Exciting New Initiative from Frank Alexander

Heidi Murphy in our PR department here at UGA law just directed my attention to a very interesting story in The National Law Journal.  Emory Law Professor Frank Alexander has just launched a new center to help cities revitalize abandoned and blighted properties.

The Center for Community Progress has secured $2 million in funding from the Ford Foundation and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, and has opened a headquarters in Flint, Mich., and a policy office in Washington...

The Flint headquarters will largely focus on assisting communities with handling vacant and abandoned properties. The Washington office will primarily handle policy issues on land use, Alexander said. There are multiple legal angles to the group's work, including pushing for property tax foreclosure reform, helping to pass local vacant property registration ordinances and modifying code enforcement procedures to help cities get abandoned properties up to code or facilitate transfers to new owners. The Center for Community Progress also wants to help communities tap into the $6 billion in funding the federal government has allocated in recent years for neighborhood stabilization.

Prof. Alexander has been a leading light on land use issues in Georgia and nationally for many years.  I'll be excited to see what comes of this latest effort.

Jamie Baker Roskie