January 24, 200619 yr Yep, looks like Larry is living in a home worth $1.3 million out in Hyde Park. He deserves a few days in jail if he won't spend the nickels and dimes to fix up those places.
January 24, 200619 yr I looked up his properties and two of the three listed are in terrible shape and should be torn down. The third looks like it could be rehabbed. I took a look at his actual home and it is large, but he has a clunker park in the front of the house that looks like a potential lawn ornament.
January 26, 200619 yr Is this the guy that owns yesterdays treasures??? on e. mcmillian Yes. Just curious, does anyone here know Larry or ever met him?
January 26, 200619 yr I know him. And have had a lengthy talk with him about his buildings as I live only 2 houses down from one of his buildings. I also know the person who was with Hummell who was hired to fix the buildings to the point where he could prolong the cities actions against him. I probably need to say this before someone says we are picking on a poor old man. Well, first he is not poor, we have demonstrated that, but today as I drove down Mulberry, workers were working on 146 and 148. His spending a couple nights in jail is what it took for him to address the problem. I wish he would have taken care of it years ago and I take no joy in watching this guy sit in jail, however it was his decision. Now it is his decision if he wants to spend a whole year behind bars.
January 31, 200619 yr This is an excellent article by the Business Courier about the trials of low income housing and how difficult it is to clean it up. <b>Closer Inspection</b> As police runs to Cincinnati's low-rent apartments continue to rise, landlords are increasingly coming under heavy scrutiny Dan Monk, Senior Staff Reporter They were fighting over a dirty needle, the prostitutes who woke Sunny Colwell from a sound sleep last summer. It's one of the many ways the Lower Price Hill teenager said she was affected by the neighborhood crack house that operated out of a seven-unit apartment building just a block from Oyler Elementary School in spring 2004. First, she noticed the used condoms and needles near the building at 2122 St. Michael St. In the next 14 months, the dope boys waved guns at her friends. Hookers did their business on the streets. Johns asked her for sex. When she saw a stranger's car, she wondered if she should run or risk being kidnapped. She blames her least favorite landlord, Metro Management Inc., for allowing two tenants known in the neighborhood as Big T and Monster Head to entertain criminals for more than a year before finally acting to evict them. Read full article here: http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2006/01/30/story1.html
January 31, 200619 yr I remember talking about that building in LPH. I don't remember, but I think I may have provided a link to the correspondence from LPH to the city somewhere in that thread: http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=3152.msg62593#msg62593
February 1, 200619 yr Boy do I have a story about Metro and there managment of 3 buildings behind me. They are terrible, the community has to do the managment for them and then we are blamed for harrassing the owners. Our lives are the ones threatened by their mismanagment, our neighborhoods suffer because of their neglect. It is criminal.
February 1, 200619 yr Metro Management is the worst in our block too. They must be struggling though, because the building by us is 3/4 empty.
