Residents May Get Paid to ‘Out’ Vacancies
(Chicago Tribune) — Unable to keep tabs on every vacant, untended building within Chicago, the city may be getting ready to ask neighborhood residents for help, and they’ll get paid for their efforts.
But to receive the “citizens finder’s fee,” which could run from less than $50 to potentially hundreds of dollars, people will have to work for it.
Ald. Pat Dowell, 3rd, is expected to introduce a measure to the City Council on Wednesday that would toughen the city’s existing vacant property ordinance. If passed, the updated ordinance largely would pass the responsibility for securing and maintaining vacant buildings onto lenders, regardless of whether they have actually reclaimed legal possession of a building.
