Upshot of Foreclosures

Efforts to control green pools got a boost when California’s Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency, providing about $6 million for mosquito control, surveillance — including flyovers to look for the telltale signs of oblong and kidney-shaped brown blotches.

Authorities can order owners to take care of properties, for instance, treating or draining pools. The problem is finding who’s responsible for an empty house that may have been flipped more than once.

“If you’re a building official or a zoning inspector for a local government you really have to become almost like a CSI investigator just to track down who you should be talking to,” said Joseph Schilling, director of policy and research for the Washington, D.C.-based National Vacant Properties Campaign which focuses on the problem of abandoned houses.

Nobody wants to take responsibility. As for the banks — this is probably the least of their worries. So, for something that can’t wait, like green pools, local officials fix the problem themselves and then try to seek reimbursement.

In an effort to force ownership of the problem, officials in Chula Vista, a city south of San Diego which has hundreds of foreclosures, passed an ordinance requiring lenders to notify the city after recording a notice of default if the property is vacant, pay a $70 fee and hire property management firms.

The ordinance has been in effect for a month and so far there have been about 30 voluntary registrations and notices of violation are being processed for another 30.

California’s Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is urging neighbors to report neglected pools. The state has a hot line, 1-877-WNV-BIRD, for reporting possible signs of trouble such as green pools or dead birds which host and transmit West Nile virus.

In the Southern Nevada Health District, home to Las Vegas, officials logged nearly 1,600 complaints of standing water, primarily green pools. Some of them are just so thick with green scum on top—some with millions of mosquito larvae in them, literally millions. Fortunately, the West Nile virus season is over—for now. But spring is coming soon.

Source: Associated Press