Warren detective gets tough on owners of condemned homes

Photo by: Robert K. Yosay

Photo

James London outside The empty six plex at 1002 -1006 Parkview in Youngstown on the demolition list part of Mark King Properties

WARREN — “These are all condemned. I just haven’t gotten to them yet,” said Detective Patrick Marsico of the Warren Police Department, as he drove his unmarked police cruiser down Haymaker Avenue Northwest to show one of the city’s bigger problem neighborhoods.

Marsico is trying to reduce Warren’s high number of condemned homes. Specifically, the problem is the homeowners who have refused to follow the order of the city health department to demolish the structures.

The city has taken a number of approaches to the problem in the past, but since November it has focused its resources on a relatively new one: Marsico.

The former patrolman was put in charge of Warren’s environmental enforcement about 18 months ago when the Geauga-Trumbull Solid Waste District funded his position with a $67,000-per-year grant. The money comes from a 2006 increase in garbage-truck fees paid by waste haulers.

For the complete story, see Friday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com