San Francisco's Blight Police Begins to Crackdown

The blight cops are after the owners of the City's about 500 vacant buildings.

The crackdown follows a law passed unanimously by the Board of Supervisors and then signed by the mayor a few months ago that would charge owners of empty or abandoned buildings a yearly $765 fee, meant to make up for things like safety inspections and administrative costs.

On top of the fee, owners are also subject to a few new rules covering the way they maintain their buildings: they now have to make sure trespassers can't get in, and things have to look on the whole tidy.

According to the Board of Supervisors President, the thinking goes that forcing owners to get their act together will be beneficial to neighborhoods — and property values! — as a whole.

Plus, it will "prod" them into getting their building's groove back, by putting them into use again or selling them.

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