Magazine and Journal Articles

Magazine, Journal and Web site articles and other web links related to codes enforcement are presented below.

Consolidating Codes with Police Departments

After the Fall: A church collapse, a bishop’s arrest and the mayor’s crackdown on blight.

This article describes consolidating codes enforcement with police departments in Harrisburg, Penn.

"When the moderator brought up blight, Papenfuse laid out his vision for enforcement. It included merging the city’s codes office into the police department and conducting warrant sweeps to catch known offenders. It also included increasing misdemeanor charges for negligent property owners, for things like creating a public nuisance and reckless endangerment."

“In many cases we know who the largest offenders are, we know where they live, and it’s simply a matter of going out and, basically, getting them,” Papenfuse said.

CHARTING THE MULTIPLE MEANINGS OF BLIGHT

Published May 20, 2015 - A National Literature Review on Addressing the Community Impacts of Blighted Properties

Snippet from the Article link above

Why is Blight Important?

Blight is a frequent topic in the headlines and in the hallways of city and county governments. Numerous

local governments have launched citywide campaigns to eradicate blighted properties, from Detroit and

Flint, Mich., to Birmingham, Ala., and New Orleans. National organizations such as Keep America

Beautiful and the Center for Community Progress host conferences and provide resources to help

policymakers and practitioners working the frontlines of blight.

Research identified in this report also documents the community impacts that blighted properties

generate, particularly on the value of adjacent properties:

• • Vacant properties cost city governments from $5,000 to $35,000 per property.

  • Foreclosed homes can lead to an average increase of 1 percent in neighborhood crime.

  • Vacant dwellings have higher risks of fires in urban areas.

  • Residents in blighted neighborhoods have greater exposure to public health and environmental

  • risks.

  • Low income neighborhoods are more vulnerable to increases in property abandonment

Codes enforcement for municipalities going to private firms

Published February 21, 2012

The trend kicked in when the state adopted the Uniform Construction Code in 2004.

City Launches Effort to Curb Panhandling: “There’s a Better Way”

The mayor of Albuquerque saw a homeless man with a 'Will work' sign. It gave him a great idea.

SEE - The mayor of Albuquerque saw a homeless man with a 'Will work' sign. It gave him a great idea.

Two days a week, an employee of a local homeless services organization drives a van around the city and asks homeless people if they want to work for the day.

NY Rising Community Reconstruction Program - County Wide Resiliency Plan Herkimer County - pdf file

The NYRCR Program is a planning and implementation process established to provide rebuilding and resiliency assistance to communities heavily damaged by Hurricane Irene, Tropical Storm Lee, Superstorm Sandy, and the severe summer storms of 2013. Drawing on lessons learned from past recovery efforts, the NYRCR Program is a unique combination of bottom-up community participation and State-provided technical expertise. This powerful combination recognizes that community members are best positioned to assess the needs and opportunities of the places where they live and work. Up to $3 million was committed by the Governor for each of the five counties.