Considering the sorry state of some buildings in town, Fort Dodge is lucky.

It is lucky that no one has been killed by bricks that seem to drop off downtown buildings with alarming frequency lately.

And it is lucky that no one has been killed in any of the fires that have ignited in abandoned buildings over the last couple of years.

On the whole, Fort Dodge is a beautiful community that has so much going for it. Other Iowa communities probably wish they had something like Corridor Plaza or our trail system.

And yet the community continues to be saddled with crumbling or burned out buildings that never seem to get fixed or demolished.

In the local court records, we sometimes see cases in which the city has taken building owners to court for violations of the property maintenance code. If the city is taking property owners to court and winning the cases, how come nothing actually changes?

The problem of derelict buildings is not exactly new. For example, a burned out wreck of a house on Seventh Avenue North between 14th and 15th streets sits unrepaired since a November 2022 fire. A couple blocks east on Seventh Avenue North, another burned-out house sits diagonally across the street from Duncombe Elementary School. It may be a tempting place to explore for kids full of bravado, but not the common sense that comes with a little more maturity. And kids getting in there could be downright disastrous.

A more recent problem can be found on Eighth Street, south of Central Avenue. Bricks have tumbled from the upper reaches of the Snell Building. The first incident of falling bricks happened in April. Since then, the only visible sign of any effort to address this problem consists of road cones and caution tape intended to keep people off the sidewalk next to the building. It looks terrible. And some people walk there regardless of the cones and caution tape.

Our city government is in the unfortunate position of owning two of the major problem buildings – the Warden Plaza and the former Fair Oaks Middle School. The prospects for rejuvenating either of those buildings seem dimmer by the day. The sheer size of the Warden Plaza is an impediment to its rebirth. The last proposal for remodeling that building had a price tag in the $35 million range and that was in about 2017. The price of everything has gone up since then. We can only imagine how much it would cost to redo the Warden Plaza at today’s prices.

The former Fair Oaks Middle School was hit by two major fires last year, plus several small fires and other vandalism in the years since it closed for good in 2018. After all that, you have to wonder if it is practical or possible to do anything with the building.

The abandoned building problem is aggravated by another problem – what appears to be a growing homeless population. It is clear that homeless people are getting into vacant and rundown buildings. That solves their immediate need for shelter, but being inside those buildings isn’t good for them in the long run. And if there is a fire in the building, they may not be able to get out and firefighters may not be able to reach them.

Fort Dodge needs solutions to these problems.

If any plans are being developed to address rundown buildings, the public needs to know about it. Someone needs to explain what is being done.

We also call on the mayoral and City Council candidates to talk about what they would propose doing if they are elected.