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TMHA director gives theory on deaths at Buckeye Building
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Saturday’s death of a 59-year-old woman, who jumped from the ninth floor of the Trumbull Metropolitan Housing Authority-owned Buckeye Building, is the sixth such death in less than three years and fourth in a year.
The building is at the corner of Tod Avenue Northwest and Buckeye Street.
Sheila M. Wilson lived on the fourth floor, but she is thought to have stood on a plastic chair on the ninth-floor exterior walkway to get over the railing Saturday.
Larry H. Jenkins, 53, who lived on the sixth floor, was found dead in the courtyard behind the apartment building Aug. 20. The courtyard is next to the Mahoning River, across from Perkins Park.
Shelley P. Flowers, 51, fell to her death from the sixth floor in March.
Rolland Root, 43, who lived on the ninth floor, was found dead in the courtyard Oct. 23, 2015.
Police found a chair against the balcony railing near Root’s room, and a resident of the Tod Building next door saw Root fall, police said.
Stacy L. Root, 34, Root’s sister, died from a fall from another TMHA high-rise, the Elms, on Plaza Avenue Northeast, June 5, 2014, according to Vindicator archives.
All five were ruled suicides by falling or jumping.
Russ Osman, TMHA assistant director, said there have been six such deaths in less than three years, but he did not provide the location or date of the sixth occurrence.
Donald Emerson, TMHA executive director, said the agency provides housing to low-income people. Many of the people who live in the Buckeye Building are disabled, including many who have mental-health issues.
The state made the decision to de-institutionalize mentally challenged people decades ago, “and that’s what’s causing this,” Emerson said.
One solution is to tear down the Buckeye Building and its next-door neighbor, the Tod Building, Emerson said. Each has 150 apartments and together they are known as Riverview apartments.
“There are serious maintenance issues with both buildings,” Emerson said. The agency has applied for funding for demolition but has not received approval.
The buildings have walkways built onto the exterior on the side facing the courtyard and the river.
Emerson said TMHA investigated the idea of enclosing the walkways, but it was impossible to get financing for the project.
One positive development on the horizon is the completion of a new TMHA property, Parkman Landing on Parkman Road Northwest, which will create an additional 60 units. The building has no exterior walkways or balconies. Construction is expected to wrap up around the first of the year, Emerson said.
All the TMHA properties combined have an occupancy rate of 98 percent, Emerson said, though he could not estimate the occupancy rate of the Buckeye Building.
The Elms, which is located behind the Elm Road Plaza, has 200 apartments, according to the TMHA website. All units except those on the first floor have balconies.