February 8, 200619 yr 1) I merged the Slumlord of the Week thread with a previous thread about poor landlord practices and the city's effort to keep tabs on them. 2) moonloop posted an article from a series in the 1/30/06 Cincinnati Business Courier. They're all worth a read... Closer Inspection They were fighting over a dirty needle, the prostitutes who woke Sunny Colwell from a sound sleep last summer. It's one of the many ways the Lower Price Hill teenager said she was affected by the neighborhood crack house that operated out of a seven-unit apartment building just a block from Oyler Elementary School in spring 2004. http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2006/01/30/story1.html Crackdown doesn't rule out 'taking people's stuff' Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory said a crackdown on landlords will be part of the comprehensive crime initiative he unveiled on Jan. 19. Mallory isn't sure what form the crackdown will take. That, he said, will depend on a panel of experts who will make recommendations on how improvements in housing, employment, education and recreation can be used to impact crime. But among the possibilities are new educational programs for landlords, changes in law to make it easier for apartment managers to evict problem tenants, a licensing program that would be used to identify problem properties and the use of nuisance abatement lawsuits to take problem properties away from building owners. http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2006/01/30/story2.html Property neglect only beginning of some owners' misdeeds Keith Lee once confided that he was worth $6.5 million. Unfortunately for Lee, his confidante turned out to be an informant for the Drug Abuse Reduction Task Force, a federal-state narcotics unit that spent months investigating his empire. In March 2004, Lee was indicted. In August 2005, he pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to drug and money-laundering charges. At least five other local landlords have been convicted in two years on charges related to their business operations. url=http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2006/01/30/story3.html Our Opinion: City could help landlords cope There aren't many villains in the murky middle. As Senior Reporter Dan Monk reports in this week's page one story on the state of Cincinnati landlords, they don't all fit the "slumlord" stereotype. Many are independent, entrepreneurial, scrappy and likable -- and as overwhelmed by crime as the neighborhood activists who complain about them. "I'm a landlord," Price Hill property owner Mick Meyer said. "I'm not a social worker or a cop. I'm not a probation officer. I'm just a businessman." It's a complicated problem, but there are some strategies that could help. http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2006/01/30/editorial1.html
February 12, 200619 yr isn't receivership another option for dealing with an unresponsive owner of a property that has become a public nuissance? my understanding was that if a complainant files a lawsuit, and the property owner doesn't comply with repair orders, the court can place the property in the hands of a receiver (typically a non-profit) for rehabilitation. anyone know anything about this?
February 12, 200619 yr Larry Rhodes who we were talking about earlier in the thread also has a civil suit against him and recievership is what is probably going to happen on 2 of his buildings. One must live within 500 ft of the property and have the funds to bring the building into compliance. This is just one more tool to use. I do have some forms that can be presented to the judge by the community for these problem propeties, community impact form, and this can be used by residents who are unable to attend the court hearings. If anyone wants copies of these forms just email me and I will get them faxed out.
February 13, 200619 yr Bravo, good work. I need to get on some of these people in my neighboring area.
February 28, 200619 yr Evictions easier said than done Landlords frustrated by cleanup efforts Dan Monk Senior Staff Reporter Ed Johnson thought he had a slam-dunk case. When he learned last summer that a tenant at his Westover Village apartment complex tested positive for heroin use, Johnson sued to evict Dora Masten. After all, his lease for the federally subsidized housing complex in Loveland has four clauses banning drug activity. He had evidence that Masten failed four drug tests and spent 54 days in jail on a probation violation. Federal housing rules and state law both allow for rapid eviction of drug users, so Johnson figured it would be an easy case to win. Then came the Dec. 27 hearing. "I'm trying to get my life back together for my children," Masten told Hamilton County Magistrate Amy McDonough. "I have no other place to go but here." A hearing transcript indicates McDonough had trouble with the eviction. While she recognized the importance of keeping the property drug-free, she saw no evidence that Masten used drugs on the property. And she worried about evicting Masten while the tenant battled an addiction. Read full article here: http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2006/02/20/story2.html
February 28, 200619 yr Seems like an odd place to leave off the story...he put the camera in, and...what?
March 15, 200619 yr Vacant building owners could pay more BY DAN KLEPAL | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER City of Cincinnati officials could soon crack down on owners of vacant buildings that are out of compliance with the city's building code. The Finance Committee Monday unanimously passed major changes to a program that manages vacated buildings. Owners of the 1,700 buildings ordered vacated by the city because of building code violations would pay higher annual license fees to keep their properties. If those license fees - or any fines for code violations - aren't paid, the city would be able to place a lien against the property and initiate a foreclosure. The idea is to wrest control of the buildings from bad landlords and sell those properties to people interested in redeveloping them. Read full article here: http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060314/NEWS01/603140353/1056/
March 15, 200619 yr ^I wonder oif they do the same for commercial properties that's been vacant for decades.
