YOUNGSTOWN -- Stand near the end of Halleck Street, looking out at Elm Street on the North Side.

YOUNGSTOWN -- Stand near the end of Halleck Street, looking out at Elm Street on the North Side.
You are flanked by vacant, red brick apartment buildings. Blinds hang out the windows, out-of-control ivy sneaks up the walls and candy wrappers litter the knee-high weeds.
Behind one building is a garage with a collapsing roof and whole trees sticking out the front. The yelps of small children playing emanate from behind the garage.
Now turn around.
The two houses you see are boarded up, the roof collapsing between the first and second floors on one of them.
Individual properties such as these concern Youngstown readers the most.
In March, The Vindicator asked what eyesores readers most wanted to see cleaned up. Of 166 letters and e-mails from Youngstown, 97 of them -- 84 percent -- focused on individual dilapidated properties next to or near homes. The locations are too numerous to list.
Vacant homes: Dolores Gabriel has a bunch of them on Tampa Avenue, where she lives on the South Side, and around the block on Hunter Avenue.
Some of the occupied homes have run-down porches full of furniture or toys, peeling paint and siding or ramshackle dog houses. Boarded-up homes are sprinkled among the average-looking small homes.
"This is a really proud neighborhood, those of us who are staying here. We can't put up with this anymore," Gabriel said. "I sure would love to see these homes disappear."
A city department dedicated to taking over vacant houses via back taxes is needed, because taxes are owed on most of the properties, she said. Getting rid of the empty homes would improve the look of those remaining, she said.
Good news for Gabriel is that city officials are working with the Mahoning County treasurer on the issue. The two sides are talking about how to reduce the expensive foreclosure process. That would put the land into the hands of people who pay the taxes and maintain their property. Gabriel is upbeat about the possibilities.
"We could do this. This is what we want to see," she said.
Residents on Maryland Avenue on the West Side just wish something could be done about the declining look of their area.
East Ravenwood: A few homes on the block have litter in the driveway, or siding falling off, or bent metal awnings. The problems aren't as great compared to other areas of the city, such as East Ravenwood on the South Side.
Ravenwood, from Market Street to Southern Boulevard, is the street toured in January 1999 by officials from the White House drug czar's office. Boarded-up homes, trash and graffiti run the length of the street.
The concern on Maryland is if the decline doesn't stop soon, the neighborhood could end up like Ravenwood.
"You say, 'Golly, what would other people think?' It reflects on all of us. It's a little discouraging. If they could just keep on these people ...," said Therese Droney, who lives on the street, her voice tailing off.
Younger people the past five to 10 years aren't keeping up their homes like others used to, said Richard Holstein, who also lives on Maryland.
Like many people, Holstein is tired of people denigrating the city. But that won't stop until the city holds people accountable, he said.
"It's always been a nice neighborhood. I wish it would stay that way," Holstein said. "I'm tired of seeing this town crapped on, too. But that's why people crank on Youngstown."