Canandaigua Lake is rightly regarded as one of the Jewels of the Finger Lakes. As a City, Canandaigua also has many really positive things going for the people who live here; a great College, a wonderful Performing Arts Center, the New York Wine and Culinary Center, many picturesque neighborhoods and lovely homes, and Canandaigua Lake itself.

We also have a serious problem with some incredibly decrepit and derelict properties that affect the entire City, and our residents and visitors, too.

The Labelon Building on Chapin St… a boarded up hulk, with most of the windows broken out. Piles of mattresses on the outside fire escape mean that homeless people have taken up residence.

We've heard about sewage problems at the Saltonstall Street Park, raw sewage bubbling up in resident's yards, and how absentee out-of-state landlords refuse to correct anything.

The burned out car wash on Parrish St. is an eyesore, and surely dangerous for kids or anyone to venture into.

Lakeshore Drive as a whole is a forsaken wasteland with little redeeming and no aesthetic value. There are two properties there beyond salvage, with caved-in roofs. (NOTE: These two properties have been bulldozed, but gaping scars are left in the landscape. They are still blighted properties by any standard)

You or I would never be allowed to let our homes be in such conditions. We would face consequences.

Which brings me to the point of this petition.

Our City Council can't make a developer spend money to improve their property; just as they can't make you add a family room to your home.

What they can do, however, is wield the power of legislation to hold commercial property owners accountable. Real legislation. Legislation with teeth. Monetary consequences accruing on a daily basis until problems are resolved.

Will this cost the taxpayers more money? Will we face legal challenges from the property owners? Maybe. But it's costing us money now. We're losing out on tax revenue from responsible property development that could help us, help our schools, help our City.

It's been proven over and over that blighted properties raise the crime rate, as well as cause property values to come down in the surrounding areas.

Even our plans to hire an Economic Developer… how would someone like that overcome such an immense boulder in the road? If you were a visitor to Canandaigua, and saw the Lakefront, would you want to bring your family back for a vacation? Or would you go to Ithaca or Skaneateles perhaps instead?

Will the property owners dig their heels in? Refuse to do anything? That's a possibility, too, but you know, we have nothing to show for it now anyways.

I'm asking our elected and appointed officials to use new legislation and the power of their offices to hold derelict property owners accountable for their properties in the City of Canandaigua.

Please support this initiative.