CLEVELAND — Cleveland Ward 9 councilman Kevin Conwell reports he's been crying out for help for many years in trying to get the city to finally crack down on junk houses filled with trash, junk and immobilized vehicles.
Conwell told News 5 that junk houses are plaguing all parts of the city, with illegal, unauthorized auto repairs taking place at some of the problem properties.
“I see it all over the city wherever I’m at, we have to ticket them, and we have to bring them into housing court because the residents, they don’t deserve this,” Conwell said. "Neighborhood children, they can be dragged into the vehicles, it’s a danger, it’s a threat, it’s against the law."
We don’t just report the initial story—we follow through to its conclusion. Read and watch our previous reporting on this story below and see more stories that we've followed through on here.
Conwell and homeowners living near the problem told News 5 that city leaders have known about the issues for more than 12 months, in some cases years, but potential health and safety issues continue.
"It’s a risk, and it’s a threat to the well-being and the quality of life," Conwell said. “I ended up taking a drive around with the Director of Building and Housing at least a year ago, and I showed her this spot over here with all these cars."
News 5'sinitial report on this problem back on Sept. 27 started with Cleveland homeowner Jacqueline Washington who said she's been living next to a junk house on East 114 Street for more than ten years. So far, there's been no progress at the property, which is filled with several junk cars, garbage and more.
“They can’t come over here and do anything, so they said you have to call Channel 5 because Cleveland ain’t doing nothing," Washington said. “I’ve been here 16 years, and I've been going through this off and on, I've got rats, roaches crawling in my house, you know.”
News 5 submitted the problem property addresses to Cleveland Code Enforcement Chief David Roberts, and he responded, telling us business as usual will not be tolerated in Cleveland neighborhoods.
“It’s a safety concern if they’re are not keeping the cars safe from where children are playing," Roberts said. “We’re not going to tolerate this refusal to follow the law, we’ve issued notices to these properties, and we will prosecute them if they don’t comply in 30 days.
Roberts said homeowners hit with violations have 30 days to appeal the first-degree misdemeanors and made it clear the city doesn't want to send violators to jail; he would rather see compliance.
“What we’re trying to do is build a system where we don’t have just authority do it, but we have all the items in place where we can abate a nuisance directly," Roberts said. "We're trying to get all city departments together on this along with the Nuisance Abatement Task Force."
Meanwhile, Conwell is hoping the city will take action against multiple problem properties in his ward in the coming weeks.
“Residents, they deserve better than this right here, I know it’s all over the city, we can say that, but we’ve got to execute,” Conwell said. “All we have to do is enforce the code, drag these cars out of there, take them to building and housing court.”
News 5 is committed to following through on this developing story.