March 18, 200619 yr As someone who has been required to get a vacant building license in the past, I have to tell you that this will result in more demolitions. 75% of the people with vacant buildings are trying their damnest to get them rehabbed. It takes at least several years form purchase of a vacant building to complete rehab. And you have to pay until it is 100% rehabbed. Paying thousands of dollars in fees, and spending countless hours covering holes in the floors is a complete waste. The people who care will struggle on, the others will just demolish and be done with it, as there is no fine for having a vacant lot.
March 18, 200619 yr As someone who has been required to get a vacant building license in the past, I have to tell you that this will result in more demolitions. 75% of the people with vacant buildings are trying their damnest to get them rehabbed. It takes at least several years form purchase of a vacant building to complete rehab. And you have to pay until it is 100% rehabbed. Paying thousands of dollars in fees, and spending countless hours covering holes in the floors is a complete waste. The people who care will struggle on, the others will just demolish and be done with it, as there is no fine for having a vacant lot. I have to disagree with this assessment. It is very clear that many of the vacant buildings in OTR have had NO work done on them in years. I would expect that if people really were rehabing the properties they would show some signs of progress. If it takes several years to complete a rehab, then how come development companies are able to complete large buildings within 2 years and smallers buildings within a year?
March 21, 200619 yr development companies are able to complete large buildings within 2 years and smallers buildings within a year? Once all the loans and permits are in place, yes it can be completed in that time. But there are sometimes years of work before the first board is cut. Not everyone has the resources of 3CDC or Model Management. I know of a dozen or so buildings in OTR that are struggling to get the financing together, but many dozens that have already been demolished by scurrilous investors, because it is much easier to sit on an empty lot than be harassed by the building department. I actually favor passage of both of these initiatives, but the devil is in the detail, and the facts are that the VBML has already resulted in demolitions, and with increased fines, will result in more.
March 21, 200619 yr I understand what you are saying Jimmy. However many of the teardowns are for immanent danger issues. 6 on peete st alone are scheduled to be taken down, not because of a vbml issue but structural ones. No doubt about it, there have been many who have gone out in the night and taken down buildings by hand, both homes on either side of me suffered that fate and believe it or not, it was over littering fines that the owner decided to take them down. I knew the man that took them down, he had 14 buildings on Mulberry and Peete, several were demolished by him, but I can't help but believe that had this been enacted several years ago, Johny would have sold then and perhaps a few of them would still be left standing.
March 21, 200619 yr ^ Thats a good point. Why on earth would someone spend $20-30k or more on a building, sit on it, and then decide to tear it down (resulting in zero value left, except for the land which may not be worth anything in their lifetime) because there is now a cost to sit on it. Not saying it doesn't happen, but it would seem the prudent thing to do would be to sell it and cut your losses.
April 24, 200619 yr Landlord plan could bring suit Lawyer cites enforcement difficulty, differences in Ohio, Wisconsin laws Cincinnati Business Courier - April 21, 2006 by Dan Monk The city of Cincinnati's top lawyer is warning that the city could be sued for a proposed crackdown on landlords whose properties generate more than three police runs a month. City Council unanimously endorsed a motion April 12 for the city to develop a program modeled on Milwaukee's Chronic Nuisance Premises Program. Under the initiative, landlords can face fines and jail time for failing to deal with problems such as loud music, disorderly conduct, drug dealing and firearm discharges. The motion asks city administrators to draft ordinances required to implement the program within 90 days. In a three-page legal analysis sent to Council on April 11, City Solicitor J. Rita McNeil said the proposed ordinance "could be subject to a constitutional challenge as violating equal protection requirements" by forcing landlords to pay for police services that other property owners do not have to fund. McNeil also cautioned that Council should limit the discretion of administrators who will enforce the ordinance so the city can avoid landlord claims that the ordinance isn't being enforced evenly. Read full article here: http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2006/04/24/story4.html
