From clevend.coom, posted by Michael O'Malley August 29, 2008 22:45PM
The old Commodore Theater in Cleveland's Collinwood neighborhood finally got to Housing Court Friday -- four years after the city condemned it -- and appears to be heading for demolition.
What took so long?
If you ask Councilman Mike Polensek, it's a Law Department that lacks the spine to drag landlords with problem buildings into court.
"The Law Department is in a foxhole," said Polensek, who has been trying to rid his East Side ward of the empty, hazardous building for eight years.
The Commodore, a complex of apartments, street-front retail and a movie theater featuring a Wurlitzer organ, was built in the 1920s. But in recent years, it has become a haven for vandals and junkies.
The rambling brick structure with a classic overhanging marquee sits at a school crossing on the corner of East 152nd Street and Lake Shore Boulevard. Decorative pieces of stone facade have been falling off the building onto the public sidewalk.
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