Bev Lavanga says the abandoned house two doors down has gotten worse over two years.
41 Action News visited the house at 8th and Wheeling eight months ago, where several squatters have made a home. The city deemed it uninhabitable.
"It's dumpy. They leave grocery carts of stuff all over. There's been gunshots coming from over there," Bev said.
Bev says she's lost count of the number of calls she's made to the city. She's worried for her safety.
"Nothing has gotten done," she complains.
The house is one of 3,300 abandoned properties that the city doesn't own. An LLC does. Like many others, the city can't get ahold of the LLC to take responsibility. Oftentimes the contact address is the vacant property itself, or the LLC has dissolved, or they don't update their phone number. The city has stacks of returned mail sent to LLCs.
"It falls on the taxpayers to clean it up. They're the ones that end up paying for the grass to be mowed and the trash to be hauled out," Missouri State Representative Jack Bondon told us.
Bondon is the sponsor of House Bill 493, a possible solution. The bill would require LLCs to register a name and number of a real person with the city clerk.
"In my mind, you have to think about if you were the person who lives next door to this property. And what does that do to your property value? What does that do to the livability of your community?" Bondon said.
But the bill is stalled in the senate. Bondon said he gives it a 50/50 chance of making it to Governor Greitens's desk.
This is the third year the city and Bondon have pushed for the bill. Last year, Governor Nixon vetoed the bill because it got attached to another larger bill. That was a huge disappointment for the city's Neighborhoods and Housing Services.
For Bev, who's lived in the Northeast neighborhood for 26 years, change needs to happen now
"I'd probably throw a block party," she laughed. "I'd be very happy. I know other neighbors would."
If the original HB 493 doesn't go through, Bondon said he'll try to attach the same language to other bills to get it across the finish line.
The legislative session ends May 5.
Bondon expects any action on the bill would probably happen on the very last day of the session.
