A recent article in the Cleveland (OH) Plain Dealer discusses the city's demolition process.

Demolition nearly halts in Cleveland

Demolitions of abandoned homes have slowed to a trickle because of the Reno Avenue house. The bank that held the mortgage on it sued the city in September for tearing the house down without notice. The Jane Campbell administration, fearing more lawsuits, reacted by stalling most demolitions.

The result: 80 buildings that were scheduled for demolition remain standing, monuments to urban decay.

"Although there technically has not been a moratorium, what has happened has had the same impact as one," said Edward Rybka, the interim Building and Housing director.

Only a few days into his new job last week, Rybka's former City Council colleagues pleaded with him to speed up the process.

For many of them, the issue of abandoned buildings is one of Cleveland's most pressing.

Cleveland was a city built for twice the number of people who now live in it. As poverty increased, homeownership rates decreased and foreclosures went up. Thousands of homes ended up empty. Add the vacant storefronts that dominate many neighborhood retail strips and hulking factories that closed as Cleveland's industrial economy soured, and you have a city full of rotting buildings.

In some of the city's poorest neighborhoods, such as Glenville and Hough, the problem has been festering for nearly four decades.

The city hasn't done a survey of how many buildings are candidates for demolition.

The gap between the number of buildings the city condemns annually and those demolished offers a glimpse at the scope of the problem. In 2004, the city condemned 861 structures but had only enough money to tear down 302. Last year, the city condemned 565 structures but bulldozed only 195.

Buildings often stay on the condemned list for years.

Such is the case with a brick retail building at the corner of East 105th Street and South Boulevard in Councilwoman Sabra Pierce Scott's Glenville ward. In front of it is an RTA bus stop. On the side is a school-bus stop. About an hour before school was dismissed Jan. 19, bricks cascaded from the fade of an exterior side wall, forming a heap near the bus stop.

A few days earlier, Scott, who chairs the Community and Economic Development Committee, had joined her colleagues in sharing frustrations about abandoned buildings. They pledged to make tackling the structures a priority this year.

Another condemned building in her ward stood for years and was torn down last year only after a fire left it teetering.

"If that hadn't happened, it probably still would have been on the condemned list," she said.

The East 105th Street building probably won't be torn down anytime soon because, even after the bricks fell from it, the city says it is not an immediate threat. Scott hopes to find money to raze it.

Across town, a dilapidated building on West 103rd Street in Councilman Jay Westbrook's ward had finally made it to the demolition list. The contractor prepared the site, delivering dirt to fill in the big hole that would be left after the house's remains were carted from the site.

The demolition was one of those the Campbell administration stalled because of the lawsuit.

The city halted demolitions because officials want to review title searches on all houses slated to be torn down. The city's policy had been to search deed records for owners' names going back only 15 years. But many mortgages are for 30 years, so the city's searches did not turn up banks with an interest in some homes.

Officials have increased their records searches to cover 30 years, but the extra work takes time. Rybka is forming a three-person team of clerks to do the searches. Before that, housing inspectors did the searches in addition to their other duties.

The slowdown has heightened several council members' concerns that the city hadn't been aggressive in eliminating abandoned and vacant buildings. Rybka said Mayor Frank Jackson's administration will make demolition a priority.

Councilman Matthew Zone said the city should follow the lead of cities like Philadelphia that have borrowed millions of dollars to address housing issues.

Rybka said some members of the Campbell administration suggested borrowing enough money to tear down 1,000 buildings a year, but the proposal never went anywhere.

Cleveland has traditionally relied on federal grants, which have decreased in recent years.

Rybka said the city could get more money for demolitions by being more diligent about recouping the cost of demolitions from property owners. In 2004, for example, the city spent $2.6 million on demolitions but only recovered about $600,000.

The city now puts liens on the demolished property in an effort to get back the cost, which is about $5,000 per house.

To view the online article please click on the following link.

City of Cleveland Demolitions