Mayor Wharton's Campaign to End Blight

On February 8, 2012, as part of Mayor Wharton's continuing campaign against blight, the Memphis City Attorney's office filed 86 additional lawsuits in civil court under the Neighborhood Preservation Act. Approximately two-thirds of the 138 lawsuits filed in 2010 have resulted in rehabilitations or demolitions by the owners (46 rehabs complete, 19 demolitions, 18 rehabs underway, 24 active cases). The majority of the properties targeted in this wave of litigation were referred to the City via the Mayor's Citizens Service Center hotline.

Each of the property owners who are being sued will come before the Shelby County Environmental Court, and the Memphis City Attorney's office will seek to force - by court order or by consent - the demolition, full rehabilitation, or divestiture of title of each vacant property targeted. Owners of multiple problem properties will be identified and more aggressive and complex litigation to obtain more sweeping injunctive relief and monetary damages will be pursued against them. This strategy will be especially employed against lenders not maintaining foreclosed properties and investors who buy foreclosures but do not maintain them.

Click here to download the Neighborhood Preservation Act

This civil litigation strategy is a forceful assault on the scourge of abandoned and neglected properties in Memphis. Blight is destroying our neighborhoods and we are making an unprecedented investment in attacking the problem at its source: by going after property owners who believe there is no cost to leaving their problems for the rest of us to live next to, smell, avoid, fear and be injured by.

The map below pinpoints the exact location of the properties whose owners are currently being sued; properties marked with a pink flag are being targeted in joint filings with the Shelby County District Attorney General's office. If you live near a property that you believe we should investigate for legal action, or if you know something about one of the initial targeted properties, please let us know. Call the Mayor's Citizen Service Center at (901) 576-6500 and give us the address and condition of the property. The City's Code Enforcement Department and City Attorney's office will follow up and take action.

Mayor Wharton's Blight Litigation Strategy

(Click Image Above To Enlarge Map)

Please click here to download a list of the properties the city recently filed suit upon under the Neighborhood Preservation Act

Please click here to download the list of properties included in the first wave of Neighborhood Preservation Lawsuits in 2010

Working together, we will end blight in the city of Memphis. This is a serious and complex problem, but one that we can solve if we work together.