Fresno City Council to vote on anti-blight requirements

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A new plan to clean up Fresno's blighted neighborhoods goes before the city council on Thursday.

Wednesday, Mayor Ashley Swearengin lead a tour of a Central Fresno neighborhood where some boarded up houses had been improved. She's proposing a city ordinance requiring property owners, and property managers to keep their properties presentable.

It's a move being applauded as a good first step by the group Faith in Community, which has lead the charge toward improving living conditions for the poor.

"We've got obviously thousands of these boarded up abandoned houses in Fresno, but we've got even more properties with tenants living in them in some really substandard conditions," said Andy Levine, Faith in Community director.

Levine says in addition to dealing with outside blight, the city needs to move inside to make sure residents have adequate housing. As an example one man wanted to get Mayor Swearengin to come in and see the flood damage in his apartment he claims the landlord won't fix. The mayor was not made aware of his request. But she said once the exterior blight is dealt with the next phase will be to help enforce state and local laws regarding actual living conditions.