(FROM LEFT) Rotterdam Town Supervisor Steve Tommasone and Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara place a sign on the lawn of 1035 Palazini Drive in Rotterdam, calling on the bank that owns the property to “be a good neighbor” and ensure the property’s recovery back into the community.
(FROM LEFT) Rotterdam Town Supervisor Steve Tommasone and Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara place a sign on the lawn of 1035 Palazini Drive in Rotterdam, calling on the bank that owns the property to “be a good neighbor” and ensure the property’s recovery back into the community.
Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara is joined by Western New York Assemblyman Michael Kearns (left) and Rotterdam Town Supervisor Steve Tommasone (right) in announcing the “Be A Good Neighbor” campaign Monday at a zombie property at 1035 Palazini Drive in Rotterdam.
Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara is building an army to fight off the zombies — an army of neighbors who are fed up with the zombie properties that plague our neighborhoods and attack the value of our homes.
Assemblyman Santabarbara joined area residents at 1035 Palazini Drive in Rotterdam on Monday to launch the “Be A Good Neighbor” campaign calling on banks and lenders to take responsibility for maintenance and upkeep of foreclosed homes under their ownership.
“Be A Good Neighbor” campaign literature and reporting forms will be circulated to local neighborhoods. Residents that know of a zombie property in their neighborhood are asked to complete the form indicating the address of the foreclosed and neglected property.
Santabarbara’s Assembly office then works with local municipalities to not only identify the bank that owns the property, but also marks the “zombie” with the “Be A Good Neighbor” sign bearing the bank’s name, calling on them to be a good neighbor and ensure the property’s recovery back into the community.
Santabarbara and local homeowners started the campaign by marking the first zombie at 1035 Palazini Drive, a blighted property that has been vacant, foreclosed, and neglected for many years.
“Zombie properties plague our neighborhoods and attack the value of our homes, burdening taxpayers with the costs of upkeep,” Assemblyman Santabarbara said. “It’s time for banks and lenders to be good neighbors, help us fight off the ‘zombies’ and keep them out of our communities.”
Assemblyman Santabarbara was joined at the property by Rotterdam Town Supervisor Steve Tommasone and several local neighbors who are ready to help fight the zombies.
The town of Rotterdam is home to more than 13,000 properties, including hundreds that are unkempt, vacated or abandoned.
“These zombie properties negatively affect the property values of their neighbors, and citing them and maintaining them often falls on the backs of our taxpayers in the way of enforcement and cleanup,” Rotterdam Supervisor Steve Tommasone said. “Our code enforcement officers respond to calls every day from town residents fed up with the blighted properties next door. These 'zombie' properties are a blight on our community, and we are grateful to Assemblyman Santabarbara for his efforts to address this issue.”
Santabarbara also highlighted legislation, called the New York State Abandoned Property Neighborhood Relief Act, that helps communities take on zombie properties by requiring banks and lenders to take quicker action to identify, secure, and maintain abandoned homes.
It would also create a new fund, which would use money collected by the Attorney General’s Office through enforcement actions to provide aid to municipalities in their own enforcement of the Abandoned Property Neighborhood Relief Act.
The bill (A.6932-A) has passed the Assembly and awaits a vote from the Senate.
“These zombie properties are just that – zombies that take away the vibrancy of our communities, and our local governments are being hit with the cost to maintain them,” Santabarbara added. “I’ll continue to fight for this legislation until it becomes law so that we can help our neighborhoods fight off the 'zombies' and keep them out of our communities."
(FROM LEFT) Rotterdam Town Supervisor Steve Tommasone and Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara place a sign on the lawn of 1035 Palazini Drive in Rotterdam, calling on the bank that owns the property to “be a good neighbor” and ensure the property’s recovery back into the community.
