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Richards Road

Coming back from a meeting this morning I decided to drive through Ottawa Hills and dream of bigger mortgages...This took me down Richards Road to Hill. Good God, Richards Rd. looks like Robinwood Street in Detroit! Vacant homes, homes with all their possessions out front, crap everywhere. It seems strange that just 100 yards away is Inverness Country Club.

Just hit me this morning.

created by Molsonator on Aug 13, 2012 at 03:14:00 pm     Other     Comments: 23

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Used to be such a nice area. The whole new South end has been in the crapper for some time. The area bounded by Byrne, Heatherdowns, Reynolds and Dorr used to be fairly nice. Now it is all badly decayed. Sad, really sad.

posted by ilovetoledo on Aug 13, 2012 at 03:19:06 pm     #  

Hey, don't lump that trashy stretch in with the neat, stable, well-kept neighborhoods in the '14. "All badly decayed." Obviously you don't live here. Give me a break.

posted by mixman on Aug 13, 2012 at 04:45:05 pm     #   1 person liked this

^^ Agreed. There are some nice neighborhoods around there. Don't be put off by a few teenaged punks on the main streets or the occasional stretch of unkempt houses. Also: almost any street that is juxtaposed against Ottawa Hills is going to look like a low-rent neighborhood in an eastern Kentucky coal mining town.

Note: I am of Appalachian coal miner stock, and I know from whence I speak. It don't git much more low-rent than Appalachia, Virginia, where my father was born and my grandfather called home.

posted by historymike on Aug 13, 2012 at 05:04:36 pm     #  

Molsonator..drive around the condos behind Southwyck or on Brownstone..that used to be tony...now is is Section 8.

posted by Dappling2 on Aug 13, 2012 at 06:56:53 pm     #  

That stretch of Richards was always pretty low-rent -- we used to go to the Reynolds Rd. cinema through there. For at least ten years now it's been rentals or owners with 4 adult kids and 7 cars at the curbs.

posted by viola on Aug 13, 2012 at 07:14:44 pm     #  

Don't mean for this to sound down on Toledo but just stating what was said by an X-T Towner...

A relative who grew up in Toledo from the 50's through late 90's moved away around 1998. She comes back every few years to visit. We were out to dinner last Friday and she said that despite commentary that Toledo was "going down hill" this was the first time that she looked out her car window and thought the town looked like an unsafe, untended slum with vacancies and drifters. She visited all around the city but most frequently was traversing down Sylvania Avenue by Mancy's Steakhouse.

posted by Danneskjold on Aug 13, 2012 at 07:49:36 pm     #  

While the condos on Brownstone and Southwyck aren't what they used to be they aren't that bad. I run through the area 3-4 times per week and don't think twice about people or having a $300 iPod strapped to my shoulder.

posted by SensorG on Aug 13, 2012 at 09:07:02 pm     #  

I run through the area 3-4 times per week...

You must be running pretty fast. Are you working your way up to the Olympics or something?

posted by madjack on Aug 14, 2012 at 12:46:09 pm     #  

You must be running pretty fast. Are you working your way up to the Olympics or something?
Nope, just trying to slow down the effects of age, beer and wings. Besides I’m way to slow…I can’t get my 5k below 25 minutes no matter how often I run.

posted by SensorG on Aug 14, 2012 at 01:00:10 pm     #  

ilovetoledo posted at 03:19:06 PM on Aug 13, 2012:

Used to be such a nice area. The whole new South end has been in the crapper for some time. The area bounded by Byrne, Heatherdowns, Reynolds and Dorr used to be fairly nice. Now it is all badly decayed. Sad, really sad.

You just threw Ragan Woods, Crossgates, and a heck of a lot of homes trying really hard to out landscape each other, some along golf courses, others adjacent to Swan Creek into your grid. The area bounded by Byrne (on east) Heatherdowns (on south) Reynolds (on west) and Dorr (on north) especially south of airport is still quite nice.
I would buy the argument north of Hill, perhaps. NOT south of Swan Creek.

posted by justread on Aug 14, 2012 at 01:13:49 pm     #  

Maybe ilovetoledo meant to say Hill, not Heatherdowns, as the area between Byrne, HILL, Reynolds and Dorr has seen better days. You'd think that for being next to Ottawa Hills and Inverness, it would be nicer.

