Guest article by Michael Earl Patton

In the recent article Is 3CDC More Equal Than Others? I mentioned that the vacant building list does not include buildings owned by the city.  I think I found out why—they truly represent blight.

I decided to check on Race Street between Fourteenth and Fifteenth Streets.  Most of the East side of the street seemed to be owned by 3CDC.  There were signs of some work being done—not a whole lot, but some.  All were at least partially boarded up.  Several would not have passed the requirements of the vacant building license, but one in particular stood out as worse than the others.  While I was taking notes on it, one of the workers came up to me and asked if I was from the city.  I said no, and he said that that particular one, 1420 Race Street, was owned by the city.  He said that he had to really pester the city to get it boarded up even partially.  As it was, the 3rd floor windows were completely missing, frame and all.  Two of the second floor windows were partially open.

Then he pointed across the street at the two worst buildings there—1419 Race and 1505 Race—and said that those were also owned by the city.  Those were at least better boarded up than 1420 Race, but several windows in each were shoddily done.  Some of the wood looked like it was ready to fall off.  I did check the auditor’s web site, and all 3 buildings are indeed owned by the City of Cincinnati.

And this made me wonder: how many of the blighted properties in Cincinnati, I mean those that really stand out as worse than the others, are actually owned by the city itself?

1419 Race Street

1420 Race Street

1505 Race Street

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