photo/Emily Guerin

Neighbors have a name for the entryway of 16 Mechanic St., a neglected and unoccupied three-family building in Bayside. They call it “the sketchy stoop.”

The doorway has been the scene of a variety of vile activities. Neighbor Sue Sylvain still grimaces when she recalls witnessing two people having sex there while she was walking her children to the bus stop. Other Mechanic Street residents have seen people passed out on the stoop, heard parties raging inside, and noticed drug deals taking place in the property’s driveway. Until recently, a pile of human feces adorned the building’s front steps.

Incidents like these have prompted neighbors to repeatedly call the building’s owner, David Jamieson of Saco. But Jamieson, who declined to speak to The Bollard about the property, did not return their calls or e-mails, said Mechanic Street resident Michael Gelsanliter. So they started calling their city councilor and the cops, efforts that eventually attracted the attention of the Portland Police Department’s new “Neighborhood Prosecutor,” Trish McAllister.

“Sixteen Mechanic Street is a problem,” said McAllister, who was recently hired to address quality-of-life issues in Portland’s neighborhoods. The property has not yet earned the distinction of being a “disorderly house” — a designation given to properties that are the subject of eight complaints within one month, thus qualifying for legal action by the city. “It could be on track, though,” she said.

Neighbors consider No. 16 the last holdover of their street’s unglamorous past. “This street is trying to pull itself out of a history of being a place to go to sleep on the streets, get a prostitute, et cetera,” said Rob Sylvain. It’s the only vacant building on the block, and one of the last rental properties left on a street that has been transitioning to owner-occupied units. (Granted, Rob Sylvain said Mechanic Street residents will always “live with a certain amount of weirdness,” courtesy of the clientele from Rockin’ Rickey’s Tavern and Bubba’s Sulky Lounge, two nearby bars.)

Changes are coming to 16 Mechanic St. According to McAllister, the property, which is valued for tax purposes at $206,000, is “well into the foreclosure process.” Even if residents managed to get the building designated as a “disorderly house,” it would probably be sold at a bank auction before authorities could take legal action. In the meantime, “all the police can really do is respond to calls about the property,” McAllister said.

— Emily Guerin