Local governments in northeast Pennsylvania have not been as aggressive as the law allows them to be in attacking blight that diminishes tax bases, reduces property values, creates dangerous conditions and fosters further blight.

With the exception of Pittston and some surrounding smaller towns, for example, NEPA governments have not formed state-authorized land banks to help restore value to blighted properties and get them back on the tax rolls.Every government with blight problems should embrace a new state law aimed at a fundamental driver of blight‚ absentee landlords who bleed the value from rental properties and then abandon them.The new law would eliminate safe havens for absentee landlords if local governments are aggressive enough to pursue them and would preclude individuals from eliminating their accountability by hiding behind corporate titles.Under the revised law, officers, directors and employees of a corporation legally could be held responsible for failing to correct serious code violations at any real estate owned by the corporate entity.The law also would allow local governments to declare a blighted property a public nuisance, and to seek extradition of responsible‚ or irresponsible‚ property owners who live outside Pennsylvania.Like any law, the new anti-blight measure will be only as a good as its enforcement. The Courtright administration in Scranton and leaders of other communities facing blight should commit to aggressive use of the new law.Meanwhile, Lackawanna County Commissioners Corey O'Brien, Jim Wansacz and Patrick O'Malley should begin to work on a countywide land bank to help communities use the power of the marketplace to fight blight.The (Scranton) Times-Tribune