MINERSVILLE -- A mess on Westwood Street in Minersville might actually look better than it used to.
Back in 2008, Said Attalla bought the property, but no one ever lived there. In 2011, the borough started to get complaints that the roof was collapsing and no one was taking care of it.
"Out of all the houses, this was the worst looking one on the block," said Teewanda McClendon of Minersville.
Minersville police tried to get in touch with Attalla numerous times, but he left the country.
"We issued citations, but he's in Canada. It's not like we can go pick him up," Police Chief Michael Combs said.
Newswatch 16 found the former owner on the website LinkedIn, which says he now works in Canada as a business entrepreneur.
The people who have to live with what he left behind are disgusted with Attalla.
"Plenty of people need places to go. We ain't got time for people to be buying property and then fleeing the country. That's ridiculous and I can't stand it," McClendon said.
The borough finally decided to knock the place down, but it had to use taxpayer money and it cost $40,000.
"You're paying for your property and now you're paying to get this one taken down," said Chief Combs.
People who live next to the property said not only did they have to deal with it when it was pretty much falling down, now they have to deal with all the mess.
They just want to get it cleaned up and move on.
"I'm glad it's gone and I'm looking forward to an empty lot and maybe they can pave it and make it a parking lot," McClendon said.
The borough wants to prevent things like this from happening again and passed an ordinance requiring banks to lend money to potential buyers in Minersville to take control of the building if the buyer defaults.
"The lending company needs to notify us. They need to establish an agent we can communicate with and they have to protect the property: cut the grass, fix the windows, and things like that," Chief Combs said.
So far, no property has been bought under that new rule.
