YOU are the CZAR

[wolverine]

Vacant homes can be divided into two categories:
1. Those that need to be demolished [[the vast majority), and
2. Those that can be saved and auctioned off.

The first group should be eliminated by Controlled Burn, as much as is safely possible. I would work with the Fire Department to have these homes burnt down to provide a more safe and healthy environment for the existing residents.

I can't believe I am reading this. Sometimes this forum leaves me speechless. A "controlled" burning as you call it would not cause a house to magically disappear into smoke, as you imply it would. You know.....houses are built out of other things like steel, aluminum, plastics, glass that will be mixed in with all the charred wood that will remain. Who will then clean up the mess of debris? Will it even be cleaned up? Who pays? When does it happen? Will the debris become a neighborhood hazard itself? What about the environment? What about lost materials that could have been salvaged?

Remember anything and everything suggested will have costs associated, and it will require a lot of different parties involved. You can't "just demolish a house", it's a complicated process, which is why we have these land banks to handle that process. I suppose the only way to get rid of it without the red tape is just go out there and do it yourself illegally, but I haven't seen anyone suggest that yet.