On Tuesday, February 5, 2019, Emory University School of Law hosted the 23rd annual Emory Public Interest Committee's (EPIC) Inspiration Awards, which honored two community members and an Emory Law graduate for exceptional public service.
After thirty-seven years, Frank S. Alexander, Sam Nunn Professor of Law and founding director of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion, will conclude his teaching career at Emory Law at the end of this academic year.
As sea level rise accelerates, potentially leaving coastal homes abandoned from Texas to New England, a legal debate over submerged land asks whether governments have the authority to tear them down. Emory Law Professor Frank Alexander was quoted by Bloomberg on the subject. "Who's got responsibility for removing the damaged structures?" he asked. Not finding an answer could mean a "coastline dotted with these structures that are half sticking out of the ground."
As Kansas City copes with thousands of abandoned, eyesore properties in the aftermath of the Great Recession, it's looking beyond trying to fill them with new houses and residents, according to a story in the Kansas City Star. The city is following what has worked in some other cities, says Sam Nunn Professor of Law Frank Alexander, an expert on land banks. He notes the adopt-a-lot program is one of the fastest ways to get vacant parcels to residents who care about them and will do the maintenance.
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to uphold the use of disparate impact claims was a huge victory for civil rights, Next City's Cassie Owens writes. "If the Supreme Court elects to reject the possibility of discriminatory impact, it's going to basically be undoing the last 45 years of Fair Housing Act enforcement,' said Emory Law Professor Frank Alexander said, prior to the court's decision. "That result would make it incredibly difficult for the Fair Housing Act to be enforced except when the defendant actually says, 'I refuse to rent to you because of your race.'"
Three hundred ninety-one students received diplomas in Emory Law's diploma ceremony today.
One year after a massive landslide killed 43 people, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is pushing to fund new mapping of geological hazards across the state and make that data available to the public. But in a recent interview he said the state won't tell property owners where they can or can't live, citing the difficulty of predicting landslides, the Wall Street Journal says. "Local governments are reluctant to say to private property owners, 'You can't do something,' " said Emory Law Professor Frank Alexander, who has studied the issue. "The American spirit hates to be told they can't do something." (subscription required)
New Orleans is selling almost 1,800 properties on the Web to fatten its tax coffers and build on the momentum it's enjoying in the local real estate market, Bloomberg Business reports. "The weakness of this open-auction approach is there is no assurance that a purchaser who completes the acquisition will use it in a manner that's in the best interests of the city," said Emory Law Professor Frank Alexander.
The City of Atlanta is working to tackle abandoned homes and properties throughout the city, something the city has had a hard time accomplishing because of its current laws, officials said. Frank Alexander, Emory University Law Professor, says Atlanta's current codes are dated and ineffective. "The City of Atlanta, historically, relative to other cities of comparable size, geographically and in population, has underfunded code enforcement activities," he said.
West Virginia is among a small group of states stepping up to take charge in the revitalization of its communities through reclaiming blighted, abandoned and dilapidated properties, a national expert said Wednesday. Emory Law Professor Frank Alexander, co-founder of the Center for Community Progress, spoke with community and business leaders from across West Virginia during the West Virginia BAD Buildings Summit on Wednesday at the Visual Arts Center in downtown Huntington. BAD stands for blighted, abandoned and dilapidated.
Land banks are public entities created to revive vacant or tax-foreclosed properties. The small city of Newburgh on the Hudson River has been trying to revitalize itself using a land bank.
Emory Law awarded diplomas to 319 graduates in May 2014.
Duffy Realty of Atlanta, one of a growing number of real estate agencies tries new pricing strategies, an upfront listing fee of $500 and one third of 1 percent when a house sells. Duffy said the agency's 2013 revenue was $5.3 million.
The Philadelphia Housing Authority confronts blight and abandoned properties
There are approximately 150 land banks across the country, and Frank Alexander has been involved in creating many of them during the past 20 years.
The land bank concept has an appeal that transcends geographic and economic borders.
A Washington Post investigation found some investors demanded thousands in fees from homeowners far exceeding the original tax debts and then took the homes when they couldn¿t pay. About 500 properties have been lost since 2005, most in the city¿s poorest neighborhoods.
Emory Law has created a new lecture series thanks to a grant from the McDonald Agape Foundation.
The nation has long struggled over what to do with problem properties, a growing liability in a still-soft real estate market. And states and municipalities often lack the laws, tools and expertise to do much about it, Alexander asserts
On Wednesday, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett signed the Land Bank Act, legislation informed by the research of Emory Law Professor Frank Alexander.