Maplewood says goodbye to a problem neighbor
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Some people in a Maplewood neighborhood must be happy a neighbor has finally moved out, leaving a legacy of hundreds of calls to the fire and police departments and dozens of code violations behind.
But the story of how Gilbert Mancheski finally agreed to hit the road in today's Pioneer Press has its head-shaking moment for why his initial offer to sell out to the city fell apart.
The city had a deal to buy out Mancheski. But it fell apart when he "remembered" -- the Pioneer Press' word -- that he didn't have the mortgage on the property; his mother did, and she'd get all the money from the sale. So he decided to stay.
The city took him to court and won in late summer.
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It's expensive to get rid of a problem. The city paid $9,000 more than the blighted property was worth.
“We’re very happy that this long period of torture is over,” said Mancheski’s neighbor Roberta Fye.
Unanswered is what neighborhood Mancheski will call home next.
The sale agreement included a provision he'd never call Maplewood home again.
