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Address: 8453 Anthony Wayne Ave., Hartwell
Owner: William Garmon
Year Built: 1890
Comments: This building has been condemned, according to Dave Lockhorn, an inspector with the city of Cincinnati Department of Buildings and Inspections. A hearing will be held before putting it on the city's dead buildings list so bids can be taken for demolition.
The city unsuccessfully tried to get the owner to clean and repair the building, Lockhorn says.
A portion of the building's siding has decayed into the wall cavity, allowing water to get inside. The driveway and backyard are full of debris. Discarded and broken objects ranging from baby dolls to refrigerators surround the building.
Donna Kamp, president of the Hartwell Improvement Association, has been working for two years to get something done about the building. Once she saw a dead rat on the property, she says. Kamp says she has tried complaining to police, firefighters, the board of health and city council.
"The neighbors around there, they're all fixing up their homes and it's sad to have to put up with this," she says. "The smell of rotting wood — it stinks, really stinks. It just keeps getting worse and worse and worse."
A neighbor, who asked not to be identified, says she had to use rat poison to keep rodents away.
"Every room is nothing but junk," she says.
The neighbor says the owner goes to the house onlyfour or five times a year.
The owner does not have a listed phone, and he did not respond to a reporter's letter seeking comment.
BLIGHT OF THE WEEK is an effort to highlight the problem of abandoned buildings — and who's responsible for them.
