Cleveland Housing Court Judge Raymond Pianka is making news again for his aggressive stance on dilapidated properties- especially those purchased by people outside of Cleveland and hoping to make a quick buck.

Judge Pianka’s work was previously highlighted on Rust Wire and in this New York Times Magazine cover story last year. (Read more about him here.)

The Plain Dealer reports he is ordering absentee owners of vacant homes to pay restitution to neighbors whose property values have been eroded by the vacant structures nearby.

“What is happening (in Cleveland) is certainly at the forefront of initiatives seeking to impose liability upon the owners of substandard properties,” Frank S. Alexander, a professor at Emory University School of Law and general counsel for the Center for Community Progress, told The Plain Dealer.

What do you think? Is this a good way to deal with such properties?

-KG

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