Nuisance property demolished; neighbors celebrate

PARMA, Ohio – A blight on Parma’s neighborhood landscape – and a perennial source of law enforcement activity – has been literally wiped out. Where there was formerly a home located at 7707 Bertha Avenue, there is now a vacant lot.

The home was demolished at 8 a.m. Tuesday morning, and the land will be placed in Parma’s land bank. This action was a direct response to neighborhood concern about the property. Last year, Mayor Tim DeGeeter and other city officials met with concerned neighbors and Councilwoman Debbie Lime about the problem property.

In a little over a year, nearly two dozen calls for service came to 911 for that residence. Those calls included numerous reports of suspicious conditions, several disturbance calls, drug overdoses, animal violations, and a child endangerment call. Myriad additional calls involved building violations.

After meeting with neighboring residents, the administration, working with law enforcement, deemed the location a nuisance property and began proceedings to see it eradicated.

“This is definitely a success story in terms of protecting our quality of life here in Parma,” Mayor DeGeeter said. “We are very happy to get rid of this source of trouble and to put this property in our land bank.”

This home has been in foreclosure since 2005 and did not sell at subsequent Sheriff’s Auction. A fire this past February caused extensive damage, and after notification of pending demolition, no party stepped forward to repair the structure.

DeGeeter was on hand to witness the demolition Tuesday morning, as was Councilwoman Lime, several neighbors and Erik Tollerup, the City’s Director of Economic Development and Community Services.

Over the past three years, Parma has demolished 35 housing structures deemed a local nuisance. Six more demolitions are pending for June 2013.