Cleveland man shoots homemade documentary to fight against vacant homes

CLEVELAND - Gerald King is deeply saddened by what has happened to the neighborhood where he was raised.

Last year, King purchased a vacant home down the street from the house where he grew up, for less than $2,000, hoping living conditions would improve.

However, King reports that more than 65 percent of the homes in his area are now vacant, and vandals have stripped all the homes surrounding his house.

Last month, King became so upset, he and his friend Mark Katzbach decided to produce a homemade documentary outlining the decline of King's neighborhood. The documentary titled "Abandoned Cleveland" was posted on YouTube , and shows how criminals have abused several vacant homes on Cleveland's near eastside.

Katzbach recently moved to Seattle, and helped King produce the video so he could show people on the west coast what's happening to Cleveland neighborhoods.

"For me, I'm kind of numb to it, because it's the world I live in," King said. "For Mark, he was just shell-shocked, so he said 'Let's get some video.'"

Sally Fedarko has also been living in the neighborhood for the past 10 years, and is trying to raise two young children. Fedarko fears she may soon have to move out because of numerous safety concerns.

"I got shot at, it went right past my face," Fedarkosaid. "I got mugged on my way home from a doctor's appointment. This neighborhood is going downhill."

King is hoping his YouTube documentary will get the attention of Cleveland City Council, and the people who own the vacant homes.

"Get on these people who own these houses to at least make them presentable," King said. "Because then when people drive down this street they'll consider buying one of these houses.  

NewsChannel5 is committed to helping with the growing problems caused by vacant and abandoned homes with the launch of its Building Better Neighborhoods year long initiative.

5 On Your Side invites residents to report vacant/condemned homes in their neighborhood, by sending pictures and information on distressed properties to our Troubleshooter Facebook or Twitter account @joeonyourside .

Report a home by sending us the address and digital pictures of vacant houses to our newsnet5.com Building Better Neighborhoods page , you can send an email to BBN@wews.com , or use your smartphone and our free NewsChannel5 newsnet5.com app .

If you're dealing with a vacant home in your neighborhood, use the Cleveland Housing Court Vacant Home Toolkit , it will guide you through the process of moving a vacant home to progress step-by-step.

NewsChannel5 will bring you a series of reports and updates on the progress made through the Building Better Neighborhoods initiative throughout 2012.