Hey everyone, this is more of a question about something that just came to my attention this week. Im sure some of yall have dealt with it so that is why Im looking for imput.

Let me start with the very short story. Last Tuesday in my hometown of Dallas, we received notice that a gang unit police officer had died in the line of duty. This hit very close to home for me, as my best friend is former gang and was very close friends with Sr Cpl Smith. Now this is the issue with the situation in hand. The property that he was gunned down, was in South Oak Cliff which is not a good area. The police have done numerous things to try to fix it on their parts, but the owner will not do anything at all. Now this is the kicker. In the last 4 year, 2 police and 1 firefighter, has died at the hands of the owners of the property, and yet the City of Dallas has not closed him down for violations. The firefighter was killed after being in the office of the main building. Ironically enough, the office is still under investigation for arson, because the owner is under Federal Investigation for mishandling government funds. AKA: all properties are section 8.

Now this is what I would like to know for everyone. How many times have we gone through this? How many houses in your cities are deemed crack houses by the police, but yet the city wont bulldoze them? Im actually in Dallas right now, and will be going in front of City Council next week to talk to them, well yell at them. Im very upset that 2 officials of Dallas are still seated after 3 deaths of my brothers in Dallas. This is the most appauling thing to me.

So if you have ever come across this and have any info to share with me that could help, please let me know.

There is something we can do to have the houses bulldozed and fight to have the slumlords removed. We all just need to do it together.

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I definitely feel your frustration. Unless and until State law is changed, Texas is going to have this problem. As it stands now, it takes a minimum of 3 years of jumping through hoops for an entity (be it city or county) to acquire the rights to an abandoned structure. Then the money has to be there to pay for the demolition and removal, not to mention the legal cost. With ever increasing budget cuts, this is going to be about as difficult as acquiring the property.
Actually, the city of Ft Worth last year did this. They told the slumlords that they had 6 months to clean up or the properties were gone. 90% of them are now in the cities hands now.
In the township that we cover the home owner has a set amount of time to have the structure torn down after a fire if the house is not able to be fixed. Now that being said house do slip threw the cracks because we had a arson a few years ago and the house is still up and we do not know why.
Right Turk, Which means that the person that owned it probably just took the check and ran. When that happens here, they just default on taxes and the property sits there for ages. Which is my issue. I think that if we all get together across this country and fight against it, then we can make something happen. This is getting way out of hand. Im working on a plan for all of this right now, but we all really need to come together with our police and fight this stuff. Its getting out of hand really.
Good luck on the persuit and keep us informed.

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