There is a bill in the Pennsylvania Senate that would make it easier to penalize property owners for their neglect of their properties. It would allow local municipalities to attach other of the owner’s property to pay for clean up or demolitions or whatever needs fixing. Right now only the property with the problem can be attached. That would put some of the slumlords in the city in a tight spot.
As a sweeping blight-fighting bill moves slowly through the state Legislature, it has come under increasing fire from landlords and mortgage lenders.
Senate Bill 900 cleared the state Senate Appropriations Committee earlier this week, but some proponents worry the bill may be watered down.
“If there is no asset attachment and no permit denials in the bill, you might as well not even pass it. There’s nothing there,” Jeri Stumpf, a member of the statewide Blight Task Force who authored parts of the bill, said this week. “The asset attachment is critical. It affects everybody’s lives and everybody’s pocketbooks.”
Supporters of the measure argue blight has become an increasing problem across the state, with dilapidated buildings posing dangers to the community and driving down property values for neighbors.
Read the entire story here in the Pottsville republicanherald.com
