Witte: 'Phil's Manor' still an issue

The Price Hill Civic Club doesn't believe that steps taken by the City to address the problem property at 4373 W Eighth Street, also known as "Phil's Manor", haven't gone far enough.

In an e-mail to the office of councilmember Roxanne Qualls, chair of City Council's Vibrant Neighborhoods Committee, Price Hill Civic Club vice president Pete Witte says that there are still problems at the 18-unit apartment building owned by Phil Yeary.

Last month, city manager Milton Dohoney Jr. told council in a memorandum that junk and litter on the property had been removed, and that the Health Department was in the process of removing a junked van.

He also said that the Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority is no longer placing tenants at the property, and a residential manager is now on site to control loitering and trespassing.

"The junked van remains in the front parking lot," Witte says. "Police continue to make multiple runs to the address, and we fear that as warmer weather looms the outside gathering and altercations will be resuming."

Witte says that Yeary isn't capable of managing the property, and it's driving homeowners out of the neighborhood.

"The fact that this same owner operates a below average property in Westwood [sic] speaks to his inability to manage a property in the current climate in Cincinnati," he says. "The Price Hill Civic Club looks forward to a day when this property and the surrounding community can live in peace."

Previous reading on BC:
West Price Hill nuisance abated, monitored (2/18/09)
4373 W Eighth Street: A nuisance? (1/13/09)