Blighted land is a hot-button topic in the City Council primaries. And with good reason. There are more than 40,000 abandoned properties in Philadelphia. This reduces the city's wealth by $3.6 billion and costs $70 million in lost taxes every year. There is a solution. The Campaign to Take Back Vacant Land, a citywide coalition representing thousands, is working to ensure that the epidemic of blight is addressed in a fair way. Philadelphia's cost of living has risen dramatically, and development is pricing families out of homes and neighborhoods.
That's why we're urging every candidate to publicly support legislation to create a Philadelphia land bank that could clear title and remove debt from abandoned properties. Lots could then be transferred to neighborhood-based land trusts that would convert the land into productive use.