MIDDLETOWN, Ohio — At the corner of Manchester Avenue and Verity Parkway in Middletown, a small building sits next to one of the town's fire stations.
The building, at one point a dry cleaners, looks as if it's taken a direct hit from a tornado. The business's sign is hollow, the awning has been ripped off, the parking lot is covered in dirt and the windows are covered.
Scott Blanton, president of Dempster Tire across the street, acknowledged the building doesn't look good. But he's working to improve it.
When Blanton sees blighted buildings downtown, he said he sees a chance for improvement.
"I see potential because I've watched a lot of the buildings down here go bad," he said.
The problem, according to some city council members speaking at a meeting this week, is not all property managers are diligent about property improvements, maintenance or code compliance like Blanton.
In a passionate exchange with City Manager Paul Lolli, council member Steve West called on the town's code enforcement officers to do more to manage blighted or nuisance properties around town.
"I'm trying to say this nicely because there is going to be a lot of pissed-off people at me in this building, but, at this point, I don't really care because the city looks like s—t," he said.
West railed against what he called properties that have had "blatant" code violations for more than a decade.
The soon-to-be Dollar Tree on University Boulevard and Central Avenue was a particular focus of his ire as he said the lot accumulates trash consistently.
"Filled with garbage," he said. "Guys, this is our city! It's ridiculous."
The frustration from several council members came as Lolli proposed a major shake-up of city structure by combining the Economic Development and Development Services departments into the Community and Economic Development Department.
Part of that restructuring would bring five new positions to the city for a cost of $508,443.48 a year with a focus on getting code enforcement into the field to better identify problem properties around town and enforce solutions.
"If we don't do anything in code enforcement, we're not going to fix this," Lolli said. "This is an attempt to fix everything you brought up."
Blanton said as a lifelong Middletown resident and taxpayer, he would not mind seeing a significant investment in code enforcement to beautify the region.
"I think it's money well allocated," he said. "I really do."
Council will consider the new hires and overhaul of city structure at their next meeting June 18.
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