Richmond Mayor and Police Chief pledge to crack down on Bank Blight

The focus of the meeting was to address the high volume of abandoned and neglected foreclosed bank-owned properties in Richmond that have contributed to blight and crime in the neighborhoods. In 2008, the city of Richmond passed a "blight ordinance" which allows the city to charge banks up to $1000 a day for neglected or abandoned foreclosed properties. Money from the fines was slated to be used to help clean and maintain abandoned and blighted properties. Banks, however, make it difficult for city staff to identify and access the properties and, in many cases, are ignoring the fines, which then become passed on to the next home buyer. ACCE leaders and Richmond residents said enough is enough.

ACCE members put together a broad platform that included raising revenues by strengthening the local blight ordinance, creating youth jobs, and investing in responsible banks. As part of strengthening the blight ordinance, ACCE called for tools to aid in stronger enforcement of collecting unpaid fines by the banks such as automatic transfer of property to city by court order and seizure of bank assets. "If the banks continue to foreclose on us, then we need to foreclose on the banks," said ACCE leader TeiJae Taylor. The platform also aimed to address blight in key hot spots within the Iron Triangle and North Richmond neighborhoods through the use of mobile cameras, the city's new gated alleyway program, and fencing off residential homes from the train tracks.

Mayor Gayle McLaughlin, Councilmember Jovanka Beckles, and the Chief of Police all supported the platform to ReFund and Rebuild Richmond. The Mayor stated, "if the banks are not maintaining the homes, are not doing what they need to do, and not paying the fines, in order to prevent more fines, we should be able to seize these homes! We can utilize these foreclosed homes for things like a Community Land Trust which is something I know ACCE has been working on." Chief Magnus stated that "when I got into policing, I knew I was going to be dealing with certain members of the community that would be involved in robbing banks but I did not plan on having to deal with certain banks that would be involved in robbing members of the community." He's seen how foreclosed properties are affecting the city even in his neighborhood. He said that "banks are more willing to take title and associate themselves with properties where they can turn a profit, but in other neighborhoods where properties are already distressed or creating health hazards, many banks do everything they can to obscure who the owner is so that no responsibility has to be taken." He also said that "it has taken days, weeks, and even months just to determine who owns these properties." These community policies can help begin to shift the power in Richmond from the banks, back to the people in the community.