Vacant Store Fronts Suck the life out of our Commercial Districts, and as a blight, waste valuable Tax dollars on Police and Emergency Services.

By Asa G Dodsworth

The reason these buildings can sit empty for so long is that in Berkeley we have too few property owners. The market rate value of the rest of their rental property would be reduced if they lowered the rents on their vacant store fronts. If we had more property owners they would suffer rather then benefit from refusing to offer their property at a rate worth leasing. We don't have a real rental market in Berkeley. And because of that we loose enormous amounts of sales tax income, we pay unnaturally high rent, and we have to pay for increased police and emergency services for property that becomes a blight.

I will work to provide a real user fee, to address real costs to society of vacant property. In West Berkeley alone we have acres of vacant property. When we do this, we will expand the opportunities to everyone to have an art studio, to consider starting a business, and we will produce the economic activity to protect Berkeley during this recession.

This problem is not exclusive to Berkeley, In Washington DC they have created a vacant property tax rate that is higher to address the cost on society and the lost sales tax revenue from vacant commercial property, and you can check it out for yourself here, http://dcra.dc.gov/dcra/cwp/view,a,1343,q,625194,dcraNav,|33408|.asp