Providence is ramping up efforts to alleviate the burden of abandoned houses on neighborhoods hit hard by the foreclosure crisis.
Through methods including eminent domain, tax-title repossession and the authority of the reinvigorated Providence Redevelopment Agency, city officials are patching buildings up, tearing some down and funneling others into the hands of developers.
"We are using tools that were created but were never used," said Providence City Solicitor Jeffrey Padwa, who leads the city's nuisance-property task force and whose office works on most of the properties in question. "We're being a little more aggressive in getting to those irresponsible owners."
Reflecting that new aggressiveness, the city brought 442 cases to housing court for code and other violations in the just-completed fiscal 2013, 139 more cases than in the previous fiscal year and 259 more than in fiscal 2011. The city has increased the rate of demolitions for blighted or damaged buildings.
Read more here.