On April 14, 2014, Pittsburgh City Council passed a land bank bill. The city’s website defines a land bank as “a locally-created, locally-controlled, state-enabled, single-purpose entity whose job it is to amass, inventory, manage and market blighted, abandoned and tax foreclosed properties that are sitting deteriorated and unused, bringing down property values and depressing the local market.” The goal of the Land Bank is to empower communities to deal with blighted property and to drive development by giving neighborhood residents a voice in the decision-making.
Why would ACW be concerned with the establishment of land banking in Pittsburgh? ACW works in many neighborhoods of the city. We quickly came to realize that a large number of vacant lots and land areas around abandoned dwellings are, in fact, dump sites. The numbers are uncertain, because there has not been a dedicated survey, but we are sure that the numbers are large (in three or four digits). Our conclusion is based on vacant lots and abandoned properties already cleaned by ACW, added to the larger number of trashed lots that we see when visiting many neighborhoods. We know that our current ACW database has not captured all the spoiled land that is out there.
The Pittsburgh land bank is not yet up and running, but its board is in the process of adding members and moving forward. An active, well-run, and effective land bank promises to move derelict properties under legal and non-problematic land bank control, so that the bank can plan for the properties, make arrangements for cleaning them, steward them, and finally move the properties to the highest use possible. All the steps in this process will be of enormous benefit to the citizens of Pittsburgh, as well as to the mission of ACW. The land bank represents positive movement on an issue that has stumped and puzzled city government for decades, and ACW patiently awaits its first days of full operation. If you have questions about the land bank,go to the City of Pittsburgh website for additional information, or call any city council member.
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