Posts Tagged ‘Blight’
What is the cost of blight? What new research from Atlanta tells us
What is the cost of blight? We know that vacant properties cost cities through lost property tax revenue, and that they also bring down the property values of surrounding homes in the neighborhood. We know that cities have to spend considerable funds on activities like mowing lots or boarding up abandoned structures. Vacant properties also…
Read MoreA 341-page blight-fighting plan requires a lot of teamwork
Cross-posted from Next City, this article is one of a ten-part series inspired by the 2015 Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference. Three hundred and forty-one pages and 235.5 megabytes. That’s the length and size of the Detroit Blight Removal Task Force plan, published last year. Based on a survey of the city’s 380,000 parcels, the task force found some 85,000…
Read MoreWhat does it take to eliminate blight? New framework offers a model
The City of Flint Planning Commission recently adopted Beyond Blight: City of Flint Blight Elimination Framework. With a five-year implementation timeline, the Framework uses an in-depth, data-driven approach that brings increased transparency and clarity to the City’s work — and, in so doing, it offers a model other cities can learn from. News release >> Framework summary…
Read MoreDallas, Detroit, Gary and Trenton awarded technical assistance scholarships
Community Progress launched the competitive Technical Assistance Scholarship Program (TASP) in 2014, to help us find and support today’s pioneers in the work to reclaim and revitalize problem properties. TASP seeks out “changemakers” who are improving the field of practice, and it helps those leaders effect positive change on the ground. Today, we’re pleased to…
Read MoreWhat does a successful land bank look like?
What does a successful land bank look like? It’s one of the questions our new report, Take it to the Bank: How Land Banks Are Strengthening America’s Neighborhoods, explores. Based on our research, there are a number of common characteristics critical to successful land banking. The following is a breakdown of these five key characteristics as laid…
Read MoreFinding common ground in the fight against blight
Originally posted on The Catalyst: Ideas and Insights from Living Cities As a part of the Project on Municipal Innovation (PMI) – A network of Mayoral chiefs of staff and policy leaders from 35 of the country’s largest and most creative U.S. cities that Living Cities convenes biannually with the Ash Center at Harvard’s Kennedy School –…
Read MoreWebcast: Community Progress speaks on vacant properties and land banks at HUD
In conjunction with the release of HUD’s latest issue of “Evidence Matters,” Kim Graziani and Alan Mallach were invited to speak at HUD’s Quarterly Briefing last week. They were joined by U.S. Representative and Community Progress co-founder Dan Kildee (MI), Yolanda Chavez, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Grant Programs in HUD’s Office of Community Planning and Development, and…
Read MoreRaising the bar in The Big Easy: Remediating 10,000 blighted properties in less than four years
In January 2014, Mayor Mitch Landrieu announced that the City of New Orleans had not only met, but actually exceeded a major goal set back in September 2010: remediating 10,000 of the city’s more than 40,000 blighted properties by the end of 2014. The City of New Orleans reached the goal in the first half…
Read MorePresident’s Preview: Communities across the country are turning to creative board-ups
Like many of you, I envision a future in which entrenched blight and vacancy in our communities is no more than a bad memory. While we work on the long term, however, communities also need near-term options to keep their residents safe and prevent decline. Lately, several organizations have come to my attention that are…
Read MoreEight cities selected for the 2014 Community Progress Leadership Institute
Following a competitive application process, we’re excited to introduce the eight cities selected to join the 2014 Community Progress Leadership Institute (CPLI)! CPLI is our one-of-a-kind training program focused on equipping leaders with the skills they need to transform large inventories of blighted and vacant properties into community assets. (Curious? More info about CPLI.) Delegations of up to seven people from…
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