Birdtown resident seeks halt to city demolition
Joseph Falat stands in front of his Dowd Ave. property in May 2009
Birdtown resident Joesph Falat filed an appeal and a stay of execution in Cuyahoga Court of Common Pleas on November 19th in an effort to prevent the city from demolishing the investment property he owns at 2101 Dowd Ave. The Lakewood Board of Building Standards found the house to be a nuisance due to its poor physical condition. The decision cleared the way for the city to demolish it.
Falat, who lives on Magee St. and owns a couple of Lakewood rental properties, has been sparring with the city over housing issues off-and-on for at least a decade.
The most recent dispute began in 2008 when Falat was cited by the Division of Housing and Building. Falat painted the exterior of house and put on a new roof, but explained that financial hardship prohibited him from doing more extensive interior renovations to the unoccupied 4-unit house.
In addition to pursuing Falat for housing violations through Lakewood Municipal Court, the city moved along a parallel path with the Board of Building Standards to designate the house as an unsafe nuisance structure.
Lakewood Municipal Court Judge Patrick Carroll issued several continuances to the case in 2009. He gradually became more and more agitated with the lack of progress on Falat’s part. He issued a $950 fine and dispensed with the case after the building dept. issued a demolition order.
Falat maintains that when he retires in January of 2010, he’ll have access to at least $100,000 in retirement savings which he will use to fix the house. He indicated that he’s working with an architect and has plans to move forward.
The demolition is now on hold as the court reviews the case. A mediation session is scheduled for March 2010.
You can read Falat’s full complaint here (.pdf).
City demolishes a different house on Dowd
The city acquired 2042 Dowd from HUD for $35,000.
The city acquired 2042 Dowd from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for $35,000 in September. It was deemed to be in such disrepair that it had to be torn down. It was demolished sometime within the last week.
A view of the corner of Thrush and Dowd, where 2042 once stood.
The city could use federal funds to build a new single family house on the site, and most likely sell it to a low-to-moderate income homeowner. There are two or three other Birdtown houses the city hopes to raze and rebuild.
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