NEW ORLEANS -- Kevin Pollard was so happy when he bought and renovated his town home two years ago. But even then, he knew the long abandoned town home next door that connects to his would eventually cause trouble for him. But he needs help from the city urgently.
"I need them to tear this house down," Pollard said. "It needs to be torn down. It should have been torn down. Kids play all the time, they could go in that house, and something fall on them"Part of the unlocked, abandoned town-home's roof has collapsed, and now the interior is caving in. The second floor is falling down.
"Termite damage, extensive termite damage."
But it is the back corner that appears to be about to completely fall off.
"That back wall is going to fall one day, because it is leaning all the way out, and it is probably going to take some of my house with it," Pollard said. "Hopefully not."
Pollard said the crumbling house next door is pulling his apart as well, splitting the exterior brick wall, cracking the slab, and breaking a tile floor.
There are splits on his side of the connecting wall, the widest one where it meets the ceiling, and the ceiling fell in the master bedroom.
"It just fell, it just came down from the water running. It just fell. Luckily no one was in here."
He said he has been begging the city for help for up to two years.
"I went, they was like, don't worry about it, we'll get on it. I believe they came out one time, looked at it. That was it. They didn't do anything."
I'm contacting city officials and asking them to take action in this case. But there is a complication here. You see, there is no brick firewall between the two town homes. So if they tear down the unit next door, then his is totally exposed to the elements. So I talked to him about that, and he said he's ready for when the city acts.
"I have someone to go in and put a wall up," Pollard said. "Right away."
He is so worried he has now moved his family to an apartment for safety, adding rent to his monthly mortgage payment.
I'll let you know what happens.
