Troubling foundations of vacant home cause sink holes in northern Toledo

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) — Becky Smith has lived her entire life in her Page Street home, and in recent years the house next door has been a problem.

“It was beautiful. The whole neighborhood is beautiful. It was alive, the kids were playing. It was an awesome place to grow up. It’s sad as it is now, it’s just sad,” Smith said .

According to Smith, the sinkholes were there even before the previous owner left.

“The previous owner used to throw milk jugs in there, trying to cover it up, and it just got bigger and bigger,” Smith said.

And the holes attract unwanted visitors – rats – to Smith’s house.

“I can’t even leave a loaf of bread on the counter last winter. It was terrible, I have five kids and they can’t play in the yard half the time because they’re [rats] run around the yard,” Smith said.

Smith added after years of searching for answers, and she doesn’t know what else to do. “I’m annoyed, I’m disgusted, I’m angry because the city doesn’t seem to want anything to do with it. They keep promising me and promising me. I called the mayor, I called the city council, and nothing.“

A representative from the city of Toledo’s code enforcement department told 13abc that the property had a history of work orders. After dispatching inspectors, they determined that the property was vacant, in poor condition, overgrown and a candidate for demolition. They hope the property will be torn up with hundreds more in the city later this year.

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