Albany’s population, according to the U.S. census, declined from 77,434 in 2010 to 69,647 in 2020. This significantly increased the number of vacant residences. 174 Additionally, there are scores of commercial and industrial properties within the city which have been shuttered for decades. Vacant residences are sometimes occupied by the homeless and may be used as a site for illicit activities, including drug use. These structures diminish the value of other properties in the immediate area and, in some cases, may drive neighbors to relocate. The commission’s commitment to reducing blight may be accurately gauged by the attention and resources afforded to Code Enforcement. That department was reorganized as a division of Planning Services in 2015, 175 and was operating under APD when Bo took office in 2020. Bo, during deliberations as to whether or not Code Enforcement should be an independent department, referred to Code Enforcement as a “foster child” that had been passed from department to department over the years, and asserted “the City Commission’s desultory approach to blight has done a disservice to this community”. 176

The first budget passed by those members of the commission elected in 2019 included an additional $600,000 for demolition of blighted properties, and funding for three additional Code Enforcement officers. Code Enforcement was further restored as an independent city department. 177 The city attorney appears in municipal court twice a month to seek orders authorizing the city to demolish dilapidated and blighted properties. 178 The judge in municipal court routinely grants extensions to owners seeking additional time to address the specific violations.

The commission, during Bo’s term of office, has been aggressive in reducing the number of blighted properties. The city has also sought to reduce the number of dilapidated properties, by being more proactive. Representatives of the county’s Tax Department confirmed that properties for which back taxes are owed are auctioned at a tax sale and, if it is determined that “a property seems like an unlikely candidate [for sale] due to the amount of taxes owed or other considerations, it may not be brought up for auction in subsequent years”. Bo requested that the Tax Department reconsider this policy, asserting the condition of properties deemed “unsaleable” by the county will continue to deteriorate until “reach[ing] a point where the city has to tear them down, sometimes incurring costs in the thousands of dollars”. 179

The potential for tax-delinquent properties being purchased and renovated will improve if residences are offered at auction each year. Investors, who may be willing to finance repairs to homes after the owner is barred from redeeming the property, could thereby halt the structural decline of these properties, make them suitable for habitation, and restore them to the tax rolls.

Another challenge confronted by Code Enforcement is communicating with owners of property who live elsewhere. Typically, these properties have been inherited and are in substandard condition. The city is in the process of establishing a vacant property registry, which will require owners of vacant structures and foreclosed properties to pay a $100 registration fee. The director of Planning Services described the registry as “primarily a code-enforcement tool”, which would assure staff has “contact information for code enforcement issues”. 180

The owners of some industrial sites, and particularly those having environmental contamination, are frequently dissolved corporations. There is no possibility of compelling the owners to remediate such properties when the corporation is insolvent at the time it concluded its operations. Fortunately, the city has applied for and received Brownfield grants from the EPA. A Revolving Loan Fund Grant financed remediation of the Hotel Gordon, 181 and a $350,000 Brownfield grant allowed the city “to clean up heavy metals, contaminants and petroleum at the site of the former Belk Building on West Broad Avenue”. 182

Albany’s economic recovery is reflected in the investments local businesses have made in demolishing blighted commercial properties. A group of Albany businessmen purchased the 16-acre parcel on the northwest corner of the intersection of Slappey Blvd. and Gillionville Road in 2021. 183 They raised the Mabry Motel and the former Harvey’s grocery store the following year. 184 Concrete Enterprises recently contracted with the owner of the former National Linen Service site at 1125 West Oglethorpe Blvd., to demolish the buildings and remove the debris. 185

The commission has also made efforts to reduce illegal dumping and litter throughout the community. The Public Works Department placed roll-away containers at various locations in 2021. Citizens, who might otherwise discard furniture, appliances, tires, building materials and other large objects at illegal dump sites, were allowed to dispose of those items without charge. 186

The city, in 2020, implemented “Operation Clean Sweep”. An article described the program as follows:

The city plans to focus on one neighborhood at a time as opposed to general street sweeping and debris removal in hotspots. This work, which will include multiple departments, also will include cleaning up dump sites and street litter, maintaining rights-of-way along streets, repairing alleys, and cleaning catch basins. 187

Employees with the Public Works Department, usually supported by other city employees, volunteers and the program’s corporate partners (Concrete Enterprises and LRL Ventures), are dispatched to an area selected by a city commissioner. Alleys are repaired, catch basins and storm drains are cleaned, tree limbs are trimmed, vegetation obstructing streetlights is removed, and litter is collected from the streets and rights-of- way. 188 The city deploys, in addition to dozens of employees, street sweepers, bulldozers and other equipment. 189 Those working on Operation Clean Sweep collect between a ton and two tons of litter each day. 190

Operation Clean Sweep seeks to motivate citizens to engage in the maintenance of their neighborhoods. One commissioner explained the program’s objective, asserting:

“The idea is for city personnel to come in and make improvements; then it’s up to our citizens if they expect the area to stay that way”. 191 The director of Public Works, interviewed only months after the program was launched, stated: I was born and raised here, on Gordon and Magnolia, and I know what Albany has been like before, when people took pride in their neighborhoods. It was that way before, and before I leave my position with the city, I want to see it that way again. It costs nothing to have a little pride. 192