Columbus officials announced a revamp of the city's team of attorneys tasked with addressing blighted and nuisance properties, as the city is seeing a record amount of legal action against property owners and landlords.
Latitude 525, Colonial Village Apartments, Jack's Corner Pub and the west side Greyhound bus station are just some of the so-called "nuisance properties" that the city has either shut down or tried to address issues with in the last year. Now the city is revamping and rebranding its team of lawyers to tackle a record number of nuisance property cases that the city says causes crime and unliveable conditions for residents.
City Attorney Zach Klein and other city leaders announced at a Tuesday press conference the team of five lawyers will be named the Property Action Team, and said a sixth lawyer will be added to the team to coincide with the city's addition of a new police zone. Klein said the city is also adding a full-time social worker to the team.
"This rebrand, it better tells a story of exactly the work that these lawyers and social workers do in the trenches of our neighborhoods every day. They address problem properties and they take action to clean them up," Klein said.
The team will also get an annual report every year and the city will produce more educational materials for the public.
Mayor Andrew Ginther said the city is making great progress in ridding neighborhoods of nuisance properties. He called these properties "breeding grounds" for blight, violence, drug activity and other criminal elements.
"But we're also going after shameful landlords and property owners who perpetuate these dangerous conditions," Ginther said.
Klein's office said in a news release after the press conference that since 2018, the city has filed nearly 250 cases in court for criminal activity at properties across the city, including cases against 136 drug houses, 30 bars and illegal after hours clubs. The city also filed cases against 18 area hotels and more than 50 other businesses.
The city also filed more than 3,500 cases for code violations, secured millions of dollars in fines against problem landlords and property owners and objected to 69 liquor permit renewals.
Klein said a majority of the property owners the city interacts with end up cooperating, but there are some that require the city to take legal action.
"But unfortunately there's a small number that don't. And that small number is one that finds the ire of codes, the ire of police and certainly the ire of the City Attorney's Office, that we're going to hold accountable," he said.
Klein said when businesses find themselves in court with the city, they have usually failed every warning and reach out from the city before it happened.
"We just don't go zero to court unless we have to because of a massive event that would happen. It's because we've reached out and they have failed to respond," Klein said.
Quay Barnes, a community activist and chair of the Mid-East Area Commission, said many establishments and properties in the east side have been a nuisance for far too long. She said these properties cause noise, crime and a general disruption of peace in her area. She said the problems includes intoxicated drivers, littering, fights, disorderly conduct, shootings and murder.
"For years, nuisance properties such as Lounge 13 redubbed the Lux Lounge, the Pelican Club redubbed the Queen of Hearts Club and apartment complexes, such as Colonial Village, have been a deterrent to the goals of our communities to provide safe and inviting environments, for which our residents and businesses can thrive," Barnes said.
Barnes said she hopes with the help of the Property Action Team the city and her community can help alleviate these problems and improve the neighborhood.
