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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The corner of Old Keene Mill and Backlick Roads is a mess. On the west side are two abandoned buildings long neglected by their owner, a DC-based LLC. On the east side are a cluster of now vacant commercial buildings bought by a developer (Schupp) that promised a new hotel five years ago, but appears incapable of delivering.

These properties just sit and rot more and more each day. [b]It’s past time for the county to tell these owners to get off their butts and do something.[/b] Redevelop them. Demolish them. Sell them to someone else who’s more willing and/or competent to revitalize them. The Springfield CBD has made some positive strides recently and it’s on a good path for future growth. Inaction around these eyesores is inexcusable.[/quote]

Which power is the county supposed to use to do this?[/quote]

Taxation? That how cities with blight make incentivize developers to do something with land - if an unoccupied parcel is taxed at 5x the rate of an occupied parcel, suddenly sitting on land is no longer a good investment [/quote]

Could you provide two examples of cities in the US that actually do this?[/quote]

DP. It's called a land value tax. Harrisburg and Pittsburgh have employed it to great success - Pittsburgh in particular. Taxing improvements at a much lower rate than the land itself, resulting in fewer surface parking lots and dilapidated buildings, less speculation, and more productive uses of valuable land. Detroit is in the process of implementing a land value tax, which will likely do wonders for its turnaround.[/quote]

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