5/2/2002

Chattanooga—In what has become an annual rite of Spring, the City of Chattanooga’s Neighborhood Services Department is preparing to launch its third annual Fight the Blight! campaign.

Fight the Blight! is designed to increase the quality of life in Chattanooga’s neighborhoods by enlisting the help of residents to identify blight for the priority attention of the City’s Neighborhood Services Department. Deteriorating vacant houses, litter, junk cars, illegal dumpsites and overgrown lots are all examples of blight.

Past Fight the Blight! participants have reported over 5,000 instances of blight from neighborhoods all across Chattanooga. As a result, scores of deteriorating houses have been demolished, junk vehicles have been removed and illegal dumpsites have been cleaned up.

Between May 13th and May 17th, residents participating in this year’s Fight the Blight! will canvass their neighborhoods to document blighted conditions.  Officers of the Codes and Community Services division of the Neighborhood Services Department will aggressively address each case– up to and including, when necessary, citing offenders to Chattanooga’s Environmental Court for case resolution by The Honorable Judge Walter Williams.

Three training sessions are scheduled where participants can learn how to properly document blight.  The public is strongly encouraged to participate in this training so that each case is properly recorded and effectively resolved.  The sessions will be held on the following dates:

May 7             6 p.m. – 8 p.m.            South Chattanooga  Recreation Complex on 40th St.

May 11           9 a. m. – 11 a.m.         Second Baptist Church on East 3rd

May 14           6 p.m. – 8 p.m.            Development Resource Center on Market St.

The culmination of the Fight the Blight! campaign takes place on Saturday, May 18th with a celebration at Miller Plaza from noon until 5 p.m. Food, fun and musical entertainment in a variety of crowd-pleasing genres and styles will highlight the festivities.

For more information about Fight the Blight! contact Kenardo Curry, Administrator, Chattanooga Neighborhood Services Department, at 757-5277.

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