said orders were issued to the property owner in 2021, but nothing changed. The next step is to take the owner to court. In the meantime, they will be asking the Department of Urban Beautification to clean the place up, and send the property owner the bill.

" Our kids should be taken care of too. They shouldn’t have to play around stuff like this,” said Booth.

If you have a troubled property in your community send an email to willie.daniely@13abc.com; include contact info, photos, and as many details as possible to help get your problem solved.

See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Please include the title when you click here to report it.

Copyright 2022 WTVG. All rights reserved.