Council OKs $4 Million to Combat Blight
Stepping up its attack on vacant houses and other nuisance properties plaguing neighborhoods, the Los Angeles City Council voted Wednesday to spend more than $4 million to demolish buildings and hire new staff members to coordinate abatement efforts.
Most of the money consists of one-time federal grants, and will be used for knocking down empty buildings that have become magnets for gang and drug activity, or boarding and fencing those buildings to prevent transients and criminals from gathering.
About $600,000, however, will go to hire 18 new employees and designate a nuisance abatement director to spearhead teams of building inspectors, police officers and city attorneys working to combat blight.
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