Several city officials and businesspeople, including Mayor Mike Bell’s office and the Inspection, Neighborhoods, Public Service and Public Utilities departments, kicked off Toledo’s second year of Spring Sweeps, an initiative striving to better the city’s housing
and building stock, on March 27.
“These Spring Sweeps are very crucial to the quality of life for people in different areas of our city,” Bell said during a news conference at East Toledo Family Center on March 27.
“It is a very aggressive process to make people feel assured that their city cares about them,” he said.
The initiative’s soft launch started March 20 and the program ends June 1.
The first part of the sweep will focus on East Toledo before going into the United North, Broadway Corridor and Overland Park areas. As part of the initiative, the city’s Division of
Code Enforcement is conducting inspections and handing out door tags that include information on assistance programs. Discount codes to local hardware stores are also available.
Spring Sweeps also includes police participation. In a 10-day targeted enforcement operation in March, police arrested more than 200 people in East Toledo areas where higher than average crime rates were reported.
At the news conference, Police Chief Derrick Diggs said that maintaining neighborhoods is important because vacant or rundown buildings can attract crime.
The sweeps also feature a neighborhood cleanup day where school and community groups will help out.
East Toledo’s is set for 9 a.m. to noon April 27, starting at East Toledo Family Center. Last year’s program focused on West Toledo.
“The feedback from last year was very positive. If anything, the residents in the areas we targeted wanted more information about their neighborhoods,” said Chris Zervos, director of inspection. “[Residents] not only took care of their own properties but they helped their neighbors take care of theirs.”
This year’s Spring Sweeps tackles 8,000 properties, down from 17,000 last year, said Dennis Kennedy, manager of code enforcement.
“We focused our areas down. We’re a little bit smaller this year so the neighborhoods get more attention from the inspectors instead of doing a larger blanket sweep,” he said.
