Bill no. A08059C provides for the creation of land banks for the revitalization of vacant and abandoned property. As discussed in the following editorial from the Buffalo News the legislation  has made it to the desk of Gov. David A. Paterson and awaits his signature.

Create the land bank

Region, not just the city, would benefit from a tool to help process vacant houses

A proposal to create an Erie County “land bank” could pay real benefits in an area struggling with an overload of vacant homes. That is especially true for Buffalo — if only Buffalo would come to its senses.

The land bank would give the county’s municipalities a powerful redevelopment tool that other states have used to revitalize declining neighborhoods. A bill sponsored in the Assembly by Sam Hoyt, D-Buffalo, has made it to the desk of Gov. David A. Paterson, who is expected to sign it.

The land bank, and others the law creates in New York, would operate as a subsidiary of the state Urban Development Corp. Such banks are public authorities designed to “efficiently acquire, hold, manage and develop tax-foreclosed properties with the long-term interest of the community in mind,” as the legislation puts it.

Land banks work. The one in Flint, Mich., has become the primary driver for acquiring and reusing the city’s huge inventory of vacant housing. Hoyt wisely insisted on a regional land bank for Erie County. Even though the biggest problem is in Buffalo, vacancies are creeping into first-ring suburbs, including Cheektowaga and Depew.

Buffalo, unfortunately, wants nothing to do with the land bank. Mayor Byron W. Brown says the city wants its own land bank, one that will somehow serve its needs better than a regional one.

In that, Brown is reflecting the old-style leadership that has helped drive New York’s municipalities into the ditch. We don’t need multiple land banks any more than Erie County needs 25 towns, 16 villages and three cities, smothered by 439 elected officials.

Brown should rethink his opposition. We see no reason a regional land bank can’t work for Buffalo but if, after a period of diligent effort, it doesn’t, then he can seek a city land bank. Until then, state lawmakers should ignore calls for immediate duplication of service.

There is a painful irony in the proposal to create these land banks: Albany is creating yet another mechanism to compensate for problems caused by its own disastrous policies.

With New York’s high taxes, its continual borrowing and its grovelling before special interests, businesses and population have fled the state. Of course there are going to be vacant properties. Of course Albany is going to try to fix that problem — the symptom of the disease — rather than attend to the root cause.

Still, given the political realities of New York, this is important legislation. We hope Paterson will sign it, and then get on with the business of fixing this broken state.

To view the online article, please click here.

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