Dilapidated houses with overgrown yards continued to dominate the conversation during Jackson City Council’s September 1st meeting. On Tuesday, the City Council voted (5-0) to declare a number of these properties in the city of Jackson to be  “a menace to Public Health Safety and Welfare”, allowing the city to move forward with contracting companies to board up and secure the properties; cut the grass and weeds and remove all trash and debris. 

Councilman Stokes expressed concerns about the financial impact on the city of Jackson as it foots the bill for owners who fail to maintain the properties they purchase. “It shouldn’t be the city’s responsibility to go out and maintain these properties…We need to send a message to the people who purchase state-owned property that we look for them to keep their property up”

Mayor Lumumba echoed councilman Stokes’s concern adding that oftentimes those purchasing these properties from the state are “ spectators who are “holding property until they are getting monetary kickback and are not invested (in the community). The Mayor reminded the council that supporting recently introduced Land Bank legislation (Aimed at eliminating 25 percent of the city’s blight in the next three years) is an existing tool that needs support in order to address this exact concern for Jackson residents. 

The Mayor also noted that the city was working expeditiously to “make sure they can better organize their software and workload so we can have more teeth in our code enforcement division, so if we’re cutting peoples grass we can hold them accountable..”