Youngstown, Part One

I was in Youngstown for business, and I made the mistake of driving to my old neighborhood. I did some research a few weeks ago on my old house. Mom, Kat and I lived there for just four years. For me, that would have been seventh through tenth grade. I was doing some real estate research in Mahoning County when curiosity got the better of me and I typed in my old address. After reviewing court records and real estate records, from best I can tell, our old landlord sold the house back in the late 90s to a man who owned several rental properties in the neighborhood. He bellied up, and the bank foreclosed. Problem is, this fool had let the property turn to pot. He didn't maintain it. And while it wasn't perfect when we lived in it, it was clean (sorta), and our old landlord kept it up (kinda). It is amazing how quickly a house can fall into disrepair. The house went up for public auction twice. The first time, it was valued at $20,000, with a minimum bid of two thirds that. No bids. The second time, it was reappraised at a mere $6,000, with a minimum opening bid of $4,000. No bids. So I pulled up to the corner of Rush and Florida, and I expected to see a disaster. But I still was not prepared for what I saw. We lived here for four years. It wasn't a great place. It is unbelievable to me to see it this bad. Vacant, windows missing, lawn overgrown, garage gone. Amazing that no one has burned it down just for fun. Someone left my bedroom window open. I drove down the street to Joe's old house, and found a similar situation. Joe's dad drank himself to death after the steel mills closed. His life was over, and he killed himself slowly, with Black Velvet and Kools. I went down to the end of the block to what was once Consolidated corner store. Kat and I used to buy candy and snacks there, some groceries too. They sold fresh ground beef, grinding it while you wait. What once were storefront windows had been bricked in, and then the building otherwise abandoned. Looking at it now, it is hard to imagine that the neighborhood kids would hang out here, play ball out front, and run in for Cokes. But I know we did. I was there.