TOLEDO, Ohio — "It is an eyesore for people in the neighborhood, trying to keep their property up nice and spotless," said one east Toledo resident, who goes by Jones, who is tired of the eyesores in their neighborhood.
One neighbor after another spoke up about the same issue.
"We need movement on these properties. They are hazardous. They are hazardous with rats. I have pictures," said Candace Kirchner, who lives on Tracy Street in east Toledo.
Kirchner and others who live in the neighborhood say they've reached out to the city many times over the last four years to report abandoned homes but have had limited success.
One such property on East Florence Avenue had hundreds of tires dumped there.
"It sat abandoned, and we kind of, you know, maintained the grass for a little. And then it just became a nuisance, you know, it is deteriorating; it has vermin," said Kirchner.
Neighbors say they saw city of Toledo crews cleaning up some of the mess on the property in the last few weeks but agree more needs to be done.
"They boarded it up, even though it does no good because the back of the house, as you see, is just completely crumbled, as in some of the other ones," said Kirchner.
Neighbor after neighbor say they are tired of their neighborhood looking this way. They don't want these blighted houses cleaned up, they want them gone.
"Get rid of this house here, because I'm quite sure rodents and everything else is living in there", said Mr. Jones.
"Take it down. Let's level it. Let the adjacent property owner, who I, you know, know real well, let her purchase it. Let her maintain it," said Kirchner.
WTOL 11 reached out to city of Toledo to get their side of the story, and received this statement, which reads in part.
"Proper tire disposal is expensive and heavily regulated, which is why they are so commonly dumped illegally. Our urban beautification crews respond to reports of tire dumping to help keep neighborhoods clean and prevent the standing water they collect. If you have tires to dispose of, you can bring up to 10 tires on or off the rim to our Clean Toledo recycling events which are held every other Saturday," said Rachel Hart, Director of Communications, City of Toledo.
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