FULTON – First Ward Councilor Tom Kenyon has been working for a few years on solving a problem in his ward – 102 W. Second St. – and today, June 18, the problem property was demolished.
This property, which was owned by Chase Bank, was taken down this morning at 9:30 a.m. with water sprayed on it to reduce the dust and debris in the air, as Kenyon, Mayor Deana Michaels, surrounding neighbors and other city employees watched.
Before it was torn down today, an uncertain number of people stayed there with no running water, an extension cord to a neighboring rental unit as its source of electricity and garbage often thrown on the side or on the roof.
Last summer the city’s Department of Public Works cleared the area of the garbage, and according to Kenyon, needles were also found and cleaned up. A short period of time later garbage began to pile up again.
“Assuming the prior owner allowed them to stay there at some point, that’s generally how they establish residency,” said previous Fulton Police Chief Orlo Green in an interview with Oswego County Today last year. “We still don’t have the authority to remove them from the property; it’s the homeowner’s right to have them evicted. It’s still private property. It’s not public property.”
Last August, the house caught on fire and was boarded up, but neighbor of four years Angela Stoughtenger said people were still staying there.
According to Stoughtenger the people who had been staying there, including a young girl, have now moved to another home.
“I was here the whole time this was happening,” Stoughtenger said. “It was bad. All the drug activities, the people in and out of there that didn’t belong there… There were overdoses left and right; there was a little girl living there. The fact that she’s out of there made me happy.”
Kenyon said he is appreciative of the neighbors and of the mayor and Codes Department for their help and cooperation.
“It’s been a long process but oh, what a day this is. Happiest day for these [neighbors],” Kenyon said.
The owner of the property, Chase Bank, paid for the demolition after frequent communication from Mayor Michaels.
“We were relentless; we weren’t going to back down,” Michaels said. “We shouldn’t have tragedies like this, so we need to take a different approach towards dealing with these problematic properties – handling the drug issues, handling the vacant properties, the absentee landlords.”
Michaels said she stepped up to help Kenyon in February, but the process was held because the vendors the city is working with could not work due to the pandemic. As soon as some of the COVID-19 related restrictions were lifted, the ball got rolling again and three weeks later the property was torn down.
“[Kenyon] put it on my radar right from the beginning,” Michaels said. “The city has to take a stance and it has to hold property owners, and in this case banks, accountable to clean up our city… While [Chase Bank] may have had their hurtles, the City of Fulton needs to make sure we have safe neighborhoods. We need to make sure that our properties are maintained.”
Previous Oswego County Today coverage on this property:
August 2019: https://oswegocountytoday.com/fulton-fire-department-responds-to-102-w-2nd-st-fire/news/fulton/
July 2019: https://oswegocountytoday.com/problems-in-a-fulton-neighborhood-revisited/news/fulton/
May 2019: https://oswegocountytoday.com/problems-in-a-fulton-neighborhood/news/fulton/
Discover more from Oswego County Today
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
good job .. Fulton doesnt need that