On Tuesday I drove past 1222 Lombardy Street as I do several times a week. Only this time it was different. This time I dialed 373-CITY to complain about the fallen in roof and the truckloads of garbage that has been dumped there over the years since the roof fell in. I no longer have a working camera but I found this overhead view by using the Guilford County GIS website.
It looks far worse now than in the photo above.
The roof has been fallen in for several years with nothing done about it and I wondered if the City planned to demolish the property. I was told that the property is on the list to be demolished, that over 300 properties are on that list, no date has been set, and no funding has been set aside for those 300 demolitions.
And the first thing that came to mind was, there always seems to be funding to do demolitions in Glenwood on homes sought after by UNCG. Especially if those homes are owned by Bulent Bediz.
But not one of the demolished homes owned by Mr Bediz posed as much of a threat to public safety as the property at 1222 Lombardy Street. You can see the Greensboro Housing Authority owned Claremont Courts from the front porch at 1222 Lombardy. How many children might play there with the only remaining wooded area in the neighborhood being directly across the street?
But I didn't want to be the one to tell you about this.
You see, when I blog, despite any amount of evidence I might present, Greensboro's leaders make me out to be some sort of insane liar and most of Greensboro believes them. That's why I have severely curtailed my blogging activities.
So I decided to send my thoughts to others to see what they thought.
Roch Smith jr found my thoughts intriguing but is currently busy on paying projects. Hey, not everyone is retired like me. Some people have bills to pay. But Roch did take the time to forward my e-mail to Dr Stephen Stills who sent us the following:
But I had already called the city. So had others. The property is already on a list of 300 that isn't getting done.
I also sent my thoughts to Bulent Bediz who sent me the following reply:
"The funds used to demolish houses could well be spent rehabbing them" Wow, I've seen the houses belonging to Mr Bediz that were torn down by the City. I also saw the bills they presented him for tearing them down. Many, if not all, could have been repaired for the cost of demolition.
Mr Bediz also sent me this recent article Guilford County closes in on Glenwood investor’s properties so I guess there's no need to share my concerns about code enforcement bias with Triad City Beat.
Funny thing though, the TCB article contradicts itself.
I found this statement to be especially telling. In it Mitzi Griffin admits UNCG is the problem then goes on to blame Bulent Bediz:
"Griffin said that after UNCG bought up many of Bediz’s homes to make way for the new student recreation center in 2016, the value of most of the homes in the neighborhood dropped drastically. She claims hers went down to what it was when she bought it 30 years ago.
“He single-handedly took down this neighborhood,” Griffin said."
"...after UNCG bought up many of Bediz’s homes... the value of most of the homes in the neighborhood dropped drastically."
Meanwhile none of the homes that were owned by Mr Bediz and demolished by the City of Greensboro were in as bad of condition as this property at 1222 Lombardy St in East Greensboro where UNCG has no designs on taking the properties.
Intriguing? Roch has a nicer way of putting things than I do.
So what does it take to get a dangerous property torn down and hauled away when said property isn't a property that is desired by UNCG or one of Greensboro's connected developers? Why are there 300 properties waiting to be demolished and no funding to do so? Is there bias in the enforcement of the laws concerning public safety?
Or will the property at 1222 Lombardy actually have to kill children just as did the abandoned rock quarry that was once across the street did before the City of Greensboro will take action.
Update: June 28, 2019: If someone wants to visit 1222 Lombardy Street and photograph the property I'd be more than happy to add the photos to this post. Send them to RecycleBill@gmail.com and let me know if you wish for me to use your name or not.
