Jeanne Goins and Brenda Andrada said in the meeting they have been more than patient about trying to resolve issues of graffiti, property neglect and noise, and are tired of being cursed by tenants in Northcrest Townhome Complex, located at 415 Northcrest Circle off Pryor Road.
Councilman David May said he recently drove through the complex and “the maintenance on the outside was pathetic. These people (Goins and Andrada) have property. They keep their property up. We’ve got to do something. We promised we’d make a difference. We accepted the word of people they would do better and they haven’t. I think it’s worse than it was back in February.”
Goins and Andrada approached the Council on Feb. 13 and April 9 with a promise of remaining in front of elected officials until something is done.
Realtor Mike Hodnett, who took over management of 26 of 39 units in February, also appeared at the Feb. 13 meeting to assure the two women and Council members that improvements were being made at the complex.
He said Wednesday that Goins and Andrada would not be happy until the complex is burned to the ground.
Goins said Monday they agreed in February to give Hodnett six weeks to get rid of the “riffraff” but more “riffraff” has moved in.
“I personally don’t want gang-related graffiti in my neighborhood,” she said. “It’s now August, which I feel is more than ample time for Mr. Hodnett to have painted, fixed the fallen gutters and added dumpsters, which we’ve been told for several years that is being worked on.”
Hodnett said Wednesday, “We’ve made a lot of progress. We spent over $5,000 last month on the few units we’re working on. We have a problem where there is not a dumpster there. We’re in the process of getting one. We met with Waste Connections and Public Works on Tuesday.”
Hodnett said he does not manage all of the apartments and cannot do anything about what he does not control.
“We’re in the process of working it all out,” he said. “We’re trying to get control of the bugs, but that depends on the renters too. There are things on the outside that were supposed to be done and are being done, but a couple of those things are insurance-related, and if anybody’s had to work with insurance lately, they understand it takes a little more time to do those things.”
Goins said that in April, she asked codes enforcement to inspect the apartments and requested the city postmaster and Cleveland Utilities to look at graffiti on mailboxes and power poles. Codes enforcement said a complaint would have to come from a tenant. The postmaster never showed up and “it wasn’t cost efficient for someone to come paint over that (power pole).”
“As of now, the apartments look horrible with the hanging gutters and chipping paint and what appears to be mold growing on the back sides of the apartments,” Goins said. “Screaming, yelling and booming cars are still going, stop signs are still being run and at least one wreck has resulted from that. My husband told me today there are bullet holes in the stop sign at Pryor and Hiwassee.
“After all the times we’ve spoken to the Council about the eyesore and the problem it causes in the neighborhood, the devaluation or our property ... the cost to the city every time an officer has to respond to a call or a fire truck is dispatched to put out a fire that was set to old mattresses, and furniture left out on the road that the city doesn’t pick up because it is considered commercial property. And there are no dumpsters.
“After all these times we’ve complained about these issues, when is something going to be done?”
She said the apartment complex has been an ongoing problem for 30 years and she is now to the point of hiring an attorney.
“I’m tired of hearing things will be taken care of and not seeing any results,” she said.
