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Tue
Oct 25
2011

L&I is Fighting Blight in Your Neighborhood

Perhaps you’ve noticed, as you’ve walked around your neighborhood in recent weeks, hot pink signs adorning blighted properties.

Blight

The notice

We spoke at length with Maura Kennedy, the Director of Strategic Initiatives at L&I, who gave us the lowdown on a new program currently being implemented that should help clean up our city. Working off the idea that a property owner taking care of their properties isn’t a “revolutionary idea,” L&I is beginning to insist on a new baseline level of maintenance for vacant properties.

L&I is currently a couple of months into this project, attempting to eradicate blight from neighborhoods. Their first step was to cull their databases for violations that indicated blight, first concentrating on property owners who own multiple blighted properties. They’ve been able to map these violations to find where blight is concentrated, and (this makes us very happy) are letting the market drive the process.

One of the major challenges, of course, is actually locating the property owners. It’s one thing to slap a violation on a property, but to get any sort of legal enforcement, serving notice properly is critical. And considering the often outdated owner contact information held by the OPA, this task can be extremely difficult. Because of this, these violations are all being addressed by hand to ensure proper notice is served.

The pink violation notices refer to the Doors and Windows Ordinance, a recently enacted law that requires all structures on blocks that are at least 80% occupied to have actual doors and windows where they’re supposed to. Plywood is not sufficient. Owners who fail to comply are subject to fines of up to $300 per opening per day. From the date of first inspection, it takes L&I about ninety days to send the violation to court.

The first court date was last month. L&I filed 48 petitions, and 35 property owners showed up, with almost all of those who responded entering into a consent agreement. The hope is that everyone who signed a consent agreement will install doors and windows, become tax compliant, and get a vacant property license. For the 13 who didn’t show, L&I asked for 1% of the potential fine amount (or $3 per opening per day) and to continue the cases for 30 days. If any of the 13 don’t show up this month, L&I will seek more aggressive fines. As a result of the first month of petitions, L&I collected about $90K in license fees, back taxes, and fines. Not bad.

Do you have a blighted property on your block? Are you sick of looking at boarded up doors and/or windows? Worried about what might be going on in these boarded-up but possibly not vacant properties?

Call 311 today.

Do it.

Be as precise as possible, and clearly state where the doors or windows are missing, be it in the front or the rear of the property. And don’t worry about anyone finding out- your identity will be protected.

Like L&I, other city departments are working on blight and vacant land issues, and will hopefully be rolling out new and valuable programs of their own in the near future. In the meantime, L&I seems to be doing just fine so far.

Case in point:

2719 Comly Rd., Before

And after

 

23
COMMENTS
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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 23 Comments
  • dan

    Awesome, there are quite a few of these around PB.  The 80% rule is interesting though…

  • Steve S.

    Wow, is that MAC machine on Comly Road still in use?

  • Nobody

    “Are you sick of looking
    at boarded up doors and/or windows? Worried about what might be going on
    in these boarded-up but possibly not vacant properties?” 

    This doesn’t even make any sense.  Many property owners board up properties because if there are regular doors and windows there, they get broken into!  L&I itself, as well as other agencies, board up properties.  I know of one specific property that had absolutely lovely and secure windows where the city went it, took the property from the owner (because the owner was arrested on criminal charges related to the property) and they removed the windows and boarded it up!  Is L&I going to go replace and/or repair the windows and doors where they have been previously responsible for boarding them up? 

    Why would you be worried about a SEALED property?  I would only worry if the property WASN’T sealed.

  • Chris

    because a “sealed” property looks crappy and invites squatters and others to “unseal” the building.  this is about blight and neglected buildings and the need to pretend to care about not only the property, but also the surrounding neighbors and neighborhood.

  • TLP
  • Anonymous

    Ah, a fine question. While they will issue violations for these properties, they won’t take government agencies to court for these violations. Unfortunate, but it makes sense.

    We suggest calling 311 for these properties anyway, with the hope that the violations might remind PHA or the city or whomever that their property is a blighting influence on the block.

