‘This is a shame’ 6.14.11

INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER

Carmen Washington and Audrey Frazier trade jokes as they sit on the porch of a home near the intersection of Rader and Udell Streets. 
What the women see when they look around their Westside block, however, is no laughing matter.
On one corner is an old, vacant fire station with an aging façade that is locked with an iron gate. On another corner sits a row of three white boarded-up houses, one with tall grass and trash.
Then, right next door to Washington and Frazier is - you guessed it - an abandoned brick house, decorated with gang signs and obscene graffiti.
"That house has been empty for a long time, over 20 years," Washington said.
"I'm always concerned about criminals trying to take people in there, or kids being able to go in there and injure themselves," added Frazier. "We have so many abandoned houses in this neighborhood."
Further down Rader Street is a brown, dilapidated two-story house, surrounded by weeds. Windows in the once majestic structure have been shattered, vandals have kicked in the side door and a collapsed garage door exposes piles of trash inside.
Speaking with a neighbor across the street, Robert "Jimmy" King noted that the property has been vacant since the owner died, and was quickly overtaken by criminals and nature.
"This is a shame," King said as he looked at the house. "If no one will claim it, then it needs to be torn down. Better to have a vacant lot than something falling into disrepair."
Like Washington, Frazier and King, many residents of neighborhoods with a high concentration of abandoned buildings wonder if city officials are doing enough to deal with those properties.
Marion County has between 8,000 and 10,000 abandoned or vacant structures, according to the Indianapolis Department of Metropolitan Development.
"That number comes from data from code violations, reports made to the Health and Hospital Corp., police runs and other related information," said Reggie Walton, the city's director of abandoned and unsafe properties.
He added that the Mayor Greg Ballard administration has demolished more abandoned structures than previous administrations. Between 2005 and 2008, he claims, an average of 125 abandoned properties a year were demolished, but after taking office, Ballard officials increased that total to 275 in 2008, 350 in 2009 and a record 675 in 2010.
Walton said it is important to understand the difference between an abandoned and vacant building.
"Every abandoned house is vacant, but not every vacant house is abandoned," he said. "When a place is vacant, usually the taxes are up to date, there is a transition taking place between renters, or there is a for sale sign. With abandoned properties we see unpaid taxes, broken windows, high weeds and grass, undeliverable mail and illegal activity."
Walton said many abandoned properties have been placed on two lists maintained by city government, including the Mayor's Top 25, a list of the city's most dangerous properties that are placed on the fast track for demolition or redevelopment.
Other properties are placed with the My Neighborhood Initiative, which is part of the city's Rebuild Indy program to restore or replace aging structures. Funds for redevelopment, Walton said, are being supplied by the city's recent sale of its utilities to Citizen's Gas. Revenue from the sale has been earmarked for the city to deal with roughly 2,000 abandoned structures, or 25 percent of vacant and abandoned housing.
"That will make a huge impact because not only will we be able to deal with the 2,000, but we will have more resources to focus on redeveloping those remaining," Walton said.
Also, the city continues to maintain the Indy Land Bank, which acquires abandoned, tax delinquent and other problem properties and makes them available to non-profit and for-profit developers.
Melina Kennedy, Ballard's Democratic challenger in this year's mayoral election, said many voters have expressed concerns about abandoned and vacant properties to her as she visits different neighborhoods.
"We just haven't seen enough of the action that we need in this community," Kennedy said. "Abandoned houses are a blight on neighborhoods, they can drag down home values and they can be a magnet for crime."
Kennedy said the Land Bank has been a good idea for the city for several years, but that current officials have put little emphasis on ramping it up. She noted that on the city's own web site, www.indy.gov, only 45 abandoned and vacant properties are listed, when there are actually thousands of them in the city.
"Also, when abandoned homes have gone through the proper legal process, they should be demolished if they are not salvageable," Kennedy said.
She would like to open the process of addressing abandoned buildings to residents.
"If a structure can be rehabilitated, neighborhoods need to be involved in the process so that it is not done in a vacuum, without the cooperation and input of the area that has had to suffer with blight."  Walton said as much as some residents would like to see a structure demolished, it is not always the city's first option. In addition, demolition is not always possible.
"Properties where the grass stays cut, the structure is secured and boarded up neatly, and the taxes are paid, are the most difficult to deal with because there is nothing the city can legally do," Walton said. "Those properties can't be touched by the city because the owner is doing everything they can to be diligent. Action can only be taken if the property is reported to be a public nuisance."
When properties do become a nuisance, attract criminal activity or become structurally unsafe, they can be reported to the Health and Hospital Corp. of Marion County, which has the power to enforce safety code violations.
Within three to five days of a resident's call, a county inspector should be sent to review the property for conditions that warrant demolition, such as holes in the roof, cracked foundations, leaning and interior floor cracks.
"Some people believe the city's not doing anything," Walton said. "But the Health and Hospital Corp. does the notifications and handles legal proceedings. They gather the documentation needed for a judge to order the city to demolish a property. So reports must be made to them."
To report unsafe abandoned properties, call the Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion County at (317) 221-2150.
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