Good for Rome, N.Y. They found a way to kill zombies.
Other cities across the state, including sister-city Utica, should follow Rome's lead.
Zombies, in this case, are zombie properties — vacant and abandoned homes that are not maintained during prolonged foreclosure proceedings. They can become cancers in otherwise decent neighborhoods and end up costing taxpayers plenty.
Zombie properties become the living dead as a result of bank foreclosures. They sit and often fall into disrepair — cracked windows, boarded-up doors, piled-up debris, overgrown grass — a situation likely to go from bad to worse. In addition to being unsightly, they can become infested with rodents and other critters, creating a health hazard, not to mention havens for unsavory sorts who might be setting up shop for criminal activities.
Zombie properties are a huge burden on municipalities. City code enforcement officers can have a tough time keeping track of them because once the banks foreclose and take over ownership, city officials don't always know what institution is in charge or whom to contact about violations. That means when properties violate codes and owners can't be reached, city workers have to go and cut the grass and board up the windows when they get broken. That ends up costing taxpayers because the cost of upkeep isn't easily recovered.
But a new state law — supported by state Sen. Joseph Griffo, R-Rome, and Assemblyman Anthony Brindisi, D-Utica — allows zombie properties to be identified so that the proper banks can be contacted and held accountable to maintain the preforeclosure properties they are responsible for. Rome Chief Code Enforcement Officer Mark Domenico recently told the Common Council that the city is getting ready to take action against Bank of America for a property it owns at 107 N. Jay St. This is the first action in the state to be taken under the new law, designed to rid neighborhoods of this blight.
The new law includes a hotline and a web site whereby the public can report abandoned and dilapidated properties in their neighborhoods. It allows zombie properties to be identified so that the proper banks can be contacted and held accountable to maintain the pre-foreclosure properties they are responsible for.
Rome Mayor Jacqueline Izzo explained that Rome got out in front on this as soon as the new law went into effect because the city lost so much population and so many rentals all at once with the closing of Griffiss Air Force Base. It applied for and received a $150,000 grant to help establish a database of zombie properties, then partnered with Rome Main Streets Alliance to go through the city and document all of the zombie properties and those that are abandoned.
Rome Main Streets has created two positions that are responsible for going through each street, neighborhood by neighborhood, and finding houses that match the zombie property classification. As of last week, the pair had made it through wards one and two and part of three.
