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Call For Action: Neighbors say vacant church is putting lives at risk

Calvary Bible Church sits on Fourth Street in East Toledo.

TOLEDO, OH (WTOL) - Calvary Bible Church sits on Fourth Street in East Toledo. The church was built in the 1800s and has been sitting vacant for more than 20 years.

Neighbors say the congregation used to thrive, but they now believe it's putting lives at risk.

"If you line up here with the bell tower wall and you look at the next wall behind it, you can see how much it's leaning out and getting ready to crash into the parking lot. That's from the snow piling up on the roof," said church neighbor John Truby.

Truby has been living on Fourth Street for more than 40 years.

For ten of those years, he claims he has been calling the city about the state of the church.

"I'm getting nowhere with anybody. Nobody pays attention," said Truby.
The church has a sunk-in roof and bricks hanging off the side.

Inside, weeds are growing, rodents are breeding and rainwater just sits.

"Somebody is going to get hurt from the church falling down or we are doing to hear a big rumble when it falls down," another neighbor said.

Neighbors say not only is the church a nuisance, it's bringing their property value down.

The last thing they want is to see the property get boarded up.

Calvary Bible Church is on the city's radar and said they have secured the building by boarding it up.

Their beautification actions team checked out the property in April, and the lot will receive monthly mowing.

'What good is that? We still got the rats, we still got the snakes, we still got the mold, so something has to be done other than boarding it up," Truby said.
The church is a commercial property however, which costs more to tear down.

This means tearing it down might not happen anytime soon.

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