Thursday, September 29, 2011

Blighted property in Columbus, Ohio

Tonight I clicked through to channel 2 "Just the Facts" (local issues) and came across a program on how the city deals with blighted property. You wouldn't think that would be too fascinating, but it was well done. The narrator/host, Columbus City Attorney Richard Pheiffer was on Myrtle Avenue, which had some very nice homes, and some homes that were boarded up and overgrown with weeds and hazards. Nice trees. So I googled it, and although I don't have a photo of the house he was explaining, I do have the page. The house was built around 1910, as was the first home we bought in 1962 in Champaign, IL for $14,000. This house is for sale for $15,500, and of course, needs a lot of work, but so did ours. What was remarkable was Pfeiffer's explanation of how difficult it is for the city to track down an owner (a real person to talk to) since many are owned by a limited liability company (LLC) to even serve if taxes are in arrears or the building unsafe.

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