Warren should get tougher with slum property owners

Warren Mayor Hank Angelo is right when he says that individuals who own property in the city have a responsibility to their neighbors and to the community to care for their property, but he may be overly optimistic in thinking that he can change people's behavior by embarrassing them. People who own vacant, dilapidated houses with yards overgrown with weeds don't have any shame.
What the mayor and city council should do to bolster the city's condemnation procedure is to hit these scofflaws where it hurts -- in the pocketbook.
Last Friday, Angelo and Bob Pinti, deputy health commissioner, began posting signs on 50 condemned houses in the city of Warren, with the names and addresses of the owners prominently displayed. The first house targeted is on Union Street, where the windows are broken, the grass is overgrown and trash and debris clutter the back yard. The property is owned by Victoria J. Taylor of Champion, according to Trumbull County property tax records and the city.
The remaining 49 homes are scattered throughout the city, and law-abiding citizens who take pride in their neighborhoods will now have easy access to ownership information.
"The only way it seems we can reach some people is to embarrass them," the mayor said.
No sense of community
But what happens when individuals have a totally different view of the world and have no sense of community, as the city of Youngstown found out in its effort to address the growing problem of homes clad in lead-based paints that are peeling or chipping from the walls?
Harsh measures are demanded.
In Youngstown's case, after 500 violations of lead-poisoning were revealed, the health department worked with the mayor and city council in making the laws tougher. The health commissioner and his board wanted mandatory lead tests performed before any single-family home is sold and wanted authority to order cleanups if necessary. They also pushed for penalties, including a $100 fine and up to 90 days in jail. They didn't get all they sought, but the message that went out certainly got the attention of some of the landlords who live outside the city.
In Warren, the mayor and council should consider amending the city's ordinance to include fines on property owners who won't make houses livable and won't tear them down. City government should not have to foot the bill for demolition.
The Angelo administration's battle against blight is timely and necessary. But the city may need a more powerful weapon than shame.