Home in Youngstown neighborhood disturbing residents, making them feel unsafe

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – Residents in Youngstown’s historic Idora neighborhood are fed up, frustrated with a property they say is a nuisance.

The matter took center stage at a zoning committee meeting Tuesday afternoon, leading to a violation being issued against the property owner.

A home along Volney Road has been an ongoing problem for residents.

“I’ve felt like for the last four years, I’ve been a prisoner in my own home. The property has been full of debris and litter,” said Marcia Harris, a neighbor.

Locals say the home is a nuisance, being operated as a boarding home, and they’ve complained about noise, drug activity and even theft of a neighbor’s porch furniture.

“The different people that walk the streets all hours of the day, the loud music that wakes us up in the night — it’s just changed our little, quiet neighborhood to major concern all hours of the day and night. Don’t want to leave the kids out playing because we don’t know who these people are,” Harris said.

The home is owned by David Cohen and his company, Operation Hope 22, Inc. — one of several companies Cohen says he owns.

Cohen appeared via Zoom at a Youngstown Zoning Board hearing Tuesday afternoon. He appealed a violation issued by the code enforcement officer on July 15 of this year.

“I do not understand why the violation was entered. There is no violation. I own several properties in Ohio,” he said.

Cohen claims he purchased the property as a retirement home and plans to live there once he returns from Africa, where he is currently on business.

He says he leases the house to one man and his two family members, and they should be the only ones living there.

“I have one lease agreement, one paying tenant that has told me that his son and his uncle are there,” Cohen said.

Neighbors aren’t buying it. They say as many as eight or nine people live in the house, and it’s disrupting the quiet neighborhood they call home.

“I’ve been there 27 years. We take a lot of pride in our beautiful, historic Idora neighborhood,” Harris said.

The zoning board rejected Cohen’s appeal to the violation, citing the overwhelming evidence brought forward by residents — even online ads soliciting tenants for the property.

“It’s felt dangerous. So today, after this hearing, I just feel like a weight is off my shoulders,” Harris said.

Cohen faces a $100 fine but must cease and desist immediately. The city has already filed a cease and desist order in the matter, and code enforcement officers were planning on visiting the home Tuesday afternoon.

Cohen can appeal but would need an attorney to fight the order.

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