16851_Authority_Aug_2023

municipalauthorities.org | 63 Do you have a product or service that you would like to advertise in The Authority Marketplace? Contact Mandi Glantz at glantz@municipalauthorities.org . Offering more than a century of experience in Water and Wastewater Utility Engineering rve.com Yardley, PA 267-394-4500 King of Prussia, PA 610-940-1050 Pittsburgh, PA 412-263-2200 F inance L egal Representing Pennsylvania municipalities for 30+ years Michelle Portnoff, Esquire President 800-561 -7989 info@portnoffonline.com www.portnoffonline.com Del inquent Account Col lection Util ity Claims • Real Estate Taxes Portnoff Law Associates, Ltd. S ales /S ervice Dredging and Dewatering Services Industrial and Municipal Cleaning 3100 Bethel Road Chester, PA 19013 800-635-9689 11420 Old Baltimore Pike Beltsville, MD 20705 877-777-9114 1566 Harding Highway Newfield, NJ 08344 800-634-6014 The top priority strategies recommended by the task force include: 1. Prioritize and demolish unsafe structures and prepare for reinvestment. 2. Attach owners’ other assets to remediate blighted prop- erty Act 90 of 2010 (the Neighborhood Blight Reclama- tion and Revitalization Act). 3. Deny permits to owners with tax delinquency or code violations (Act 90). 4. Encourage the Cambria County District Attorney to charge repeat, serious code violators with criminal mis- demeanor (Act 90). 5. Create a land bank to acquire, manage and market properties. Redeveloping and repurposing the once blighted parcels is the last piece to the blight elimination puzzle. Many of these properties are community gardens, increased yard space for the adjacent property owner, or the home of a new addi- tion. Neighborhood by neighborhood, you see the positive changes continue. When a blighted house is eliminated, neighboring property owners are able to showcase the hard work they have put in to maintaining their homes and yards. The effect is contagious. In a short amount of time, what was once an uninviting block in a neighborhood because of one house, is now a beautiful reminder of what Johnstown once was…and will be again. Once residential areas are sta- bilized, commercial development is not far behind. S Continued from page 11.