California addresses issue of slum landlords

By CHRISTINE HAINES

chaines@yourmvi.com

A growing problem with slum landlords was brought to the attention of California Borough Council Thursday.

Resident Janet Bateman said the borough had addressed the problem in the past and it had been under control for a while, thanks to the work of people such as Patsy Alfano, Jon Bittner and Chip Glab, who are still members of council.

“I think we’re slipping back into that,” Bateman said. “There’s been a lot of garbage out lately.”

Bateman said a number of properties are putting trash out seven days a week instead of just before collection day; one property has an overflowing dumpster along the street instead of at the rear of the property where it had been previously located. 

“The biggest thing I see is undersized dumpsters for these properties,” Councilman Jon Bittner said. “Do we have the right to require them to have bigger dumpsters?”

Bateman suggested that the borough utilize the state’s Blight Reduction Act to go after the slum landlords, requiring them to have local property managers if they aren’t local and attaching their assets until problems are resolved.

“This is our town. We need to clean it up,” Bateman said. “We need to attract businesses.”

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