PRETTY VACANT

A new site focused on creating transparency around the issue of vacant property in Richmond has launched. Vacant Richmond takes the several thousand properties on the City of Richmond's own vacant property lists and plops them neatly onto a nice Google-generated map -- complete with the property owner's name, and City Council and police contacts for the district.

The site was developed by PharrOut and Farrell IT after a series of meetings with several local bloggers sparked by several high profile fires of vacant buildings in Richmond. Visitors to the site can not only track vacant buildings in their neighborhood, but have the ability to add comments about specific properties, such as a recent comment about a property on North 23rd Street on the City's list -- "This house has been completely restored and is now for sale." A feature to enable visitors to post photos of specific properties is under development.

The team behind Vacant Richmond sent a press release out today, announcing the launch of the site and explaining the rationale for the site's development:

At a recent neighborhood meeting, Police Chief Rodney Monroe made it clear that a key component of action in blight cases was to present to a judge public comments and pictures in cases in which a judge may then render a decision against the offending owner. He challenged the community to become more involved in tackling this issue, and this web site helps engage that challenge.

After the recent fire near 1708 Gallery and Sound of Music Studios on Broad St., several concerned bloggers voiced a need for an easy way to find and discuss neglected properties in the city. They wanted a centralized web site where they could view blighted properties, find out who owned them, and be able to exchange comments with neighbors as well as report trouble to the police and local council representatives.

Concerned neighbors can enter an address in a search box to find properties the city considers vacant in their neighborhood. They can also view city-published information on property owners and start and maintain commentary about recent activity at said vacant properties.

The site also lists police and City Council contacts for offending properties in their areas. It also allows users to find other properties from the same owner in other parts of the city.

The site will soon add the ability to post pictures of offending properties as well as additional features.

Among the contributing weblogs engaged in the development of Vacant Richmond --  RVABlogs, Daniel's Pilgrimage, River City Rapids, the Church Hill People's News, Save Richmond, This Mudi Life and (in a haphazard, on-the-sidelines fashion) my site, Buttermilk and Molasses.