For years, absentee owners of Philadelphia eyesores avoided penalties from Licenses and Inspections, often because citations and warnings were sent to vacant properties. Now, commissioner Fran Burns can summon those owners back to the city.
Dan Geringer reports:
"Boldly going where no L&I commissioner has gone before, Fran Burns will extradite out-of-town owners and usher them into the city's new blight court (City Hall, Room 447), where Municipal Judge Bradley Moss can order them to fix their festering hellholes or pay thousands of dollars in daily fines."
Two recent cases were so bad that they were ordered demolished by Commissioner Burns, a tactic that Geringer said is unusual, as the goal is more often to fix up neglected properties.
Thanks to Deborah Woodell
FULL STORY: L&I coming down hard on slumlords
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