Neighbors frustrated over Douglas Bruce’s Pueblo properties

Neighbors in Pueblo said TABOR creator Douglas Bruce’s properties are making their streets unsafe.

After reports of Bruce’s property violations and unpaid taxes in Ohio, people stepped forward Wednesday and said his homes are having a negative impact on their Pueblo neighborhoods.

According to the Pueblo County Assessor’s website, Bruce owns 11 properties in Pueblo. KRDO NewsChannel 13 visited six of the homes and found all six homes were boarded up and in disrepair.

Brenda Marquez lives next to Bruce’s home on West 17th Street.

“It’s just run down and it’s so bad I don’t go in there,” said Marquez.

She said the home attracts transients, drug users and criminals.

“We wish someone would fix it up or something because it’s getting pretty bad,” said Marquez.

Less than a mile away, Athleen Fina said Bruce Douglas’ home at the end of her block on West 13th Street is also a drug house.

She said the home has been boarded up for years. It frustrates her and her neighbors who want to keep their street clean.

“It makes the neighborhood look back when it’s all boarded up,” said Fina.

A neighbor on East 11th Street said Bruce’s home on her street has been boarded up for decades. She said a while ago, a petition went around the neighborhood asking Bruce to clean up the home after it was burned in a fire. She said he painted the house and boarded up the windows and door. She said other than that, nothing has been done to improve the home.

Gaylene Renee Torres has asked her neighbor Bruce repeatedly to make repairs to his home on East 8th Street.

“I have called and asked him to board it up. It’s private property ma’am.’ It’s his answer to everything,” said Torres.

She said people break into the homes through the front windows on occasion.

“Single mom on the east side living next to a home like that that’s abandoned, you get kind of scared,” said Torres.

She said carpenter ants from a tree on his property are wreaking havoc in her home. She also said shingles from his home’s dilapidated roof break off in the wind and break her windows.

“It is hideous,” said Torres.

KRDO NewsChannel 13 called Bruce but he hung up.

According to court records, Bruce owes more than $21,000 in back property taxes in Ohio. He owns four properties in northeast Ohio. According to Cleveland’s ABC-Affiliate Newsnet5, Bruce is facing an arrest warrant for housing code violations on his homes in Ohio

He penned the Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights almost two decades ago. The amendment to Colorado’s constitution requires the state to refund taxpayers during good economic years.

These accusations come on the heels of Bruce’s appearance in a Denver court Friday. He was convicted in 2012 of tax evasion. He is now facing charges he violated his probation.

One accusation is that he allegedly carried out a real estate deal to avoid paying money he owed the city.

Bruce said in previous interviews with KRDO NewsChannel 13 that he did nothing wrong and he does not owe money in Ohio.