BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The eyesore that is 71 Orange Street will land a landlord in front of a a housing authority judge in August, according to Darius Pridgen, who said the City of Buffalo is taking Julian Russotto to court.
Pridgen, Common Council president and councilman for the Ellicott District, says the Fruit Belt property stood in disrepair for years. More than a year ago, Pridgen posted a sign in front of the property with owner’s name and address displayed.
According to the city's code, he's allowed to do that, but Pridgen says the only response was a call from Russotto's lawyer asking him to take the sign down.
"If you can pay an attorney to contact me, you can pay someone to come over here; put windows in this house and at least give the facade a makeover. If you can't do that, you should not have property in the city of Buffalo,” said Pridgen.
Since then, all Russotto has done is demolish the building's garage and board up a few windows.
Russotto also owns a dilapidated home just a block away at 35 Peach Street. Pridgen says Russotto is an absentee landlord, who do he's been fighting to get Russotto to remove a large dumpster from the lawn of that home and only recently got him to comply.
We were unable to find any updated contact information for the property owner or his lawyer.