To the Editor:
Now is the time for our Common Council to strike big bold blows to help raise civic pride by ridding our city of eyesores and regaining the confidence of our taxpayers.
We have to put an end to absentee landlords whose neglect of their properties has led to eyesores, stench, rodent and other types of infestation. How can we advance our city in to a new era with such grime?
These absentee landlords allow our communities to rot as they undermine civic pride. We even have some absentee landlords who take advantage of our city and show disregard for our laws by taking out multiple mortgages on their untended properties and then using that money to build elsewhere.
Absentee landlords are placing a larger tax burden on our property taxpayers, who see some tax monies being misdirected from the functioning of our city and our schools into various issues related to abandoned properties.
If the city is compelled to seize any of those properties, then these vacant buildings could be used for community centers, recreational facilities, homework havens, housing for homeless people, including victims of fires, as well as in other activities that benefit our city. We could fund these activities with some of the block grant funds that are available.
The block grants, which, I believe, are roughly around $347,000, could be used more effectively to fund centers, provide some youth summer jobs and year-round job training. In this way we would be making our city more attractive, helping to reduce crime and as such, attracting more businesses and developers.
To help lift up our city we need our Common Council to stand up now and take action to stop the blighting of our city by these absentee lords and restore our collective pride in our city.
Randall Johnson
Poughkeepsie