Your recent editorial (“Legislature provides tools to help Reading fight blight,” May 20) called attention to the important tools my bipartisan legislation, which went into effect last month, has given municipalities to combat blighted and abandoned structures in Pennsylvania. This legislation, the Neighborhood Blight Reclamation and Revitalization Act of 2010, was the result of months of debate in the General Assembly and winning final legislative approval of these measures was no easy task. Needless to say, final passage of these anti-blight measures was a significant and hard-fought victory for municipalities that are plagued by blighted buildings.
However, legislative approval of these anti-blight measures is not the last step in the process. Our focus must now shift from legislation to education to ensure local officials hold building owners accountable when their property falls into a dangerous state of disrepair. Your editorial and your continuing coverage as this fight shifts from the halls of the Capitol Building to blighted buildings in communities across the state comes at a critical time.
To learn more, a “Quick Guide: New Tools to Address Blight and Abandonment” can be found online at SenatorArgall.com.
Blight puts the health, safety and economic future of our communities at risk, and local officials must take the next step in the process to hold property owners accountable. We must now all work together to put these new tools to fight blight into action in communities large and small throughout the region.
Contact: Jon Hopcraft
(717) 787-2637
(570) 773-0891