(The Center Square) — In the fight against blight, neglectful property owners may soon feel more pressure to clean up their act – or else lose control to a land bank.
House Bill 1163, now awaiting action in the Senate, would let municipalities take a “use it or lose it” approach to blight. Once a locality declares a property blighted or abandoned, it could then be deemed liable to be acquired by a land bank.
Property owners could appeal, and land banks would not be required to claim the properties, but the reform would put more pressure on landowners – who create an external cost to a municipality and drive down neighboring property values – to comply.
“It is my hope that this jolt to the arm will be the momentum needed for neglectful owners to use a property, sell a property, or redevelop a property,” Rep. Abigail Salisbury, D-Braddock, wrote in a legislative memo. “We need to hold absent and neglectful property owners accountable and give municipalities more ways to reuse and redevelop land.” MORE
You’ll own nothing and be happy.
“Land Of The Free.” ????
Oh, right. Like THIS isn’t going to be abused in any way.
So much for property rights. I can understand why they would want to, where I live there are a number of really down-in-the-dumps properties. Still …
It’s nice to want to remove “blight”, but who gets to decide what is blight, and what isn’t?
Sounds a lot like the Kelo vs City of New London CT eminent domain seizure of private property to give to another private company.
Unless the land is an utter health and safety hazard (rats, chemicals seeping into the ground water…..), it should be a non’ya bidness what the property owner does, or doesn’t do with it. Just clean up the trash, keep it mowed, fence it if necessary, pay the taxes (another abomination). That should be enough.
“Property owners could appeal”…..at whose cost? the Gooberment (at all levels) has deep (taxpayer) pockets, whereas the property owner may have very limited finances (hence not being developed…yet).
This bill seems like another expansion of Gooberment overreach, in the name of “property blight” and keeping America beautiful. (too late, no amount of lipstick on this pig can make it beautiful)
There is no more efficient engine of civic destruction than giving Democrat controlled NGOs and Agencies more power. None.
It would be more to the point to allow property owners to sue the bastards onto the street for making it unprofitable to own property.
What about public blight? The streets here in El Chuko are overwhelmed with litter of all shapes and sized… from burger wrappers to old tires to roadkill… and practically nothing is done about it. OT but… I’ve stated elsewhere… all you need to know about the Mexican culture you can learn by driving up and down the litter covered streets here along the border.
catherine austin fits explains the blight was allowed to occur in order to create opportunity zones
“rioting that occurred in 2020 primarily occurred in opportunity zones in cities that have a central bank location. The U.S. Economic Development Administration describes opportunity zones as “an economically-distressed community where private investments, under certain conditions, may be eligible for capital gain tax incentives.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cQyP7TgTVU
@President Elect Toxic Deplorable etc.:
Just a reminder to everyone, “another private company” was technically a land developer but in reality the company behind it all was … drum roll … Pfizer.
Ahhh…..was not aware of that. I thought the land was seized for something pubic (errr…..public) like a store.
So what did eventually happen to that seized private land?
Hello, I’m am now a Land Bank. Your vacant unkept properties all belong to me. I will clean them up & if you want it back you’ll have to pay the clean up charge $$. Squatter Joe.
Time to grease up My Treads and Fittings….
BLM destroys it-> Bank takes it-> Black Rock and Vanguard buy up for pennies on the dollar. New property development is rental only.
You won’t own anything and you damn well better be happy about it.
Sorry, but the bugs are going to cost you extra.
We need more land to build more housing for the influx of our recent immigrants; what better way to obtain it than by sending some of them to put their trash on your property and then declare it blighted: “You didn’t clean it (your property, their trash) quickly enough to suit us.”
The sovietization of the former United States of America.
Stalin and his ilk have won!
All democrats are blight and should be placed in the nearest furnace to render them harmless.
One man’s blight is another mans treasure. Screw you commie coc%^uckers.
In Commierado they took a mans property because he had a bunch of old cars on it and they wanted a Walmart. We need more people like Randy Weaver and the Bundy family. (This post just got flagged just for mentioning their names.)
Our Congress is beginning to make the Mafia look like a Benevolent Aid Society
@President Elect Toxic Deplorable etc. — The development plans were scrapped, and it all fell to shit, then fell further to shit, and the screwed landowners were again screwed and rescrewed. The land was used as a dumping ground for storm debris from hurricane Irene, and I think that’s the current status.
Even the Wikipedia page reveals just how stupendously fucked up the whole affair was at every step of the way. There’s lots on the history leading up to the decision and the political/social turmoil, but the one section you ought to read is Subsequent developments.
This is a logical progression of the prevalent attitude among municipalities and counties that they are corporations and all property within the corporation’s boundary is an asset that must be maximized for income generation (taxes and fees). Blight tends to be interpreted as anything not obtaining maximum value (Opportunity Costs, on the ledger).