June 28, 200618 yr City prosecuting lead violators 'We've been too cautious,' health official concedes BY SHARON COOLIDGE | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER The owners of 300 properties who refuse Health Department orders to clean up poisonous lead hazards will find themselves in court by the end of the year, Cincinnati Health Department officials and City Solicitor Ernest McAdams pledged Monday. That promise came during a Cincinnati City Council committee meeting. The committee quickly drafted a motion to reflect the get-tough pledge. The motion, which will go to the full council Wednesday, came one day after publication of "Lead's Dangerous Legacy," a special report in The Enquirer that looked at thousands of properties where children had been poisoned with lead. Read full article here: http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060627/NEWS01/606270364/1077
July 12, 200618 yr City files lead-paint complaints Hundreds of property owners warned: Prosecution imminent BY SHARON COOLIDGE | ENQUIRER STAFF REPORTER The Cincinnati Health Department is updating its list of 306 properties whose owners have ignored orders to clean up lead-paint hazards and has sent letters warning 246 owners that prosecution is imminent. Officials said the other 60 have contacted the department. Fifteen criminal complaints are in the process of being filed in Hamilton County Municipal Court, Cincinnati Health Commissioner Dr. Noble A-W Maseru said. "I don't want you to think we are accepting anything less than the total elimination of lead," Maseru said Tuesday during the first of three hearings called by Cincinnati Councilman Chris Monzel, chairman of council's Education, Health and Recreation Committee. Read full article here: http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060712/NEWS01/607120359/1056/
July 26, 200618 yr Lead rules aimed at landlords City tackles how to make older homes safer for kids BY SHARON COOLIDGE | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER The Cincinnati Solicitor's Office will draft new lead regulations to make the city's aging housing stock safer for children. The regulations will make it easier to take foot-dragging landlords to court for failing to comply with Health Department orders to clean up and make sure the rehabilitation of old homes is done safely. The first draft, which should be ready early next week, will mirror Ohio law. That document will then become a template for the city law regarding lead-tainted property, said Cincinnati City Councilman Chris Monzel on Tuesday at the end of a series of three hearings designed to get public input for a new city lead law. "This is a very important issue that's facing our city," said Monzel, chairman of the council's Education, Health and Recreation Committee. Read full article here: http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060726/NEWS01/607260347/1056/
August 12, 200618 yr Elusive landlord's never home BY SCOTT WARTMAN | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER Some of his tenants say they rarely, if ever, see him. His name, Jeff Jaeger, or companies where he is listed as an officer, have appeared frequently over the past three years on property rolls in Covington and Newport. Officials with both cities say code violations plague many of these properties. Numerous messages left for Jaeger on his cell phone were not returned. Problems include weeds and grass sometimes 4 feet high, trash in the yards, broken windows, gaps under the door and dilapidated porches and garages, according to the code-violation citations issued in the past five months for some of his properties. Property records in Campbell and Kenton counties list the owner as KAJ Properties and Edward Joseph Homes LLC. The Kentucky Secretary of State lists Jaeger as the sole member and organizer of KAJ Properties and an organizer for Edward Joseph Homes. Read full article here: http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060812/NEWS0103/608120363/1059/
October 18, 200618 yr Rental owners protest new law Landlords may pay for police BY DAN KLEPAL | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER Cincinnati City Council is one step away from holding landlords responsible for continued police runs to their apartment complexes. Council's Law and Public Safety Committee unanimously approved the new law, called the "chronic nuisance ordinance" on Tuesday, and it will appear before the full council today with enough votes to pass. The idea is that after a specified number of "nuisance" crimes, the city can begin billing the property owner for subsequent police runs if the landlord doesn't enter a program to end the problem to "police satisfaction." The law would not apply to single- or two-family homes. Read full article here: http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061011/NEWS01/610110381/1056/COL02
October 18, 200618 yr The most common complaint is that these types of runs might not lead to an arrest, but landlords could be held accountable for them. It's impossible to evict a problem tenant, they say, without an arrest or formal charges being filed. If there's nothing landlords can do about it, then I have no idea how they can be held responsible...this sounds like a bad, bad idea, at least as it's currently described...
