Workshop Teaches Neighbors How to Fight Blight

Communications Director

Kristin Farley
[email protected]
(865) 215-2589

400 Main St., Room 691
Knoxville, TN 37902

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Workshop Teaches Neighbors How to Fight Blight

Posted: 09/22/2017
The City of Knoxville’s Neighborhood Codes Enforcement team, in cooperation with the Office of Neighborhoods and other City departments, is conducting a five-part series of workshops focused on the challenges posed by blighted properties and how to address them. 

Blight includes neglected or abandoned houses, overgrown and dirty lots, abandoned vehicles, illegal dumping areas and other so-called attractive nuisances that exacerbate vandalism and crime. A Neighborhood Codes Enforcement FAQ is located on the City’s website at: http://bit.ly/NeighborhoodCodes

“This workshop will be especially useful to members of established or emerging neighborhood organizations seeking to systematically address blighted properties,” says Office of Neighborhoods Coordinator David Massey. 

Workshop participants will examine the nuts and bolts of City codes enforcement, which frequently begins with a call to 311. 311 Director Russ Jensen says that roughly half of all service requests received by 311 in August 2017 were codes related. Sixty to 70 percent of those service requests were entered by inspectors themselves. 

“The Codes Enforcement team is proactively fighting blight in our neighborhoods by putting in service requests when they see violations,” says Jensen. 

Workshop participants will learn how and why properties become blighted and hear about efforts that address and remediate blight, including place-making projects and the City’s Blighted Property Redevelopment Program (BPRP), which provides loans to help fund renovations of qualifying properties that put those houses back on the tax rolls. 

Fight The Blight Workshop sessions are 5:30 - 7 p.m. consecutive Thursdays, Oct. 5, Oct. 12, Oct. 19, Oct. 26, and Nov. 2, at the City of Knoxville Public Works Service Center at 3131 Morris Ave. Doors will open at 5 p.m. 

To register, fill out this online form: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Fight_The_Blight

To have a hard copy mailed to you, call David Massey at 865-215-3232. Registration forms must be received no later than 4:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 29, to allow time for material preparation.