PITTSBURGH — Neighbors in Pittsburgh’s Bon Air neighborhood are tired of seeing condemned homes on Schuchert Street.
People there tell Channel 11 they’ve been trying to get them demolished for nearly a decade.
The issue was raised loudly at a community meeting with city officials earlier this week.
“If you can’t tear it down, at least come and get rid of the trees that have turned from weeds into trees,” Marcia Chmill shouted, Tuesday.
Channel 11 caught up with her outside one of those blighted properties, Thursday.
“I spoke with numerous people. I told them how unsafe it was,” she said.
Her street has ten homes on it; two are condemned. She says she first complained about 117 Schuchert in 2016. It has since become a dumping ground with overgrown trees and animals inside.
“Where people are struggling to pay rent, the animals live free and then they travel all the way to the other neighbor’s house,” she said. “Mickey Mouse, Ratatouille and Rocky Raccoon. They all live there.”
One neighbor resorted to keeping a raccoon trap on his porch.
Down the road at 124, it’s more of the same. Neighbors tell Channel 11 a previous neighbor tried shooting raccoons with arrows that are still lodged in the roof.
According to the latest public data from the City of Pittsburgh, these homes are two of more than 1800 buildings condemned within city limits.
“It’s frustrating for my constituents. It’s frustrating for me,” Pittsburgh City Councilman Anthony Coghill said. He represents Bon Air.
“We can condemn them, but we can’t demo them until they are ‘imminent need’ and there’s four different tiers,” he said.
According to city data, both of these homes are rated a “2″ out of “4″ meaning they are considered “unsafe.” Both are privately owned, like the majority of condemned homes in Coghill’s district.
Cost is also a barrier. Coghill says the price of demolishing a house has more than doubled since the pandemic.
He also told Channel 11 he agrees with neighbors who say their district is not getting a fair share of tax money used for demolitions.
11 Investigates has been looking into the issue of blight in the city. Several properties were demolished in Homewood South last month.
Just this week, we told you State Rep. Brandon Markosek is proposing a statewide blighted properties database.
“There’s not enough getting done and us neighbors have to suffer,” Chmill said.
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