Jefferson City cracking down on blighted houses

In the last three years. 165 buildings in Jefferson City have been registered as abandoned.

The Jefferson City Council met tonight in their work sessions meeting to review what other ways the city could help eliminate adding more buildings to the list.

The abandoned building project wants to add incentives for tenants and landlords who maintain their properties. The group also wants to educate the public, relators, landlords on what the consequences could be if they don’t keep up with their property.

One Jefferson City resident went before the City Council tonight, frustrated, “I’m not even going to talk about what’s happening on Capitol ave., because I will go Donald Trump on you… it’s heartbreaking.” The resident believes that giving more incentives to landlords isn’t enough to solve the problem.

Another resident praised the city council in adding more incentives, saying “It will encourage more landlords to actually follow the rules.”

In the meeting tonight, the City Council also discussed what exactly it means for a home or building to be abandoned. If the property has been vacated for more than 90 days along with at least two of the following conditions, it is considered abandoned. It has to be: not secured, fire damaged to an extent that prohibits safe human occupancy, lack or property maintenance, disconnected water or electricity.

Mayor of Jefferson City, Carrie Tergin says that, “the clock is ticking, and we are the closest we’ve ever been to seeing something happen on Capitol ave for those blighted properties.”