City fights blight, crime by razing 2 Oak Cliff houses

Saturday, August 18, 2007 - Dallas Morning News

City razes 2 vacant homes labeled drug stash houses, eyesores

By TRINA TERRELL / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

Abandoned. Boarded up. Eyesores. Drug houses.

These are just a few of the words Dallas Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway uses to describe two homes recently demolished in the 2500 block of Crest Avenue.

"It has been a very productive two weeks," Mr. Caraway said Thursday. He was referring to the demolition of the houses as well as the City Council's recent decision to close the Southern Comfort and Sunset motels in Oak Cliff.

Mr. Caraway describes the vacant structures at 2523 and 2515 Crest Ave., both declared unsafe before being razed, as drug stash houses.

"These houses have been on the radar screen for nearly eight years," Mr. Caraway said. "Houses like this contribute to paralyzing our neighborhoods."

Vacant since 2004, the 2515 Crest Ave. property had fires in 2003 and 2004. In 2004, code enforcement officials boarded up the property. But problems continued.

In January, the city attorney's office filed a lawsuit citing the property as a public health hazard, substandard, dilapidated, substandard and unfit for habitation, Mr. Caraway said.

In March, a notice to demolish the property was sent to the owner, and the house was finally torn down Aug. 10. The owner could not be reached for comment.

The 2523 Crest Ave. structure became vacant in 2000. Between 2001 and 2003, records show, code enforcement officials mowed the grass more than 10 times.

After the city attorney's office filed suit the same day as on the 2515 property for the same conditions, the city entered into an agreed order with the owners to repair the property within 90 days. When those repairs weren't done, a notice of noncompliance was filed with the court May 18 to authorize the city to demolish the house.

It was demolished the same day as the 2515 property. The cost of both demolitions will be recovered by placing liens on the homes.

Essie Mae Guthrie, who has lived on Crest Avenue since 1980, said she hopes the razing of the houses will help the look of her surroundings. She said both houses were beautiful when she moved to the neighborhood, but both had declined over time, becoming eyesores and sources of trouble.

"I feel really good about us improving our neighborhood," Ms. Guthrie said. "It's probably going to make our neighborhood [look] better."

Mr. Caraway said the vacant houses were attracting criminal elements to the neighborhood.

"We are beginning to remedy the elements paralyzing the growth and development of our community," said Mr. Caraway, who was elected to the council in May. "I am working to do more than keep a campaign promise; I am committing myself to taking back our neighborhoods, one block at a time."

Trina Terrell is a Dallas-based freelance writer

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