Owners neglecting their property in one eastern Pennsylvania city are getting an online shaming.
Reading Mayor Tom McMahon announced a new online "Wall of Shame" featuring blighted properties that he said would be torn down unless owners fix them up. The property owners' names are posted along with pictures and addresses.
"We are ramping up our focus on irresponsible property owners that are bringing blight into our city neighborhoods," McMahon said in a statement Monday after touring one property.
"For 2010, we have 60 properties ... and 10 of them have been formally brought into the process to be designated as blighted properties," he added. "If owners don‟t respond we will take every action necessary to remove the blight, including tearing properties down."
"I say this to owners of derelict properties in our city: you can run, but you cannot hide," McMahon said. "The whole world will know who you are and what you are doing to our neighborhoods and City. Make no mistake about it — we are coming after you.”
The map and list of properties is online at http://www.batchgeo.com/map/263e207495a95cce9bfd145dcab884b0