The mayor wants to create a land bank authority that will allow the city to quickly and efficiently sell the 10,000 vacant properties it owns. Right now the process of buying city property is complex, time consuming, and virtually impossible to participate in for the average citizen. The Land Bank Authority would be a nonprofit, quasi-governmental entity and I usually do not like such entities. If the Land Bank Authority actually keeps everything transparent by listing the properties online and listing every bid they receive for the property online (basically conduct online auctions) then I support it. Revenue generated from property sales could easily fund an efficiently run land bank. Money generated from property sales would also go back into the budget and help eliminate our impending budget shortfall. Once the properties were in private hands again they could be taxed and if the government actually started to run efficiently we could have a real property tax cut (finally).
The concept of a land bank for Baltimore is far from a new one. Back in 2007 the mayor and Housing Commissioner Paul Graziano were both talking about forming a land bank. It is interesting to note that now that the mayor is under a lot of scrutiny that she is starting to push this project again. I personally like leaders who are proactive with their ideas instead of reactive and into damage control.
Housing Commissioner Paul Graziano has been in charge of the housing department for this entire millennium yet he is just getting around to figuring out how to rid his department of its biggest nuisance (vacant properties). Why didn't he lobby for this back in 2005 when the city could have made a lot more money off of selling property? Why was he allowed to continue as commissioner under the Dixon regime and why is he still commissioner today?
Comments
This would have to be closely monitored. Baltimore politicians are so crooked that this could open the door to more corruption.
Great read but it would be easier to become President of the US than to get the city "run efficiently".
Right now, SCOPE is about as bad as it gets. When Adam calls it a long and convuluted process, its the understatement of the century.
Transparency is necessary, but almost anything is better than what we have now. With SCOPE, you rarely know what is coming up for sale.
Um, I'm a little wary about the land bank as well, but being extremely familiar with this, for you to say she is just now starting to push this cause she's in trouble is REALLY REACHING. Please do more research before making these kinds of claims. It makes you look small and does not help your argument.
Sheila the Gift Card crook needs to STAY THE HELL AWAY from ANYTHING to do with developers since she has proven she cannot be trusted.
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