Tired of Blight?

Property owners have a lot of responsibilities. Paying real estate taxes, maintaining buildings, mowing yards, and preventing dangerous conditions are a few, but the list runs much longer. Unfortunately, not all property owners choose to fulfil these obligations to their city and neighbors. In my neighborhood, I can count on Mrs. Dutchie to read me the riot act if I haven’t trimmed my hedges. She keeps an eye on everyone, not just me, and hands out popsicles to every child who passes by.

Mrs. Dutchie can’t be everywhere. Imagine living on a street with abandoned cars, chained pit bulls, and half burned houses occupied by vagrants. Would you incur the effort and expense of maintaining a flower bed? How about painting your house? Even if you did, the actions property owners take across the street are going to affect the value of your house, your ability get a mortgage, the amount of crime in your neighborhood, and your insurance rates.

Decades of disinvestment have led to conditions in many neighborhoods that Mrs. Dutchie would never allow. Various laws try to step in and replicate Mrs. Dutchie’s influence; laws don’t hand out popsicles, though. To the extent cities choose NOT to aggressively implement these laws and force owners to maintain an orderly neighborhood, crime festers. Residents suffer a much reduced quality of life.

We have a great Code Compliance department in Hattiesburg, many of whom I know personally and deeply respect. They enforce Unsafe and Menace property conditions, building permits, and sign ordinances. You might have seen their red signs in front of some problematic buildings. Some are so degraded the roof has actually collapsed. I have seen dilapidated buildings with red signs on them so old that they were barely legible, or in some cases were stapled on top of previously posted red signs. We could do more in this arena. We should increase the size and resources of the Code Compliance department and direct them to make blight conditions their primary focus in areas that suffer from these issues.

Overgrown properties on Main Street.