WARRENSVILLE HEIGHTS, Ohio — "I'm doing this every morning."
And every morning, Cynthia Weatherspoon checks the mouse traps in her kitchen at the Granada Gardens Apartments in Warrensville Heights. She has them everywhere — just last week, she caught two more, making it almost a "dirty dozen."
"The food, you've got to put it up. You can't leave stuff out," she said of her routines with her household items. "And I'm cleaning up good enough. You can't leave any crumbs. It's horrible to live like this. It's terrible."
Weatherspoon normally attends Warrensville Heights City Council meetings to address the issue, and she got ill after going to court last Thursday regarding the owners of Granada. For three weeks now, 3News has been showing you the hideous living conditions at the complex, which include some tenants with no walls or flooring as well as a rodent infestation.
Benjamin Brown is the city's building commissioner, and says violations were filed against the owners in Bedford Municipal Court, but were thrown out.
"There are some of the old agents listed on there," he said of the original complaints.
But Brown and his department have since refiled against Integra Affordable Management out of New Jersey. I asked if the city has made contact with the building owners.
"Only the property managers have responded to the violations," Brown answered. "I have not talk to the owners that [are] under the actual ownership group."
Brown says Warrensville Heights officials now have more than 100 violations against Integra, but he admits change will take time, with new court dates set for late December and early January
"It's a high priority for the city," Brown declared, "and that's why we're doing everything in our power to get these owners in court before the judge."
As for Weatherspoon, she is sending letters to the company regarding her rodent problems and is considering putting her rent in escrow. She also believes the city has not done enough.
"They [have known] about this ... three years ago," she said. "I confronted them two years ago."
While it seems to be a very slow process to get anything done, there is some good news, as the owners have filed for a permit to have a damaged roof at one Granada building repaired.