I don't think that area counts as part of South Toledo, though - it's more West or lower West Toledo. It's all Rogers HS.

posted by mixman on Aug 14, 2012 at 04:57:41 pm     #  

Richards/Hill has been dumpy for a while.

There are too many low income renters along Airport, between Westwood and Reynolds, for the adjacent neighborhoods to do anything but drastically fall the next 10 years. The same thing is happening along Byrne from Airport to Glendale, so unfortunately that area is going to see increased break-ins, car thefts, robberies, etc.

Green shoots of future slums are noticeable near Heatherdowns/Eastgate.

posted by 6th_Floor on Aug 16, 2012 at 06:25:20 pm     #  

Richards/Hill has been dumpy for a while.

It has been dumpy ever since I started living/working in Toledo 12 years ago.

posted by mom2 on Aug 17, 2012 at 08:38:43 am     #  

Richards Road houses in the 1970s and 80s were mostly owned by working class families and were in good shape. Not so good now. You always know the neighborhood is going downhill when you see the steel security doors in the front, and there are many out that way.

posted by bikerdude on Aug 18, 2012 at 08:55:02 am     #  

People can't earn enough to take care of their homes; don't have enough time and are too tired out from working long hours or else they just lose hope of passing on a better life to their kids...who gives a damn? So why worry about it? Just drink, smoke weed, or watch TV to make yourself feel better 'cause that's all your hard work will get you.

posted by ilovetoledo on Aug 18, 2012 at 07:30:27 pm     #   1 person liked this

Sensor, try 400m springs. Don't focus on how fast you can do them but lowering the rest time between them. I cut my 3 mile time down below 20mins doing just that.

Sorry for it being off topic.

Oh wait... back on topic, yes Toledo is going downhill.

posted by MikeyA on Aug 19, 2012 at 11:56:58 pm     #  

Sensor, try 400m springs.

What is a '400m spring'? What are you suggesting SensorG do with such a spring, assuming he can find one?

posted by madjack on Aug 20, 2012 at 08:45:59 am     #  

It seems strange that just 100 yards away is Inverness Country Club.

I see nothing strange about it. The members at Inverness who own property in that area can do a quick inspection of their holdings just to make sure the building is still standing and that maintenance and collection costs don't drive the overhead into the profit margin. Then they can sit around the bar and feel superior, discussing such philosophical questions as will keep them amused...

How do those people live like that?

You'd think that with the taxpayer funded educational opportunities available today, they would try and improve themselves.

And one of my own favorites - What do you suppose it's like to be poor?

posted by madjack on Aug 20, 2012 at 08:53:27 am     #  

LOL, damn autocorrect, it was sprints MJ. But if he does find a Spring in Toledo, I'd suggest bottling the water and selling it!

posted by MikeyA on Aug 20, 2012 at 07:18:12 pm     #  

What do you suppose it's like to be poor?

I know. In the early 1970's due to my ex-husband I had no money, no job and 2 kids. It was a terrible struggle but I was one of the lucky ones who had family around.

As a poor single parent I got a job, bought a very small house and managed to send both girls to college. To this day that is my greatest accomplishment in life.

I feel for people, who through no fault of their own, end up on tragic situations.

posted by jackie on Aug 20, 2012 at 07:45:58 pm     #   3 people liked this

It's only a matter of time before everything within the city limits looks like that. Some neighborhoods are going down faster than others. There are unkempt foreclosed houses in practically every neighborhood. The area just west of Toledo Hospital used to be pretty nice and that area seems to be going down rapidly. Old Orchard residents watch out it's moving your way

posted by TOLaviator on Aug 29, 2012 at 08:51:32 pm     #  

Old Orchard already has it's share of foreclosed properties - and counting.

posted by Foodie on Aug 29, 2012 at 09:32:14 pm     #  

1801 Richards is pretty sweet, actually.

posted by justread on Aug 29, 2012 at 10:09:29 pm     #  

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