BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Where is Chuck Dobucki?
That’s the question amongst neighbors in the Allentown and Johnson Park neighborhoods who live next to the dilapidated buildings he owns.
Charles “Chuck” Dobucki has been cited numerous times, and his properties have been certified abandoned. Every time his properties are about to be foreclosed on, he manages to pay off his taxes just in time, said Buffalo Common Council member Mitch Nowakowski.
There are warrants out for Dobucki's arrest for failing to appear in housing court, Nowakowski said. He’s also issued subpoenas for him. But he hasn’t been found.
“I've heard rumors that he's in Providence Town, he's in Georgia, he's in North Buffalo — where is he?" Nowakowski said.
One of his properties – 2 St. Louis Place – a three-story apartment building, has seen renewed attention. It’s located right across the street from the scene of the murders of an Allentown couple earlier this month.
Neighbors have long complained about the vacant house that draws vagrants and drug users and said it invites crime into their community.
“It's brutal,” said Lynn Wilson, who lives behind 2 St. Louis.
I reported on the property earlier this week. You can watch the report below and read more here.
On Friday, I visited 102 Johnson Park, another abandoned house owned by Dobucki.
“This is the last house on the street that hasn't been renovated or updated or had some work done on it,” said Jim Ecker, who lives next door.
He showed us through a hole in the brick that the back of the house is collapsing on the inside.
At 377 Maryland Street, another property owned by Dobucki, the front door was covered with notices from the city permits department and a notice to appear in housing court dated 2020.
A neighbor said: “I've never seen anyone there ever. There's a window up top that's open, it's been open for 5 years.”
Dobucki had owned 40, 42, and 44 Cottage Street – two houses and a vacant lot.
The city managed to wrest 40 Cottage from him through a process called receivership, and now that house is well taken care of and occupied.
But 42 Cottage was in rough shape Friday, with big holes in the front porch and the front door boarded up and covered with city permit citations.
Nowakowski is hoping that Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon will initiate the process to have the courts deem the properties abandoned, which would allow the city to seize them – and sell them to someone who will fix them up.
Scanlon’s office told me the plan is being considered and “we are looking at every resource we have.”
State Senator Sean Ryan, who is running for mayor, called on the city to take immediate action and said he wants stronger code enforcement and the use of receivership to take control of blighted properties.
Last year, Ryan and Nowakowski were part of a press conference spotlighting the blight at 2 St. Louis.
