Nearby residents say the overgrown school lots are havens for illegal activity.

Nearby residents say the overgrown school lots are havens for illegal activity.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Every time Jim Howell looks out the front of his Willis Avenue house with the fine-trimmed lawn, he sees the rear of the former Monroe School, a large, dilapidated three-story structure, staring back at him.
The view for Howell, who has lived in the same house for more than 30 years, has become more unsightly in the years since the school district closed the building in 1983.
"It's disgusting," he said. "It's terrible to see it every day. It's an eyesore for the neighborhood. Everybody tries to keep their property up, but that building brings down the morale of the neighborhood."
It particularly hurts Howell because his three children, now all adults, attended the elementary school, and the structure's poor condition reduces his property value in a relatively quiet neighborhood off Glenwood Avenue.
All the building's rear windows and most of its side and front ones are smashed. The structure is so deteriorated that bricks regularly fall off the upper portion of the school. Grass, weeds and trees are so overgrown that they cover large portions of the building and its rear parking lot.
Fires were set in the former school, it's become a popular dump site for garbage and stolen cars, and the copper tubing inside was stripped years ago, Howell said.
Demolition campaign
But in the next days, possibly as early as this week, Howell's view of the property will change.
The city is spending up to $85,000 to demolish the school building. The city made several unsuccessful attempts to contact the building's owner, Moses Mason of Tennessee, said Michael Damiano, Youngstown's demolition director.
"It's a big, ugly building and it has to come down," Damiano said. "We want to get rid of the blight."
As part of the city's $1.2 million demolition program, about 300 residential houses, the former Monroe School and the former Tod Vocational School on the North Side will be taken down this year.
The city has already knocked down 107 residential structures. Mayor Jay Williams has made the removal of blight from the city's neighborhoods one of his top priorities.
"Flattening these structures will make the neighborhoods more attractive," Williams said. "Removing blight will help restore these neighborhoods and make the city a better place."
The city expects demolition costs for the former Tod Vocational School, which closed in 1981, to be about $100,000 to $120,000. Tod is much larger than Monroe. The building, which is owned by the school district, should be demolished by late summer, said Damiano. He added, however, that the city has been unable to determine who owns the land.
The city will demolish the schools, but because it doesn't own the properties, it can't do anything with the land right now such as building parks or selling it to developers, Damiano and Williams said.
Happy to see it go
"I'll be glad when they take it down," said German Price of Willis Avenue about Monroe. "No one's taken care of it. I've had to chase kids out of there. I'm afraid someone's going to get hurt."
Annie Henry of Willis Avenue said she and other neighbors tried to clean the Monroe property last summer, but the job is just too great.
The building is a popular place for people to drink and congregate for illegal activities, she said.
"I'd like to see it come down so the kids can at least ride their bikes there," she said. "I'd love to see it converted into a park."
M'jele Green, a 16-year-old who lives on West Chalmers Road, the front portion of Monroe, said he went inside the old building once because his father used to go to school there.
"It's all rusty inside with holes in the wall," he said. "It smells in there."
Demolishing the school is good, but having it be a large, empty lot isn't a significant improvement, Green said.
While Monroe's condition is worse than Tod's, Damiano said both are beyond repair, adversely impact their neighborhoods and pose potential health hazards.
The demolition of Tod on Dupont Avenue is another positive step toward rehabilitating the neighborhood near the structure, said Paul Bolder of Robinwood Place, who can see the former school from his house.
After years of complaining to city officials, Bolder, who has lived in his Robinwood house for 34 years, saw an abandoned house next to his demolished recently. His only complaint is the city demolition crew left dirt where the house used to stand and damaged the sidewalk.
Tod doesn't have as many broken windows as Monroe, but the grass, weeds and trees on the property are so overgrown, it makes the area look bad, Bolder said.
Bolder praised the city for taking a proactive approach to removing blight from neighborhoods.
"Leveling [Tod] is very important," he said. "We need to get that eyesore out of here. The city is heading in the right direction. I see a big difference with the city with demolitions."
Toni Patton of Dupont Avenue, the mother of three, said she sees children playing in the high grass near Tod and is concerned for their safety.
"There are raccoons and rats there, and getting rid of that building is good for the community," she said.
Joy Medina of Dearborn Street, who can see Tod from her front porch, said she is pleased the vacant building is being demolished.
Medina, who has lived in her home for 20 years, said homeless people sleep in the former school, and she's seen rats in the grass outside the structure.
skolnick@vindy.com