The owners of about half the blighted parcels owe the city $70 million in back taxes. In addition, the city spends $20 million a year on slum properties by cleaning vacant lots, sealing abandoned buildings, tearing down dangerous structures, and responding to police and fire activity.
The biggest slumlord is the city itself. A hodgepodge of city agencies owns almost 25 percent of the vacant properties.
Quantifying the problem was the easy part. The bigger challenge is how best to redevelop blighted properties. The Street administration spent $300 million in bond funds to fight blight. The effort helped clean up some neighborhoods, but the tangible benefits were well below the high cost.
The Nutter administration is trying to move the process forward without borrowing millions of dollars. Some of the ideas are good, but some are so basic it makes one wonder what has been going on at the various city agencies for the last few decades.
For example, the city is just now working to consolidate all of its vacant property to one master list, and then post the available parcels online. That's a necessary step to provide one-stop shopping for potential developers.
Another needed step is to get the Sheriff's Office to pick up the pace of selling tax-delinquent property. It now takes a ridiculous 10 to 25 years before a tax-delinquent property goes up for sale. This statistic underscores just how poorly run the office has been under John Green, who finally plans to step down after 22 years as sheriff.
Getting the city to attack blight in a unified way is the right approach, and one that will benefit all residents and help to revitalize all neighborhoods.
