Mack Properties to raze 4 sites within one month

A problem landlord is making good on agreements with community organizers.

STAFF REPORT

YOUNGSTOWN — Reigning in problem landlords is one of the initiatives of the Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative’s vacant property campaign.

Community members and MVOC organizers recently met with Mack Properties to discuss the terms of their agreement from mid-December. Mack Properties was targeted as part of the MVOC’s problem-landlord campaign due to the number of its deteriorated structures, said Mary Krupa, member of the Snoop Block Watch and the 7th Ward Citizens Coalition who was at a MVOC press conference Thursday.

Mack Properties agreed to demolish four properties in the city within one month and also agreed to meet with MVOC and community group leaders.

Mack Properties has requested five demolition permits from the city, four of which are for houses and one for a garage. Mack Properties also provided a list of homes it plans to have taken down during the course of the year, as well as a list of homes intended for rehabilitation, said Tammy Thomas, MVOC community organizer.

“We are at the beginning of the problem-landlord campaign, but we’ve accomplished much in a short period of time,” Krupa said.

The city’s rental license ordinance is another facet in the MVOC’s grand scheme of the vacant-property and problem-landlord campaigns.

When Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams ran for office, he said the landlord registration would be implemented in his first term.

Williams still intends to keep his word but looks to implement the ordinance with some assistance.

“I’m not going to keep it singularly, but with the help of the MVOC and the people in this room,” said Williams referring to community leaders who attended the press conference.

The legislation for the ordinance was passed about six to eight years ago and calls for the identification of all landlords in the city and their properties through an equitable fee for each property.