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ACTION rallies supporters to continue campaign against ‘negligent’ landlords
ACTION rallies volunteers to continue effort
YOUNGSTOWN
More than 100 people gathered Tuesday night to see one of the city’s largest landlords held accountable for money he owes the city and to determine which landlord they’d target next.
Though the landlord – Mark R. King, who owned more than 150 properties at the beginning of the year – never showed up to the meeting, the Alliance for Congregational Transformation of Our Neighborhoods and its supporters still celebrated.
On April 17, King signed a “community agreement” with ACTION demanding he fulfill eight conditions to keep the group from further pressuring him. He was scheduled to make a public appearance to accept the agreement, but he did not show.
King agreed to register his properties with the city, address five properties with active code violations, demolish 12 of his blighted properties, pay back his debts to the city, respond to all his outstanding maintenance requests within 30 days and all subsequent requests within 30 days of their filing, cease to purchase any property in the city until all the previous conditions are met and to regularly meet with a group of community leaders to show his progress on the agreement.
According to ACTION leaders, King has begun to address each of the eight points, including a settlement he reached with the city April 19 agreeing to pay back $262,000 of the $647,821 he owed.
King also agreed to pay the city $12,500 to mow the grass on dozens of his properties.
Jonathan Blackshire, a North Side resident, expressed frustration that King managed to settle for a third of what he owed the city.
ACTION member Daphine Carter Hawkins agreed.
“We didn’t feel it was fair he only had to pay a third either,” she said. “But unfortunately, we don’t make the rules.”
Katrina Love, a member of ACTION who spoke at the meeting, said his settlement with the city was a direct result of King’s signing the community agreement.
“Make no doubt about it – Mr. King wouldn’t have settled with the city without the efforts of the people in this room,” Love said.
In addition to the settlement, King also has demolished eight of the 12 properties on ACTION’s list.
ACTION has identified 17 landlords it considers negligent in their responsibilities, and narrowed that list down to six potential next targets.
The six landlords are Vision Property, Armstrong Properties Inc., Cardinal Renovations Group, Michael Robidoux, Shadetree Holdings LLC and San Francisco LLC.
Combined, the six owe the city more than $85,000 in delinquent bills and own approximately 112 properties, according to data from the Youngstown State University Center for Urban and Regional Studies.
A specific future target was not selected during the meeting but will be determined by ACTION’s Housing Task Force at a later date.
Later, leaders of ACTION called for volunteers to join a task force aimed at addressing group homes they believe are poorly run and maintained.