Category Archives: blight

How 1 Legislature Addressed. Redevelopment. Blight. Eminent Domain. Read the Legislation.

The State: Utah

The Legislation:  Senate Bill 151 from 2016 General Session

What Senate Bill 151 requires in a development and tax incentive deal:

  • If a taxing entity involved in an incentive deal wants to make a finding of blight, it must:
  • Form a committee with the other taxing entities
  • All the taxing entities must agree to verify the blight finding & agree to eminent domain.

Salt Lake Tribune | Op-ed: Data center is a sound investment in Utah’s future

Campaign to Fight City Blight Designations. New Private Property Rights Model.

Where is this happening: Ogden, UT

What is the new private property rights group:  Ogden Alliance Against Eminent Domain Abuse working with the Institute of Justice

The city action that sparked the group’s formation: The city seeks to declare a 9 block residential area as blighted

Institute for Justice | Ogden Residents Unite to Fight City’s Bogus Blight Designation

Private Property Rights: 1st City in US Addresses Blight By Treating the Source.

What city is addressing blight by “treating the source?” Memphis

How much blight is in Memphis? 16% of housing stock is vacant

What are the 3 goals of the Memphis Neighborhood Blight Elimination Charter? 

  • economic development
  • quality of life
  • coordination among exisiting local governmental agencies that tackle blight

What entities are involved with the Memphis Nighborhood Blight Elimination Center?

  • nine government agencies
  • nonprofits
  • private businesses

What were tangential…

Lege TREND. Eminent Domain Expansion. Special Districts.

Which state is considering expanding the use of eminent domain? California

Why the push to expand eminetn domain use? To clean up blighted buildings through special districts called Enhanced Infrastructure Financing Districts

What do these Enhanced Infrastructure Financing Districts​ do with eminent domain? Combat urban blight with urban renewal projects

What does California Assembly Bill 2492 do? Expands the number of local governments that can access Enhanced infrastructure…

2 Texas Eminent Domain Opponents that moved Dallas City Council to Make 5 New Eminent Domain Changes

What oppositions to eminent domain influenced new eminent domain protocols in Dallas?

  • Texas High Speed Rail’s “substantial muscle”
  • Marvin Nichols Reservoir’s “powerful East Texans have joined in the “no more bullying” cry”

How has Dallas City Council adapted its eminent domain protocols?

  • “delay the votes [ on  a waste water project eminent domain ] and instead demand that City Hall start doing business differently”
  • concerns over relocation costs, and adequate compensation to purchase…

Eminent Domain. Police Station. Blight. 3 Reasons Property Owners Opposed Eminent Domain.

Kansas City needed a new police station & crime lab in a historically black neighborhood. 

 

3 Reasons why property owners opposed eminent domain for an otherwise nobel purpose:

  • The residents were restoring their historic homes & felt blindsided
  • Eminent domain is a scary process for property owners
  • Previous eminent domain projects had promised economic prosperity for the area & that never came to fruition

 

Know your opposition, like you know yourself.

The Atlantic | Photographing…

Comptroller's Eminent Domain Data Base Getting Attention

Wharton area residents are reciving information on Comptroller Hegar’s legislative enacted Eminent Domain transperancy data base set to go online soon. 

Wharton Journal Spectator | New law promotes transparency for eminent domain

Comptroller Eminent Domain Transparency Project

Blight Fight via Tech. Low Cost Local Government Solution to Blight. 3 Things to Know.

How does a city figure out how many and which of its properties are blighted?

  • If the city is Mobile, Alabama, then it adopts Instagram
  • How did Mobile pay for this data driven blight program? 
    • Mobile won a three-year $1.65 million grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies
    • Created a municipal “innovation team,”
    • The innovation team is a handful of people who seek fresh, data-driven solutions to longstanding urban problems
  • What data does Mobile have on blight now?
    •  Old blight data…

Trend: Fight Blight with Data Sharing

Who is fighting blight with data sharing? New York cities of Amsterdam, Gloversville, Schenectady and Troy and the University of Albany’s Center for Technology in Government

What data are these cities sharing? code enforcement–related data and develop best practices for tackling the problem

Why are they sharing data? Blight costs the cities.  Direct blight costs include:

  • code enforcement
  • administration
  • engineering
  • property maintenance

Indirect blight fighting costs for cities…