November 21, 200618 yr City lead inspections lag BY SHARON COOLIDGE | November 20, 2006 Two Cincinnati Health Department lead program employees are not licensed to inspect properties for the hazardous material and haven’t signed up to take the test, according to the state health department, which oversees testing. The two workers, earning $848 and $978 per week, were hired in August and another in September. In fact, just one Cincinnati lead inspector is responsible for all but one enforcement action the city has taken against people who own property where children were poisoned, a review of health records shows. One employee who shared a job with another person was hired in 2001, but never passed the sanitarian test. The health department gave her a five-year grace period. She finally resigned. Her last day was Monday. Read full article here: http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061120/NEWS01/311200021
December 29, 200618 yr City sues for cleanup costs Manufacturers blamed for lead hazards BY SHARON COOLIDGE | December 29, 2006 CINCINNATI - Paint manufacturers should pay to clean up the thousands of Cincinnati properties with peeling paint filled with toxic lead particles, city officials say. The city filed a lawsuit this week against nine paint manufacturers - including Cleveland-based Sherwin Williams - asking that the companies be required to clean up all lead hazards in properties in the city, pay for a public awareness campaign about lead's dangers and repay the city for years of testing and investigating lead hazards. Lead can cause brain damage and stunt growth when ingested. Children younger than 6 are most susceptible because they're still growing and are likely to touch flakes of lead paint and then put their hands in their mouths. "Cincinnati buildings are full of lead paint," Mayor Mark Mallory said. "The legislature gave us no help on this issue. We had no choice but to go to court to protect Cincinnati's children." Read full article here: http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061229/NEWS01/612290341
February 7, 200718 yr Cracking down on run-down More communities making good upkeep mandatory BY CLIFF RADEL | [email protected] From the West Side to the East, more communities are joining the battle against boarded-up windows, junked cars and run-down houses. Colerain, Green and Anderson townships, along with the city of Cheviot, have a new weapon against blight: property maintenance codes. The four communities have been around for a long time. But, their leaders never felt they needed these codes - until now. They see their housing stock aging. Demographics are changing, with older homeowners being replaced by younger renters and the middle class moving to newer suburbs. Habits are shifting, with residents not spending as much time or money on home upkeep. Worried about these challenges and not wanting to become the next Westwood or Over-the-Rhine, each of the four communities has adopted or is in the process of adopting a detailed property maintenance code. Internationally recognized, time- and court-tested, these rules and regulations are designed to keep property maintained, neighborhoods healthy and residents happy. Read full article here: http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061224/NEWS01/612240363/1077/COL02
February 7, 200718 yr Rental owners sue to block nuisance law Ordinance bills landlords for police calls to their property BY DAN KLEPAL | [email protected] Two groups are suing the city of Cincinnati over a law passed in October that will hold apartment owners liable for some police runs to their properties. The Greater Cincinnati Northern Kentucky Apartment Association and the Real Estate Investors Association of Cincinnati joined Monday in seeking a declaratory injunction against the city in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court. They oppose the so-called "chronic nuisance ordinance" which allows police to bill property owners for nuisance runs to properties after three such runs. The law took effect Jan. 1. No landlords have yet been cited. Nuisance crimes are defined as all forms of stalking, assault, curfew violation, truancy, disorderly conduct, discharging firearms, drug sales, prostitution, public gambling, possession or discharge of fireworks, loud noises and vicious dogs. Property owners are first notified that they have reached the limit, and must then submit a plan to police for solving the problem. The law says that plan must meet "police satisfaction." Read full article here: http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070109/NEWS01/701090407
August 18, 200717 yr Trashed houses land man in jail City loses patience over building code violations BY DAN HORN | [email protected] Cincinnati building inspectors say they tried to reason with Ron Brown. They visited the 70-year-old Westwood man dozens of times over the years and asked him to clean up the trash, car parts, weeds and rusting lawn mowers that littered his McHenry Avenue properties. They offered to help haul the junk away, they wrote more than 50 citations warning him to clear his property and, finally, they took him to court. Nothing worked. So when Brown went back to Hamilton County's housing court Friday, the judge decided to try something new: He sent Brown to jail. Read full article here: http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070818/NEWS01/708180379/1077/COL02
August 20, 200717 yr I found this interesting http://www.cincinnatibeacon.com/index.php/content/comments/the_other_side_ron_brown_lawn_mower_lover_and_vacuum_collector/ I never saw Brown's property and I do not know who he or this Dapper guy are.
