‘It’s just a horrible sight’: Westside man says he’s repeatedly asked city to remove abandoned house

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Ask Howard Biggins, and he’ll tell you the abandoned house next door is an eyesore and a safety hazard. Biggins and his family have had to live with the collapsed house on Rhode Island Drive in Jacksonville’s Westside for years.

“It’s just a horrible sight,” Biggins said.

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He tells Action News Jax the woman who once lived there moved back to California and has since passed away. Biggins says she left the home to a relative, who then seemed to abandon it.

Biggins and his neighbors worry curious kids will go into the former home and get hurt. He also worries the next hurricane that blows through will send debris from the abandoned house crashing through neighbors’ windows.

“The frustration is when guests come to your house, the frustration is when my mother sat on that porch and had to look outside,” Biggins added.

Biggins’ mom passed away weeks ago. She’d always wished the house would be cleared away.

Biggins says he and his neighbors have filed numerous reports with the city of Jacksonville, but nothing seems to be getting done.

“Would the mayor want to live next to that?” Biggins questioned. “They don’t even do what we pay them to do.”

“Ultimately it is up to the city of Jacksonville to maintain the security and safety of a neighborhood,” Action News Jax Law & Safety Expert Dale Carson explained.

Carson says neighbors can form a group and collectively petition the city to do something.

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“They have a very active group of people who issue civil citations for property that’s not properly maintained,” he added.

Biggins wants the same level of care he says the city would give to other parts of town.

“You wouldn’t see it in Mandarin, you wouldn’t see it nowhere. But in the hood, or what they call the ‘urban side’; but the thing about it, everybody pays taxes,” Biggins added.

Late in the afternoon Friday, Action News Jax requested complaints over the past five years about the property from the city. They said they’re working on our request.

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