Real Property Section teams with mayor’s office to eliminate blight
By Lisa M. Wolfe
For The Lawyers Journal
Dec. 7, 2007—Members of the Allegheny County Bar Association’s Real Property Section (RPS) have decided to use their extensive legal knowledge to assist Mayor Luke Ravenstahl’s office in eliminating blight in the City of Pittsburgh.
Irene McLaughlin, an attorney who manages the University of Pittsburgh School of Law’s community and economic development clinic site at Neighborhood Housing Services, is co-chairing the RPS Taskforce with Kim Graziani. The taskforce is currently working to review property situations and make recommendations regarding what properties will benefit the most from legal assistance.
“Kim Graziani from the mayor’s office really reached out to the Real Property Section for this project,” said McLaughlin. “Kim felt that we would be able to use our expertise as private property attorneys to benefit the community by eliminating blight. We will be assisting the Office of Neighborhood Initiatives with their efforts to eliminate blight by facilitating a dialogue among real estate practitioners to assess and address problem property situations, especially situations involving privately owned real estate.”
Graziani, Director of Neighborhood Initiatives for the mayor’s office, said that Mayor Ravenstahl made it a priority to put neighborhoods first when he took office in Sept. 2006. A significant step toward putting neighborhoods first started with its efforts to eliminate blight and rebuild some of the city’s neighborhoods.
Shortly after Ravenstahl took office, he made it a priority to remove any obstacles that were hindering the city’s ability to eliminate blight. As a result, the city purchased tax liens on approximately 11,000 properties that had sat unoccupied and undeveloped for nearly a decade.
Once the city purchased these properties, the mayor’s office began receiving calls from individuals who were interested in acquiring particular properties. Many of the properties had title issues that could make purchasing the property difficult. Graziani said that this was when the mayor’s office decided to reach out to community groups, developers, and members of the bar.
“Instead of sitting back and not addressing the issue, the mayor decided to reach out to the private sector via the ACBA RPS to access the knowledge and expertise of real estate attorneys who could address these acquisition issues,” said Graziani.
The RPS Taskforce met for the first time on Oct. 17 to begin discussing potential property situations that are ripe for intervention.
“Many of us are familiar with the typical path of problem properties,” said McLaughlin. “Often there is a bad owner, which leads to taxes not being paid and the property becoming tax delinquent. Blighted properties may remain in such a state for years. We’re hoping to help move the process along and begin eliminating problem properties.”
Taskforce volunteers will be working with the mayor’s office to assist with reducing blight and placing properties with title issues back on the tax rolls in order to begin rebuilding neighborhoods. The taskforce will also be involved with educating the public on real property matters that are important to community residents, real estate investors, and prospective buyers of “problem” properties.
Properties ripe for RPS Taskforce intervention will be identified through outreach to community organizations such as the Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group, as well as via word of mouth from private developers. Once a request to become involved with a property is submitted, Graziani and McLaughlin will create a memorandum describing the request. The request will then be submitted to taskforce members for review.
“It’s wonderful how the bar responded to the request to help with this situation,” said McLaughlin.
RPS Taskforce members are currently working with the Allegheny County Bar Foundation to develop eligibility criteria for a Pro Bono Center project focusing on eliminating blight in Pittsburgh. The Lawyer Referral Service is also working with the taskforce to develop a panel of attorneys who will be able to provide a consultation to individuals to assist them in dealing with blighted properties and/or community development.
Any attorney interested in becoming involved with the RPS Taskforce can contact McLaughlin at 412-648-1300.