August 20, 200717 yr I drive by locale a couple times a week! It looked pretty rough! I don't know what may have sold the city for demoing the house, but I will say it was no big loss (architecturally speaking). As far as Westwood Concern, this group is one of the only organizations that are holding people accountable for there property. I am a home owner where Westwood, Cheviot, and Bridgetown come together. I am very proud that in Green Twp. last year, they passed a Property Maintenance Code which can site people or absentee landlords for neglecting there property. IF YOU WANT TO LIVE LIKE THIS, GET THE HELL OUT OF OUR TOWN. WE DON'T WANT IT IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD AND WE WON'T ALLOW IT!!!!!!!! Go on out to Indy or KY. Great JOB Westwood Concern!
November 5, 200717 yr City to request $3 million in lead funds Building Cincinnati, 11/2/07 Within the next few days, the City of Cincinnati plans to make a formal request to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for the release of $3 million in lead abatement grant funds. The funds, which come from HUD's Lead-Based Paint Hazard Control program, were awarded to the Health Department in September as part of a $143 million disbursement to 65 programs in 23 states. The City plans to use the money to remove lead paint from more than 200 housing units, with the focus being pre-1978, privately-owned homes with lead-poisoned children. Rehabilitation will include the removal of paint and lead-containing structural components. Some of the money will also be used for blood-lead screenings, training for property owners in the elimination of lead and the recruitment of neighborhood residents as lead abatement workers. The City has until 2010 to meet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's goal of eliminating lead poisoning. No date has been established for the release of the funds. http://www.building-cincinnati.com/2007/11/city-to-request-3-million-in-lead-funds.html
August 15, 200816 yr An ordinance aimed at seizing the potential of Cincinnati’s thousands of vacant buildings is falling short http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2008/08/18/story2.html
August 15, 200816 yr An ordinance aimed at seizing the potential of Cincinnati’s thousands of vacant buildings is falling short Business Courier of Cincinnati - by Lucy May and Dan Monk Steven Hampton’s tidy future home is on Walnut Street in Over-the-Rhine. Although it sits vacant, the brick is patched, the grass is trimmed, and even the plywood covering the door and windows is painted white. Around the corner, a building at 154 E. McMicken St. sits vacant, too, but with markedly different curb appeal. Until a few weeks ago it was open, with prostitutes and drug dealers reportedly coming and going through the front door. Now the plywood bolted over the door already has a chunk missing. Green paint peels from its red brick. And two pots of dying plants sit on the fire escape below a crushed cornice. But while Hampton pays the city of Cincinnati $3,500 annually for a Vacated Building Maintenance License as he slowly renovates his place on Walnut, the owner of the McMicken building – Cincinnati Public Schools – does not. At least not yet. (CPS says the check is in the mail.) The district owns another building a few doors down on McMicken and has paid no license fee for that one. And the district hasn’t paid any such fees for any of the unoccupied school buildings it owns throughout the city. Read full article here: http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2008/08/18/story2.html
August 15, 200816 yr There will also be a video version of this story tonight on CET at 7:30PM or on cetconnect.org
August 17, 200816 yr Here is the city's most recent list. Alot of OTR. http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/bldginsp/downloads/bldginsp_eps19766.pdf
August 17, 200816 yr Now I can see what you all are talking about re Price Hill. But note the river rat areas, too, out along the river (Anderson Ferry & Sedamsville area?) and to the east below Columbia Parkway.
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