Atlanta Real Estate Operator Gets Up To 30 Days In Jail For Failing To Cure Housing Code Violations In Connection With Slumlord Business; City Mayor Vows To Slam Similar Scofflaws

In Atlanta, Georgia, WGCL-TV Channel 46 reports:

• Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed is determined to track down property owners who don't keep their properties up to par and force them to clean up their properties or send them to jail.
  
  On Tuesday, the mayor took a highly unusual step. Reed was in the courtroom as Buckhead real estate mogul Rick Warren was sentenced to up to 30 days in jail for housing code violations. Reed told CBS46 that Warren is one of the biggest property owners in one of the city’s poorest communities and has long refused to clean up his act. The problem area is the Vine City and English Avenue neighborhoods in northwest Atlanta.
  
  Reed told CBS46 he is determined to do whatever it takes to turn the neighborhood around. He was there for the ribbon cutting of a new park in the heart of English Avenue Wednesday morning.
  
  “This is part of a massive effort, really, to uplift English Avenue and Vine City,” Reed said.
  
  “We went through the worst mortgage foreclosure crisis in the history of the United States of America… When you actually start doing the deep dive on who owns these properties, it is not as easily visible as people think,” Reed added.
  
  After the park opening, Reed walked through the neighborhood looking at blighted houses, many belonging to Warren.
  
  “We are going to apply that same kind of accountability to others and so you will see many other Rick Warrens,” Reed contended.
  
  Reed also told CBS46 the National Guard will knock down up to 100 abandoned homes in the neighborhood.
  
  Click here to report code violations to the city [of Atlanta].

Source: Atlanta mayor wants real estate moguls to keep their properties clean.