  • Anonymous

    The initial goal of the program is to eliminate buildings that have a blighting influence on a block that’s largely occupied. While a block with well maintained houses and one blighted buildings suffers greatly from the one property, a block with one boarded up building and thirty vacant lots has a lot more to worry about than the one boarded up building.
    Once the blighted buildings in more populated areas are dealt with, we imagine L&I will go after blighted buildings in less populated areas with a different strategy.

  • http://twitter.com/ambiguator ambiguator

    two words:
    Royal Theatre

  • PBpieanear

    Plus, it makes sense in a “shit or get off the pot sense.”  If a property owner is tired of constantly having to replace broken doors and windows, it might encourage them to either do something with the property or sell it.

  • Anonymous

    PHA would go bankrupt if they were held resposible for maintiaing their abondoned properties.

  • Behan

    Is L&I bringing these claims in tax court, or has Philly opened an Act 90 court?  If not does the FJD have plans to open an Act 90 court?

  • 3rd&Brown

    The 80% rule is just a way of drawing a line in the sand, to prioritize their work.  Also, keeping the broken windows theory in mind, it also speaks to the vulnerability of otherwise stable blocks. It is well known that even 1 or 2 vacancies on an otherwise stable block can quickly de-stablize it; thus, it is a tool to get the block on track before it slips further, and to reassure neighbors that something is done (before they flee, to say, the NE or South Jersey).

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001021410870 Sv Ngo

    That’s why they are have a fire sale on their properties.

  • Promargg

    Is there a way to report these types of properties to L&I online, rather than by calling 311? I would like to maintain a record.

  • http://nakedphilly.com/society-hill/inexplicable-blight-in-society-hill/ Inexplicable Blight in Society Hill | NakedPhilly

    [...] not sure whether penalties for the Doors and Windows Ordinance apply to properties owned by churches, but just in case, we’re calling 311 today. Don’t [...]

  • Misssusan

    It didn’t happen overnight— it took alot of blinders on people to let it happen.

  • Kylemccloskey

    So an owner of a vacant property is required to put windows and doors on their properties. My property is in a bad neighborhood that is infested with crime. So am I going to be responsible for putting in new windows every time they get busted out by the neighborhood thugs?

  • http://hiddencityphila.org/2012/01/behind-victorians-2/ Behind Victorians | Hidden City Philadelphia

    [...] fabulous new pink slip doing its [...]

  • http://www.philadelphiaspeaks.com/forum/philadelphia-real-estate/27854-what-incentive-owning-abandoned-properties.html#post459774 What is the incentive to owning abandoned properties?

    [...] as ensuring property taxes are up to date, sidewalks are shoveled after a snowfall, and the recent door and window ordinance (which L&I is enforcing), it would start costing money to own a vacant property, and kill off a [...]

  • Eclipse413

    wow a picture of a property in the northeast! i thought we were banned from this site.i’ll give the other 250,000 n.easters a heads up.                                                                                     

  • http://nakedphilly.com/old-city/blight-of-the-week-the-samuel-machinery-company-building/ Blight of the Week: The Samuel Machinery Company Building | NakedPhilly

    [...] regrettable current state, wouldn’t you agree that it would be an excellent candidate for a Doors & Windows citation? And oh by the way, simply throwing some inexpensive vinyl windows in there won’t do the [...]

  • http://nakedphilly.com/graduate-hospital/a-doors-windows-fail-for-you-to-enjoy/ A Doors & Windows Fail For Your Enjoyment | NakedPhilly

    [...] L&I is working to reduce blight on blocks that are largely occupied, and has been utilizing Doors & Windows citations to force owners of blighted properties to install windows and doors to reduce the blighting [...]

  • http://nakedphilly.com/kensington-2/former-bank-building-under-the-el-to-be-demolished/ Former Bank Building Under the El to be Demolished? | NakedPhilly

    [...] few months back, we told you about a new Middle Eastern place that’s opening at 1939 Front St., near the Berks St. El Station. From the looks of the new awnings that have gone up, this place [...]

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